Join the dots and make a picture, win a major prize ! As the caption always read in the children’s comics puzzle page I used to love, I’m a great one for connections. Searching a page of scattered pinheads for patterns drove me crazy but the lure of the […]
Russia
4 posts
Collecting STUFF. We all do it in some way or another but collecting passport stamps as a pursuit in itself, rather than incidentals that just happen from time to time always veers a bit close to braggadocio for me. Nevertheless just as train and car number plates fascinate some people, […]
I had completely forgotten that my name might arouse some amusement, to say the least, when I went on a trip to Central Asia. Bob, you see, means a bean in Russian (also Hungarian for that matter), and a polite but wry smirk crossed the face of every Intourist guide […]
I visited this vast area during the latter years of the former USSR when all the newly formed republics were still under the direct sway of Moscow. My overriding impression was that the people we met were genuinely fearful of the aggressive stance of the west.