Its all over ...

Thats it, done and dusted. Both back home now and our Russian 'adventure' over.

You would be forgiven thinking this is a picture of us and our luggage on our way to the airport - Its not as we were in a Toyota Avensis. This is the venerable volga estate, but the amount of luggage is similar!!.

We also passed this truck - an old russian army Zil according to our driver.

Both the above pics taken on one of the Moscow orbital rings - wacky races best describes the driving style.

Got taken to Sokolniki Park by Arthurs Russian pal Artem. The park is very neat, formal flower borders, kids amusement rides and smooth paths for roller blading & cycling. The attraction for us was the bbq place and bar. Shashlik, chicken, selection of fresh/pickled veg. a beer or two and some Ukranian chilli vodka!! As if drinking vodka russian style wasn't enough of a challenge, we don't have just any old tarty flavouring like orange or cranberry, but a full blooded red chilli. After downing a shot it just got hotter & hotter - and that then left 2/3 of the bottle to go. Good grief it was evil.

Last visit to HQ - Naberezhnaya Tower in the business district

 First stage of the remaining journey home is the train from Pavletsky Station, and look at the happy faces

Flights await at Domodedovo, all on time and a hassle free remaining 12 hours or so to home.



Its a hard life

Lunchtime is siesta time

The last weekend

This is it, the last time we'll be twiddling our thumbs at a weekend in Yaiva. Sun is out and its like a summers day in UK, went for a wander and plenty of folk out and about the village making the most of some very pleasant sunshine. Bumped into Elena our interpreter who was coming back from the local swimming baths - yes, Yaiva has a swimming pool, first we've heard of it, but so there should be to be honest for a place that has around 10,000 people in it.
Went to check out how Mishka the bear was getting on, and took her an ice cream. Still can't work out why they have the bear in a cage behind the Banya - doesn't seem quite right.

As usual, weekend consists of having a lie in, catching up on reports, watching some dvds and getting some fresh air. However, if it rains, Al G is the first to know as the hotel has a tin roof and you can hear every drop falling when it starts to rain. Combine that with the cockerel from the hotel hen house giving his best every ten minutes under Al Gs window from 05:30 every morning, followed by the neighboured chorus of dogs barking, then a lie in is how long you can stand it before you give in and get up. Al B has more books to read on his kindle so 08:00 is the latest he has endured. Al G is a shift worker to the core and has managed as late as 08:45 before succumbing to the inevitable and raising himself from his pit.
Spotted the wandering cows close to the hotel on Sunday evening. You'll be pleased to hear they were quite content and appeared to be behaving themselves. Oddly enough someone appeared walking up the road with a large goat following closely behind, so it seems the people of Yaiva have a choice when it comes to the benefits of dairy products. You takes your money, you makes your choice.

Travelling in style

Inside of the 'big bus' on the way back from work at the 'GRES' (ГРЭС - russian abbreviation for 'state regional electric station' Государственная районная электростанция)

And inside of the 'passion wagon' on the way into work. The passion wagon is a transit van type vehicle with a crew cab which has some fetching blue curtains on the windows to keep things private.

They're both a long way from the days of getting chauffered in the Land Cruiser and Camry and we now consider it a treat when the Volga turns up now and then!!!

Morning constitutional....

....and a walk around the town to get a bit of fresh air and stretch the legs.
 
Up through the area that has what we would call allotments - parcels of land with a wooden house/shed, most growing a bit of veg etc. Most also have a dog guarding the place and once one starts they all do.

Along the street by the railway - watch your step!!

There's a few cows that wander about the place, today we found them providing a public service keeping the grass down in a kids playpark.

Past the fire station - sign says 'Fire station no.105'

Past the side of the Cultural Centre and along the street with the supermarket - top up with a few essentials, and then back to our digs. Just in time as a rain shower is on its way.

'Road' to our digs

Home from home

Just another Saturday night

Some people like dressing up and doing a bit of play acting at the weekend. In this case Al G pretending to cook in a little blue frilled ensemble.

Polka dots & frills - nice.

Steak.chips & mushy peas liberally covered in our HP lifesaver!

Didn't fancy anything in the fridge today.

Movie night tonight, and we are working our way through all the Die Hards for as long as the beer & vodka lasts, or we crash out whichever comes first

Working on a Saturday?

Yes indeed, at work on a Saturday - all to do with making up for having a bridging day off at the beginning of the week as part of the Victory Day holiday. As far as I know most of Russia does this and its declared earlier in the year by the government as to which days are bridging days and which days you work it back.
Nice and sunny today for a change, up at 16degC but showers forecast for tomorrow (its our day off after all!!). Never mind, Formula 1 will be on TV so theres that to look forward too - simple pleasures we have!.

Proof the Al B is working hard at a weekend

A day out in the country

Internet back on after a few days, so this is what we've been up to outside work.
A day off today as it's one of the Victory Day public holidays. We went up to the north to Krasnovishersk and a walk along the bank of the Vishera river and a climb up the Vetlan rock. Not the best of days, it rained mostly but a good view from the top.

There is a wooden stairway up the cliff from the river bank, all 645 steps and didn't we know it. Certainly gave the legs and lungs a work out and we were glad to see the top at last.

Cup of tea out of a flask and a few pictures then head down the steps again - I guess one slip and you don't stop until the bottom.

A mile or so walk back along the river and then lunch is shashlik - in this case marinated pork done on a BBQ - courtesy of Victor our host who produces charcoal, grill, BBQ and the ingredients out of the car boot. He also gets a bottle of absinthe out - 70% alcohol so handle with care, and also some beer. Now here's the strangest thing, Victor is teetotal which in our experience is a rarity indeed, but he knew a good beer. He was drinking a Russian concoction called kvas - made from fermented rye bread, looks like cola and is considered non alcoholic. After having a taste we quickly went back to the beer to wash down the shashlik. I think kvas is an acquired taste to say the least.

Back to work Thusday, Friday & Saturday with another day off Sunday!

It's all a bit different

Snows completely gone and it's either muddy when it rains or clouds of dust when it's dry. First couple of days it's been raining and even snowing again yesterday, but we are assured it will be fine and warm from next week onward.

The view that now greets us as we open the curtains in the morning

We were back in UK for 28 days last month and it rained for 24 of those so a bit of sun at last will be welcome. Also, it's light at the moment until about 22:30 because of the latitude location and it can only get lighter later - White nights as the Russians call it.
As far as latitude is concerned we reckon we are on par with being as far north as Fair Isle, which is between the Shetlands and Orkney Islands, around 59.3 north.

Head pot washer

Back to self catering and wondering what else is cooking in the kitchen - we are still not keen on the local fish.


I'm sure that fish just winked at me

Heading back again

Heading back to Yaiva today - this time from Heathrow with a 4 hour wait for a connection in Moscow Domodedovo. Don't know if its a seaonal thing but there doesnt seem to be convenient flights via Birmingham and Frankfurt to Perm hence our traipse down to the Smoke for a 21:30 departure. Al B picked the other Al up in Lincoln at just after 16:00 so with the extra travelling to the airport etc it's about 20 hours door to door (20.5 for Al B) so we expect to be in our 'home from home' in Yaiva around 16:30 local time Sunday.


We get to check out yet another business lounge, this time BA's in terminal 5 - it's the way to travel. This is the best so far regarding facilities - Perm is the leader so far for service!!!





Al B taking a picture of Al G taking a picture of Al B taking a picture of...............you get the picture!
They've just announced our flight has an hour delay so I guess it's time for another baked spud and curry washed done with a fizzy drink in a can ( it won't be cola as it's Saturday night and we're not driving)
A colleague from work ( Claire) has enquired if we are taking sun cream this trip seeing as the snow should have gone - if we are then I'd rather Mashka the bear rubs it on my back than Mr Al B. We get on but we're not quite at that stage yet.

Location:Iver,United Kingdom

Interesting stats for who's been following us this month - we're quite popular in the US it seems

Planes, trains & automobiles - home again.

Leaving the snow behind and heading back to sunshine in the UK apparently.

Our trek home starts with leaving Yaiva at 08:30 for the 3 1/2 hour drive to Perm, to get the flight to Moscow. The flight is just over 2 hours long, but due to the 2 hour time zone difference we get there 15mins after we take off!!

This is Bolshoye Savino airport in Perm on the day we left. Landing again at Domodedeovo, Moscow, but this time the traffic is lighter for the car journey to the hotel and it only takes 1hr 10 mins this time. So today we've had 7 hours travelling with a couple of hours waiting around and tonight someone else is doing the cooking for dinner. We meet up with Arthur from Surgut at the hotel.

The next day we have a meeting at HQ, but Friday we're on the move again with a taxi & train journey from the city centre to the airport. Its a 1/2 hour taxi from the hotel to Paveletsky Station, where its then aboout 45minutes on the Aeroexpress to Domodedovo.

As you can see, wet, grey, and horrible in Moscow at the train station, but Arthur does battle with the ticket machines (the manned ticket booths are all closed) we get our tickets and the train is waiting, and I'm glad to be on it as we are a little tight for time.

Our flight leaves at 14:00 for Dusseldorf, but Arthur has a longer wait as he's getting a flight to Heathrow. Moscow to Dusseldorf is 3 1/2 hours, then we have another clock change - two hours back- so we get there 15:30 local timeand then a 3 hour wait for the next plane!!! This is the 18:40 to Birmingham which takes 1 hour 20mins and gets into Brum at 19:00 local time so we have another hour to wind back on the clock!!! After sorting a hire car out, its an easy 1 1/2 hours up the M42 and A46 to Lincoln and I'm in the house for 21:00. Overall about 8 hours travelling and 8 hours hanging around various airport business lounges, and once again thanks to the ladies at Westwood who book the plane tickets and sort out the cars at the Russian end.

Back to Russia 28/29th April.

The end is nigh!!

This visit nearly at an end, we leave site tomorrow and head to Moscow for a meeting before catching flight home on Friday. German airports are having a bit of trouble at the moment due to ground staff strikes, but hopefully all over by Friday.

We've heard that UK is unseasonably warm at the moment so that'll be a novelty. The last two mornings we've seen -21 and -16 first thing, but warming up to -4 and zero by the afternoon and some of the snow is melting away - mainly from the mainroad and leaving them virtually flooded. After saying that its been snowing all evening!

Our transport for the journey to the airport in Perm is going to be a Russian built Volga car - we've been in it before and its a few years old. Favoured vehicle as a police interceptor and as a status symbol with the 'nomenklatura' , with a special version available for the KGB in Soviet times.

Went over to Berezniki for the evening - a few beers and a couple of games of russian billiards. Passed a scottish theme bar on the way in - looked like a tartan and baronial theme going on so that'll be worth a look and beats the tired old irish bar angle, so might try that out sometime when we return.

Weekend again

And the last one for this trip. Both of us ready for a break as it seems to have been longer than the 31/2 weeks we've had so far. Be nice to see abit of greenery - last time we came back at begining of February, it snowed in UK the day we landed so we had snow for a further couple of days!! There's not much chance of that happening again in early April you would hope.

A trip to the local shops for weekend essentials - Saturday night and it's a chinese for us, chicken in black bean sauce courtesy of the stuff we brought with us, and a beer or two.

Tomorrow its the F1 grand prix on TV, so thats an hour or two taken care of, then probably a stretch of the legs and some fresh air. If the banya is not in use, then a game or two of billiards might be on the cards.

Snow is still thick on the ground and some falling every day, but the sun is gradually beginning to start the melt and the main road through Yaiva is clear of ice but now full of deep muddy puddles.

All the other roads are as before, but a little more icy on top as it thaws a bit then refreezes. Makes the footpaths a bit dicy as well.

Early morning call

This came clanking and grinding up the drive this morning just as we were getting up. Wondered what the hell it was until I opened the curtains.
Driver had cleared the drive and then politely left it running under my window whilst he wandered off for 15 minutes to find some more fuel. Ah well, time to get up anyway.

Not what you want to see in the rearview mirror..

..or in front of you either. Russian cops manning a speed trap near Berezniki. Apparently anything up to 60km/h above the limit attracts a fine of up to 1500 roubles on a sliding scale, after which it's disqualification and a bigger fine!

Equating to english roads, doing 80mph on a 60 limit road gets you a £32 fine, which would get you around £500 fine and 6 points in UK.

Not condoning speeding or moaning about penalties, but I think I'd rather get done by an anoymous speed camera in UK than getting a stern talking to by a Russian speed cop.

By the way, we didn't get done, our driver had pulled over to ask for directions - the cops didn't know where the place was either!

A grand day out

Victor, one of our Russian colleagues, took us out for the day to visit a town called Solikamsk famous for its cluster of 16th century churches which survived the Soviet era intact. Its about 60km north of Yaiva and is the third largest town in the Perm reigion.The churches/cathedrals are not used for worship but house museums - the Troizk cathedral and the Bogoyavlenskaya church where the most interesting ones we visited. Very different to English churches but not much bigger than parish churches really, but quite spectacular with their numerous onion domes etc. Don't forget that I come from Lincoln, so I know what a cathedral looks like!!

This is the Troizk cathedral, but houses a museum and doesn't look anything like a church inside. all the internals were destroyed destroyed during the Soviet era. One of them was turned into a brewery of all things.

The next church - Bogoyavlenskaya Church (church of the epiphany) had a museum of russian religious icons which were quite a thing to see, plus the church internals had retained wall & ceiling murals left in place as a museum in Soviet times. Very interesting in a cultural way and we surprised ourselves in taking such an interest in biblical paintings on bits of wood!

On the way back from the last church, we passed an old lady digging a trench out of the snow. She looked 70+ and it looked like it was hard physical labour clearing a 3' wide by 3' deep passage through the snow. Felts boots on and muttering away she was doing a sterling job. Couldn't quite work out why though?

The other thing that Solikamsk is famous for is the salt mines - Sol is russian for salt, and its on the river Kama. We passed the salt mines on the way into the city and they are massive in scale. All around this area - Solikamsk, Berezniki etc there is a hell of alot of heavy industry. The salt mine alone in Solikamsk employs 11,000 people, then there is the magnesium works with another 3500,so plenty going on.

Popped into Berezniki on the way back for some lunch, and then a look at the frozen river Kama. Fisherman trying hard through holes in the ice, and judging by yesterdays catch, very successful they are too.

Another week gone and another two to go

Reasonably busy week at work after all the excitement of the outage shut down. Everything settling down again and back to day to day life. A few emerging issues which we have had an input - by that I mean solutions to and not creating issues!!!!
We have had a birthday celebration this week, Al B ticked off another year on the planet and we celebrated by getting a bigger bottle of vodka than usual to toast his health and as a special treat I offered to let him stay up late to watch ice hockey on my 42" tv. He even managed to have half a dozen birthday cards to open - all I can say that Mrs Al B must be the organised one to sort that out and sneak them in the suitcase two weeks or so ago.

Its a Friday so that usually means fish on the menu and we found this waiting in the kitchen



Unfortunately, neither of us knows how to gut them, so we declined to help ourselves and had our fish courtesy of Tescos



We're having a trip out tomorrow to a town called Solikamsk courtesy of one of our Russian colleagues - old churches and a salt mine apparently. Should be interesting

Location:Russia