Homebound soon

I feel like one of those miserable people who sail solo around the world and they are caught in the middle of a viscious storm for days on end, as they try to sail around the world.

The UK has been under the grip of a viscious cycle of weather from the day I arrived until now.  I will be leaving in a couple of days now, but I still fail to understand how the summer time weather can be so miserable and unrelently wet and windy.

If I was British, I would be very tempted to do my best to encourage global warming.  It is unfair that the weather can be so cold and miserable in summer.

I am looking forward to returning to winter in Australia, even if it rains so rarely that you begin to wonder where your next glass of water will come from.

England & Wales in the Summer

So I am back in the UK now, in order to catch up with family and friends.  Although it is supposed to be summertime, the weather is rather cool and very rainy, with maximum temps of around 20 degrees celcius (maybe!).

It is a little weird to be back in a country where people are ever so polite, while also being able to winge about everything.  After the surliness of Russians in shops and restaurants, I have become very surly and non-communicative myself.  After a trip to Russia, it is almost impossible to wish anyone a nice day or smile.  This tends to cause British people issues, as they wonder whether they have offended you.

It is quite good to be non-communicative in Britain, as any form of communication will result in endless complaining.  I do not joke when I have heard the following wingeing:

- Complaints about 20 degrees being too cold – and then you hear someone else complain that it is too hot within 5 minutes of the first complaint –  Warm how weather also provides British people with the ability to complain about how awfully hot it can be on public transport;

- Complaints about it raining too much – within a couple of minutes you hear someone else complain that it is not raining enough for the lawn to be properly watered;

- Complaints about holidaying abroad, as people do not speak enough english – if British holiday within Britain, they will complain about the weather (Note to myself: this appears to be a common theme);

- Complaints about beer or wine being too warm or too cold;

- Complaints about any form of transport appear to be a common theme, even though I have been blown away by the efficiency and regularity of train and bus services in London, and also in some of the regional centres.  British people have been horrified to hear my opinion on how good and cheap their rail services were from England to Wales.

- Complaints about the cost of everything, even though heaps of things appear to be reasonably priced, especially when you stroll around the supermarket.

Maybe I have more British roots than I originally thought – I have suddenly realised that I am complaining about people who complain too much.  It is definitely time for me to think about heading home….

Final days in Russia

The final few days in Russia were quite a blast, as summer was in full swing in Moscow and St Petersburg.

TRAVELLING COMPANION DRAMAS.

It’s really tough travelling with a small group of 7 people on a trip that requires us to be restricted to comfined spaces – eg. sleeping compartments in trains.

It’s even tougher when one person in the group is a complete bitch who speaks condescendingly to everyone she meets along the way.  For the sake of discretion, I’ll call her Princess Sheila.   Sheila is a desperately single girl and she loves telling everyone lots of endlessly boring stories that give the impression that her home town of Brisbane is vaguely exciting.  For example, they even have Nepalese restaurants there (big deal).  Princess Sheila did not drink during the entire trip, although we did get to hear about how she got drunk once with a bottle of passion pop or some such alcoholic beverage back when she was 18.  Too bad that she 28 years old now, heading for 76 years old.  I pity any poor guy who met up with her on that fateful evening. 

By the end of the trip, Princess Sheila had managed to make two other girls on the trip cry, because they thought that the other people on the trip did not like them.  Other events included a stand off where the split group and people did not talk to each other for three days (once again initiated by malicious rumours that were spread by Princess Sheila).  I guess this all goes back to simple psychology stuff, where you stick a bunch of rats together in a room and eventually they will tear each other apart.  This is what it can be like on a Trans Siberian trip if you do not get to stay in glamourous places.  Thankfully, everyone got on well by the end of the trip, as life is way too short to hold grudges.  I think Princess Sheila will have held plenty of grudges, as no one added her as a friend on facebook – the ultimate insult in this modern age…

ST PETERSBURG

St Petersburg marked the end of this epic overland journey, and it is a very fitting place to end a trip with the highest levels of splendour and over-the-top architectural oppulence.

Peter the Great had a thing for Venice, so he ordered that the city be built in a manner than could rival the beauty of Venice.  And the result is quite impressive.  I managed to drag myslef around the Hermatage Musuem for a few hours, as it has an extensive collection of art from most parts of the world, with a heavy emphasis on classical European painting from the 1600s onwards.  It is so vast that ou become a bit numb after seeing painting after painting.  On of the best highlights of the museum is the incredible collection of Roman and Greek sculptures – so it was a good lesson in Roman and Greek mythology.

We also did a fantastic boat trip through the extensive canal network in St Petersburg – and the weather remained bright and sunny until late at night, given that it is the middle of summer.

St Petersburg also had a huge variety of food and drink, so we dined in some more unusual establishments – namely Ukrainian and Armenian restaurants.  I did not participate in any folk dancing….

So overall it was great fun to traverse this huge country from Siberia to St Petersurg.  As the cities and towns became more civilised as you head westward, it was definitely the best direction.  It also made me think that Russia is a bit of a sleeping giant, given that there is a huge amount of wealth in the big cities, and they have access to heaps of oil on the Siberian portion of the country.  It’ll be interesting to visit again sometime in the future to see how things change.