No, you're not. Think of the film "A Fish Called Wanda" in which John Cleese excites Jamie Lee Curtis by reciting Russian poetry as he takes his clothes off ...
At least two of my male friends also go all gooey and gaga when they hear me speaking Russian.

It shouldn't be too hard to find a way to learn ... check out your local evening classes or put up a small ad in a newsagent or your local Co-op to see if there is a Russian near you who could teach you. There are lots of Russian emigres around ...
Good luck!

Thanks! :) I'll see what I can do; I never thought of putting an ad in the paper. Good idea! *sudden burst of enthusiasm*

We never did get any pics, did we?

I'm doing a whistle-stop visit to the Big M on the 21st of this month - most of the time I will be in a lecture room, but faithfull digital camera will be ready by my side so a few shots through the taxi window and when I escape at break times should be do-able.

Watch this space...!

Well you should be. There is nothing to fear my friend.

Slang loves to travel and would enjoy seeing photos of where you are.

I'm starting to sound like Bob Dole.

Do they let you carry your pen through airport security?

No, it has to go in the hold - along with the sheep!

Right then! I'm back after my whistle-stop trip to Moscow.

Out on the Wednesday night catching the Aeroflot 22:30 flight from Heathrow, then 3 hrs and 30 mins later plus a 3 hr time difference and we're touching down at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport a little after 5.00 am.This is followed by a 1 hour taxi ride to the hotel on te west side of the city where the training course, and my one-day session, is to take place.

The journey into the city was relatively uneventful some aprtment blocks, and cpnstruction going on.... but then.... well, I suppose I should have guessed...


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Yes, the IKEA influence even stretches this far!

The hotel wasn't qyuite what I expected either, having the idea that it would be in amongst the concrete slabs of architectiure I had seen in photos of Moscow before. But thsi hotel was out in the countryside.

The taxi drove down some narrow country lanes with fenced woodland either side. We passed several large pairs of stout solid wooden gates, and finally turned left towrds one particular set. A wave from teh driver and the gates opened, and I was to witness the other side of communism. A large park in and around which were dotted several dachas. And in the centre the hotel - more bold 1920's, and as a result a little out of place.

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No time for sleep, however. Instead a quick shower and hasty breakfast (in the half-octagonal glazed room in the second hotel picture, and thenit was acroos to the bulding where the course was to be held - simlar in design and construction to the hotel.

No more time to view the surroundings until the lunch break, and then a few more photos of the dachas in the park - some new, some old - one (which I could not reach) having beeb Joe Stalins country residence...

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And a photo of the general grounds, plus a modernistic building that seemd like a gymnasium or something similar

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Back to the course, and before I knew it, it was approaching 5.00pm - the course had reached its conclusion, and I was receiving enthusiastic applause from my 60 delegates!

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Well, not really - just an olde lecturer's trick - ladies stand up first and are asked to hold their hands clasped together, and then the gentlemen ar also asked to stand, but to hold their hands slightly apart.

It looks like applause if you don't scrutinise the photo too much...

But now it was time to return to the airport!

And the Moscow traffic - a 4-lane highway that was jammed for 20 of the 27 kilometres to the airport and which took nearly 2 hours to traverse...

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Still, I at least had the company of a taxi driver who enjoyed speaking English - constantly... for two hours... about everything and anything - I could almost have been in a London taxi cab!

Time enough, though to take some shots of aprtments and other buildings - sorry, that's about it!

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