24:The Bolshoi - has anyone got any tickets?

Recently re-opened after an extensive refit (even the foundations had to be rebuilt) which lasted for several years and cost billions of roubles the renovated Bolshoi stands in all its glory on Theatre Square. Unfortunately, everybody in the country now wants to visit and it is nigh on impossible to get tickets. I had wanted to see Carmen at the end of December - no chance!

I noticed this plaque has also been renovated. It says: In this building of the Bolshoi Theatre the first All-Union Congress of Soviets, on 30th December 1922, proclaimed the formation of the USSR. Interesting to see which parts of history are being air-brushed and which parts are coming back into fashion.

23:Food shopping

Food shopping is sooooo exasperating, especially having just returned from the UK where Tescos and Sainsburys can handle supply chain management properly.
I usually go shopping armed with a list. I don't know why because many of the items on the list are just not in the shop. This is not the same problem from the old days of food shortages (дефициты). This is simply bad management. Never mind the concept, adopted by car manufacturers and others, of "just-in-time" deliveries. Here we have "just-too-late"! People need training, and systems put in place, to re-order goods before they become out of stock and not afterwards.
If you see something you want, buy several of them just in case they're in the delivery pipeline the next time you want some.
There are occasionally discounts on certain products but the "Western" system of BOGOFs (Buy One Get One Free) is rarely seen.
When you buy stuff from the chiller cabinet you need a degree in maths. The price per kilo is usually shown on the front of the cabinet but only the weight is shown on the product. There is (usually) a barcode but there is also a handwritten code of some sort and it is this which the check-out girl keys in at the till. Why do they not put a price on the product? It is one of life's great mysteries.
Today many of the aisles were blocked by pallets full of newly (I hope) delivered goods. It was nigh on impossible to get a trolley past these pallets and certainly not two-way traffic. You get the idea that we, the customer, are there for their benefit and not the other way around as it should be. In the West we have a slogan "The customer is always right". Here the customer is an inconvenience that is sometimes tolerated.
Rant over. Have a nice day!


   

22:Winter fashions

Who am I to talk about fashions! It just struck me as amusing on the metro this evening that the girl next to me was wearing boots with what must have been 6" spiked stiletto heel boots (with luck you can just make them out in the photo) and the girl opposite was wearing patterned wellies. I sneaked in a quick photo while they weren't looking. Russian girls wear their finery to work. None of this "saving it for a special occasion" or for evening wear - live for today because you don't know what tomorrow will bring!

21: Paddington (station, not bear)

This is a view of some of the trains in Paddington station, from where I had planned to catch the Heathrow Express out to the airport. Unfortunately, there were engineering works on the line so a replacement coach service was laid on. My own view here is that the £18 (900 roubles) cost of the train ticket should be (much) cheaper when you are inconvenienced by the longer, and less comfortable, journey on the bus. The train operator has a different view!

In addition, several of the underground lines were closed for the weekend. Everybody and his brother was in London yesterday and traversing the longer, circuitous, route with luggage was quite stressful, especially for those whose people who got in my way and ended up with bruised legs from my suitcase!

In spite of the longer journey I still arrived at Heathrow in good time to order my usual kedgeree breakfast. Enjoyment was slightly marred by the presence of more bones than usual but they did give me a free coffee by way of compensation.  

Having landed in Moscow, after an uneventful and pleasant flight, I took the Aero Express to Paveletskiy and then failed to pay attention to the announcements in the metro. Turns out there were engineering works  on the Moscow underground too. Because I didn't pay attention I ended up going Paveletskiy->Novokuznetskiy->Taganskaya->Novoslobodskaya->Timiryazevskaya. 

I was pleased to get home!

20:Recycling

In UK, in most towns and cities, there is a recycling facility where people take things they no longer want/need. The range of items that are now recyclable is growing all the time. Great Britain has embraced recycling in a big way. This is good news for the landfill sites which are growing larger all the time.
As well as the local recycling facilities, most local councils issue different coloured wheelie bins which are collected regularly from outside your house. For example, in Huntingdonshire, we have green bins for garden rubbish, blue for recyclable materials - e.g. newspapers & bottles, and grey for general household rubbish.

Dead computer monitors

19:My mum!

Here is my mum! She is 86 years old. She had a fall a couple of weeks ago and is a bit frail at the moment. She enjoys a drink and smokes like a chimney and is disappointed that she can no longer throw herself around the dance floor.
Here's to you, Mum!

18: 3 laps around Silverstone

The long-awaited day had finally arrived and I got to experience the thrill of driving a Ferrari 360 around Silverstone. I knew I was never going to break any land speed records but I was determined to enjoy the ride. There was a co-driver who talked me through every inch of the course - where to position the car on the track, what gear to be in, when to break, when to start the turn and so on. All in all a great day.