We were well fed on the boat. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner there. That was one of the things that made the trip value for money. Most other holidays on land in Russia were bed and breakfast only in a hotel. Also you got to see Peter and Moscow only and none of the out of the way places we visited. Breakfast was a buffet which included toast, fruit, boiled eggs and porridge and pancakes(bliny). One strange item on offer at breakfast was brussel sprouts!! Lunch and dinner were very similar meals but always different. The four course meal began with a salad. The Russian word for salad is salat and this is also the word for lettuce, but lettuce was rarely included in the course. After this came a soup. We much preferred the thick soups. The thin soups were like our chicken noodle soup. There seemed to be a certain oiliness about the courses and we did get upset stomachs at one point. I hasten to add that these were not due to bacteria but just to not being used to the oils used. The third course was usually meat such as , beef,chicken, pork and duck with potato of some kind and one other vegetable. The sweet was things like sponge pudding with jam, or a chocolate eclair. I don't think we ever had a repeat of a course. As the time progressed I felt the meals were improving more and more. This was simply due to becoming used to the food. We had beetroot occasionally and cabbage soup once. We had a Russian night where we did our best to dress up Russian style and that night we were given vodka and caviar. My friend and I preferred the vodka! Another night we had to dress up as pirates and we Brits went into dinner singing "What shall we do with the drunken sailor?" My family at home would have cringed to think of doing this but I have always loved a bit of theatre.
I have written in previous posts about disasters. In the case of Concorde, decisions by people, plus other factors were directly to blame for the event. In the case of the Penlee disaster it may have been avoided if someone had made a better choice in the time beforehand and as a consequence brave men and the ship's crew and the captain and his family died. 9/11 was certainly the result of wicked men committing a terrorist act, but even in this there was heroism notably by another Cornish man, Rick Rescorla who helped many to safety and left it too late to help himself. In situations like this we see what the human spirit is capable of both good and evil. What of disasters that come on people because of the earth restless movement of tectonic plates. Often people live near volcanoes because the land is rich and fertile and they have the chance of a better life there when the volcano is resting. We cannot blame them for that but sometimes people become complacent...
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