Preaching with a purpose

Having never been abroad I suddenly felt inspired about Russia and made up my mind to go there and I did!  And it was not a disappointment in any way. Life on the boat was good.  It was the Andrei Rublov.  The sights were spectacular and I loves talking to the Russian people, sometimes in Russian.  I now plan to improve my language skills and hhaving done the tourist thing I now want to spend some time among the people of Yaroslavl which is twinned with Exeter, my nearest city. My latest way to improve my Russian is using my iphone to play me Russian books while I am driving.  My favourite is the Bible as I was brought up on it and have a better chance of understanding what is being said.Determination is what you need in any undertaking.

We decided to go away for the weekend to see how we got on with important things like snoring!! In lots of ways the weekend was a disaster, but we got on well with each other and the snoring from both of us was moderate.  We spent Saturday afternoon in Bath at the Christmas Fair.  It was crowded and rainy.  I bought a wooden puzzle of Britain for my grandson and my friend bought a jar of pickle.  The rain got worse and we decided to go into the Abbey.  It seemed that everyone had the same idea.  We filled the Abbey where a carol service was just beginning. We made our soggy way back to the bus stop but had to wait for our coach to come.  We drove for an hour to an hotel.  This was fine for the night but breakfast was a shambles and we missed out on toast.  Next we journeyed to the Cotswolds which was fine.  When we arrived at our home bus stop we thought our problems were over but the taxi took us several miles out of our way before we w...

First I had to cope with the ticket machine.I made a mess of putting in my password. I was either pressing the letters and numbers too hard or too soft.  Eventually I mastered it and walked away with my tickets, only to find a young lady chasing after me because I had left some tickets behind. Having survived this I crossed over the bridge and waited for my train.  I am always excessively early for things like this.  I boarded the train and had an uneventful ride to Plymouth.  I soon found my way by foot to the place I knew I would find the Mayflower building. I had looked it up on the internet.  The building I had thought was the right one was clad in scaffolding and there seemed no way in.  Next door was The Salvation Army building so I decided to ask them for directions.  The building I wanted was on the other side of the S.A. building. I went in and asked the security man where I would find the passport office.  He directed me upstairs.  ...

It took me three times to get my passport application filled out correctly.  The first time I presented it at the Post Office I realized my counter-signatory had allowed his signature to go outside of the box provided, so that was no good.  I returned to him a few days later with instructions to get it right!  I presented the new form to the Post Office only to find I had used the old date we had previously signed but a newer date elsewhere. Also I had not given my previous names in the right section.  You might think that I would give up, after all I had survived 69 years without foreign travel!  But no, I was determined.  A third attempt was successful.  But now there was another hurdle to be jumped.  After a few days I received a letter stating that as  this was my first ever application for a passport I would have to have an interview.  This was to take place in Plymouth.  I arranged a date and then set about getting a train tic...

About two years previously to me deciding I wanted to go to Russia, a friend had asked me if I would go to Canada with her.  It was a lovely idea but far too expensive so we had shelved the idea unless I came in for a windfall, an unexpected amount of cash coming my way.  The cost of going to Russia was much more achievable.  I asked my friend to accompany me not really expecting her to want to come.  At first she was taken aback but soon became very interested and we began looking at brochures together.  Eventually be decided on a company called Titan who were doing a boat trip from St Petersburg to Moscow down the rivers and canals.  It was an 11 day trip and although it was dearer than some 7 or 8 day holidays it took you through more scenery and interesting places and provided breakfast, lunch and dinner, whereas the other apparently cheaper holidays were hotel, bed and breakfast, so one had to find other meals. Having decided what we wanted to do we ha...

I was becoming more and more interested in taking a holiday in Russia.  I was sure I couldn't afford it but I thought I would just send off for a brochure.  Just to see what there was available.  Nothing serious. So I took a look and then my brain started to work on what savings I could make in my usual expenditure.  I had an abundance of clothes so I didn't need to buy more in the next year.  I was also sure I could save on my heating in the winter.  I looked up on the internet what a healthy O.A.P should have for room temperature and it was a lot lower than I had had it in the previous winter. So there were two good savings I could make.  It's amazing what you can do when you really want something. I have never been out of the British Isles so now I needed a travelling companion.

To improve my pronunciation and vocabulary I decided to watch Russian T.V. online. While doing this I came across a wonderful Russian.  He is a fifteen year-old boy(then 14) who was taking part in Russian T.V.'s version of The Voice. His name is Danil Pluzhnikov.  He is an amazing singer who sings with passion and emotion unusual in one so young.  He is someone who has suffered himself and knows how to express great emotion and empathy because of this. Danil suffers from a form of dwarfism.  He is 98cms tall that is 3foot2ins. He has problems walking. But Danil does not sit down and let life beat him, instead he sings to comfort and help.  Recently after the St. Petersburg terror attack Danil sang to a huge crowd in Moscow who had come together to show support for their sister city.  I attach a link to this below.  Danil is an important part of my gradual determination to go to his country. In this link Danil sings about rising above problems. " People...