What have I learned writing these blogs? Unlike my blog co-authors, Roger and Dean, to me participating in the RUSUK project has one extra benefit: practicing my written English skills. The guys got it naturally, I haven’t. But I always wanted to do it on a level that might be ok for English-speaking audience to …
Not a lot at this time. Once it was, at best, united, extremely tolerant and very well-mannered. Except now, Britain is broken, completely divided, and an extremely angry place. As I write this missive, the Conservative party is in complete disarray, has just lost its leader, who in truth was totally useless, but nothing in …
Grandpa Lenin I was born in Leningrad (now again Saint Petersburg) in 1974 when the Soviet Union was at its peak. My hometown was built by Peter the Great back in 1703. In 1712, it became the capital of new Russia, that was being modernized by the Czar at a very fast pace. When the …
I hope I’m wrong Religion has always fascinated me. It often shows up in our society in unexpected places. In a way, I admire people who can hold to their faith in the face of overwhelming evidence. I’m not made of such stuff. I would, and did, throw my God aside when presented with solid …
The show must go on When a series of terror attacks in Sri Lanka broke out recently taking some 350 lives, nobody out of my Facebook friends colored his/her profile picture into the Ceylon national colors showing compassion and solidarity with this disaster, mourning the victims. Can you recognize this flag at all? When another …
Thanks Dad! My first car was the family hand-me-down; an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser. This thing was the size of a small boat. It had three rows of bench seats and featured wrap-around windows in the roof. Oh, and woodgrain paneling. OK… it was vinyl stickers but they were wood colored. I liked that car, it …
“Miłego dnia” Hitler’s party was socialist, but there again so are today’s Scandinavian countries. You couldn’t ask for a more contrasting set of ideals and outcomes. Britain’s Labour party of the 1960s and 1970s was socialist – I remember getting pay rises of almost 25 per cent every year when I first started working, …
Sitting on Your Throne Let’s answer the 737 question up front: yes I’ll take that flight today. This is not a story about an airplane; it’s a story about the power of the press. Let’s get a few facts on the table: The 737 is the most popular passenger jet in history Normally, at any …
Payback time First of all, it is a true tragedy that Shamima Begum’s baby has died: and it was her third kid already who died, I think. What for? I truly don’t understand those people, raised/educated in the West, being second generation or newcomers, enjoying all the benefits of living in the West, who’re just …
What have we changed our mind about? I have a friend, Sergey Vertelov. He is a profound professional traveler, owner of the Himalayan club, which is a travel agency and also a community of people, an ‘adventure community’. That community from time to time travel with him to, I would say, the Far Side of …