New Year in Russia

[msmoby]

As SC couldn't -yet - come to the UK, I spent a week with family in the UK, returning to Russia in the early hours of the 29th...

Tip for non-Russian passport holders requiring a visa ... make sure you are FIRST  off the plane - as if it is a regional airport - the queues are LONG .. Book a seat near the front of the plane. You can save hours... Once again, I managed to beat SC and be out the airport before she arrived...she has waited 2.5 hours..

I registered my presence -450 Roubles- and 20 minutes wait - the lady at the Post Office knows us and calls us when the docs are ready to sign and be paid for - all we do is tip up with our passports and SC's tel number.

We stocked up on fresh food and bought a chicken - which I was going to prepare for the guests.

Then the 'flu hit ....  I am grateful that I was not like Maxx - alone - and had SC and her neighbours...

By NYE the fevers and shivers had kicked in and I drank some REAL Champagne. that I had brought to toast the year ( it tasted foul) , messaged family in the UK and CRASHED back in my pit 



I can recommend 'Terraflu' .. never saw the packaging ...so excuse the spelling.

Aspirin and Paracetamol go by the same names in Russian - so it's not to hard to ask for the meds you think you might need

I've lived off Fresh Garlic, Fruits, nuts and many infusions of Herbal Teas, honey and lemons - the worst part was the thumping headache

I only saw one neighbour on NYE.. SC told them to stay away ... and woke up to hearing someone constantly revving their engine and spinning their wheels in the night...

I awoke to find sub-tropical Sochi was under 4'' / 10cm of snow  ..Not that I was in any condition to throw snowballs and the night temps have been minus 6C.. this is WAY below average for Sochi at sea level for this time of year.



Some businesses are functioning - but if you want to transfer money from one bank to another - nothing will happen until 12th January.


SC pronounced that this was 'too much' and she needed sun- asking me when I'd feel better - like I'd know... today is the first day I can feel a huge improvement .

I have cooked the Chicken and sent it to the neighbours to eat... It had a sauce made with the Champagne 

Like Maxx, I have all home comforts and we have UK sat TV on our flat screen tv or computer - many thanks to the member who has helped - you know who you are ..

The plan is shortly to have the RU TV   platform - working abroad - up and running  - Moby is writing the code for the remote control - but my head hurts too much - so it is slow going.

We have 250 plus RU channels, but on NYE at 2355 - you couldn't get away from Putin's speech - it was on ALL the main channels 

Until after the 14th - flights are silly money - people returning to the parts of Russia where they must work and SC had the bright idea to book a trip to Bangkok from Moscow..with the Dog... thinking I would find a better price ticket for the Sochi - Moscow leg on skyscanner.ru ( which is the .net version - but gives more variants when searching within Russia for some reason)


Well, they are 5- 6 times more than normal and they wanted daft price for the Dog, too

I have looked at driving - where to leave the car ?.. ride sharing with blablacar... who wants a Dog  ?...So, I  will experience a train ride to Moscow - sleeping on the train... 1750 km - then crossing Moscow on the Metro, followed by the express to SVO airport... this will be a test of our relationship 

I was last in Thailand 30 years ago, but SC has found a house on the coast for silly money - and I will TRY to work from there, while she tops up the tan.