Propaganda cuts both ways. I can’t be the only person who grew up in the ‘West’ in the 1970s/1980s who became conditioned to think of the Kremlin as some gloomy, grey, dark castle of ill-omen. What we were never told is that, particularly at this time of year, when the trees have turned, it is all white, gold and beautiful.
The Arbat is like Hebden Bridge. You can amble around and pick up art or second-hand books or jewelry, but nothing very practical like medicine. But it is laid-back, which is unusual for Moscow.
Looking out over the Moscow River (unseen in this shot) – this is the Hotel Ukrainia, one of the ‘Seven Sisters’, gothic skyscrapers built by Stalin (well, not personally) in the 40s and 50s. I’m in the Hotel Belgrad.
I always wanted a job where I could travel, right from being 16 or so. And now I have one, I’m glad enough, even if sometimes it seems a little excessive – I have 7 work trips abroad planned between now and mid-February (plus one personal one), and that does not even include trips within the UK.
But I think the chance to see how other cultures live, and realise that – unlike what the Daily Mail says, in its xenophobic little hate-fuelled way – Britain is not the centre of the world, are good things and has made me a better person, though others should be the real judge of that. Do I worry about the environmental impact? Yes… but I don’t own a car, so feel at least that I compensate in one way. Again, let others judge.
It’s early in the day to be posting I know, but I don’t want to take the camera to the gig in Leeds, and do you think I’d get a better shot anyway?
Moscow tomorrow. I will try to keep up with the blog but might not be able to post daily for a few days. Rest assured I will catch up when I get back.
Why do I have the sinking feeling that I am going to be getting up in the dark for most of the next six months?
Beautiful morning today but a bloody cold one, with a sharp frost, clearly visible here. Well, that’s winter on the way then.
Slight reservations about posting this if only because there’ve been a lot of Hebden Bridge pictures this last few days. Off to Russia on Sunday however, to give this blog renewed international flavour.
A day swamped with bad vibes but by the end I had found out the probable cause. Not a pleasant thing at all but not something which affected me directly. At that point I was glad I was able to join friends down at the pub.
I must have come through this back door at least twice a week on average for the last ten years but it’s nice to see it with a fresh eye now and again.
The light was weird this morning – a burst of sunshine into a day that was otherwise pretty foul – so here’s a challenge: can it make even an industrial skip, full of waste, look photogenic?
Hell yeah. It can.
6.52am train in this morning, arrives Manchester 7.40ish. 5.17pm train home, arrives Hebden Bridge – supposedly – about 6pm, except today it was 7 minutes late for no particular reason. Thank God I don’t have to do this every day. Some people do, but it would kill me. (Note the photographer reflected in the window above the head of the napping guy.)
I like cooking. I like beer. It was an inevitability that the two would come together at some point. This is my third ever batch of home-made beer. I’ll tell you around Christmastime whether it was any good or not.
