60:Happy Christmas - again

Today Christmas is celebrated in the Russian Orthodox calendar. Presents were exchanged on New Years Eve/New Years Day, so today is more of a religious event. Earlier today I listened to a particularly edifying speech from Patriarch Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Rus'

http://lenta.ru/news/2012/01/07/patriarch/




Today's photo then, appropriately, is of one of the local churches. It is, unusually in this day and age, a wooden structure but it is still a working church.

59:Around and about

I set out today with the dual aims of visiting a couple of museums and taking some pictures "around and about" to illustrate the sometimes unusual architecture that can be seen in Moscow.
One of the reasons for doing this today was that entrance to Moscow's museums would be free over the holiday period......In theory anyway.
I ended up in only one museum - the Museum of the East and, of course, this particular museum wasn't free. In fact, like many of the museums here, there is an extra surcharge for foreigners! Perhaps at one time in the past we "Westerners" earned more than Muscovites. I think that, in many instances, the boot is now on the other foot. The entrance fee imbalance remains.
Notwithstanding, the museum of the East was quite impressive with exhibits about many places East of here. To name but a few places: China, Mongolia, Tibet, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Buryat, Georgia. Each  country has its own national characteristics which are reflected in its art and culture.

58:back in the USSR

Whoops, I'm (a lot) more than 20 years out of date. I mean back in Russia of course. I left Ramsey at about 4.15 p.m. (UK time) yesterday afternoon and arrived in "my" flat in Moscow at about 7.30 a.m. (Moscow time). Journey time about 11 hours door-to-door.
The UK underground system as usual left a lot to be desired with a 15 minute delay at Covent Garden or Leicester Square, I don't remember exactly as I was in Zombie mode. My apologies for the poor quality of the photo. I need more practice with moving objects! 
The Moscow underground, on the other hand, was fast and reliable. I wondered why the carriages were almost empty until I remembered "Russia" is still on holiday. They don't start back until Tuesday 11th. I'm reminded of a Russian toast "may we meet under the table!". 

57:The 12 days of Christmas

In the Christian calendar there are 12 days of Christmas. These are the days between Christmas (25th December) and Epiphany (6th January). Epiphany is celebrated as the day the wise men, or magi, brought gifts to the baby Jesus. 


In the UK many people decorate their houses (sometimes inside and out) with tinsel, paper streamers and (fairy) lights. There is often a Christmas tree, which is also decorated. Decorations go up any time from the beginning of December. Traditionally they are taken down on the 12th day of Christmas. 

Here is a well-known song about a man giving unusual presents to his true love on each of the 12 days of Christmas. 
http://youtu.be/1nUBHRN_3sM

56:Ramsey

Ramsey, in Cambridgeshire. I have lived here for the last 20 years. A small town with a population of about 8,000 people. It is an old town with a long history. The town has grown around the Abbey, work on which started in 969AD, the Abbey being dedicated in 974AD. At this time Ramsey was an island in the fens*. In 1110 Henry I granted Ramsey Abbey permission to hold a fair during Easter week in the Manor of Slepe on the banks of the Ouse just where it entered the fens. The fair attracted visitors from all over England, and also from a number of famous European cities. Typical items for sale at such fairs included hides, furs, wool and jewels.

The Abbey grew very quickly and was soon one of the most powerful in the country. Like many surrounding settlements, it was damaged significantly during the black death of 1348-50, the grain production being roughly halved on the manors of Ramsey Abbey. Further trouble came in 1381, when the Abbey was attacked by revolting peasants, irritated by legal villeinage**.

The current church of St Thomas à Becket was built in around 1180. The most peculiar thing about this building is that it was not originally built as a church at all; instead it appears that it was built as a hospitum - either a guesthouse or possibly a hospital. This was certainly dissolved before 1291, and an unconfirmed dedication date for the parish church of 1237 appears in the literature.

*(the Fens) the flat low-lying areas of eastern England, mainly in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, formerly marshland but largely drained for agriculture since the 17th century.
** villein. In medieval England a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom he paid dues and services in return for land.

55:Pass the parcel

Enjoyed some "down-time" yesterday but first I had to collect my mum who had spent Christmas and New Year in London with my sister.
To save my sister driving 100 miles to Ramsey and 100 miles back again we often effect a changeover at Birchanger services on the M11, almost halfway between Ramsey and where my sister lives in London.
Everything went well and now my mum is back in her sheltered accommodation* in Ramsey and my sister is back in London.


*sheltered accommodation or sheltered housing
[mass noun] British

• accommodation for elderly or disabled people consisting of private independent units with some shared facilities and a warden.

I took this photo yesterday, of Santa and his little helpers, at the motorway service station at Birchanger.

54:Happy New Year

The first blog of a new year. 2012. What will it bring for each and every one of us? (The New Year I mean, not the blog!). Some surprises, some disappointments, probably some sadness but, hopefully, also a lot of happiness. Life, to a certain extent, is what you make of it. The decisions you make, or don't make, can have a profound effect on the direction your life takes, the people you meet, the friends you make. 
I wish you good luck with keeping any New Year's resolutions you may have made to make your life better in some way.
I could go on but these are only platitudes. 
a remark or statement, especially one with a moral content, that has been used too often to be interesting or thoughtful:


For my photo today I felt it only appropriate to show some fireworks. A truly international symbol of celebration. I had a look on flickr for an interesting picture to download but so many of the pictures are copyright protected. So here is one from my own album. I know it won't win any "best picture" prizes.