ROBBIE

Also, I went to the big Moscow Robbie Williams gig on Sunday evening. The perfect way to round off a holiday weekend.

Well, I was treated to the sight of Robbie a) speaking quite a lot of Russian, b) Cossack dancing, c) parading around with a big Russian flag, and d), saying "Fu*ing hell, I'm in Russia" about ten times. Plus he had his dad with him.

I went with Julia, and being American she had almost no idea who Robbie was. "He looks like a boxer. Is he gay? Surely he's not a singer? How old is he? Did he really use to be in a boy band?" But hey, she liked it.

KALUGA HO

We've just had a three day holiday weekend. I'd like to tell you which holiday we were celebrating, but even the Russians here didn't exactly seem sure. Perhaps something to do with the constitution? Or the revolution? Or both?

Anyway, we decided to get out of Moscow for a day or two so four of us took the train down to Kaluga, about 200km south of Moscow. In my first year in Russia I was working in Kaluga region but never made it to the regional capital. So it has been an unfulfilled ambition - until now. Actually, another reason we went to Kaluga was that we could get there on the electric 'local' train, rather than the book-in-advance overnight trains which tend to be pretty full on holidays. The local trains also cost peanuts - about one pound fifty all the way to Kaluga.

So we arrived in Kaluga. A very old city, with almost no Soviet buildings. It was disconcerting not to see tower blocks everywhere. There are even some wooden houses left in the city centre.

We totally failed to find a hotel to stay in. All except two were full; of those two, one only had one room left, and the other refused to let us stay there when they found out we were foreign. Seriously. So we did what any self-respecting young people would do and stayed in a club until the morning. Actually we managed to get a table so we just sat, ate and drank the night away. We also got into trouble for playing cards, which is apparently *absolutely forbidden* in Russian clubs and bars. Didn't know that.

As we tried to leave the club, we got accosted by some drunk Russians who made us drink vodka with them. I don't know why I'm telling you this, as it barely counts as an anecdote any more. My flatmate poured his vodka into a potplant though, as it was either that or vomit on some strangers. Which would have been a better anecodote.

When we finally managed to leave the club, we had the brilliant and not entirely sober idea of finding a train to an entirely different provincial city. So we turned up at the station only to find no trains but a big, warm, clean bus with a 'MOSKVA' sign. It seemed like fate. So we returned home. That was our very brief trip away - 13 hours in Kaluga!

A SERIOUS POST?

Never! Actually, I was just wondering how much you were getting in the western media about the whole Yukos / Yabloko scandal that kicked off here recently. It's pretty big news over here, and what with the Duma elections in December it doesn't look like it's going to sort itself out any time soon.

It also means that Putin will have almost no opposition on any level. As much as I respect him as a leader, it's still pretty scary. He's got the media sewn up pretty tight too; there was a big crackdown after the Dubrovka theatre terrorism thing.

Oh. The scandal did hit the rouble briefly but then, annoyingly for me, the government acted to shore it up so the exchange rate is still pretty unfavourable. Bah. I'm still waiting for the sudden collapse that will make me rich beyond my wildest dreams. Or at least let me afford a new DVD player!

WAR - WHAT'S IT GOOD FOR?

Okay, so one more Jason-related incident.

On the Sunday, Jason's last full day in Moscow, I took him to that most typical and representative of Russian cultural events - the Napoleonic battle re-enactment.

This basically involved shivering in the snow on a hillside about 100km south of Moscow, while lots of very drunk Russian men pretended to be very drunk Russian or French soldiers. The re-enactment was to commemorate the battle of Maloyaroslavets in 1812, in which the Russians, after having previously and rather cunningly burnt down their own capital city, got trounced yet again by Napoleon. The battle was a bit of a pyrrhic victory for the French, though, and it forced them to run home east rather than carrying on pressing south to the warmer, sunnier bits of Russia. The wusses.

Actually, as Napoleonic battle re-enactments go, this one was a bit of a corker. Not only did they have horses, and big cannons that actually went bang, but they had also put up little wooden buildings to torch whenever they got too cold. I did pity the soldiers that 'died' in the first five minutes of the battle and who then had to lie in the snow for the next hour and a half...

Another particularly fine aspect of this event was the running commentary. Some bloke in a van at the top of the hill had loudspeakers and obviously thought he was a sports commentator: "And the French are coming up on the left , oh but that's a bold move by the Russian cavalry..." Well, it kept me amused.

Jason and I also met up with some friends of mine from my first year here in Russia (who had told me about the re-enactment), so Jason got to meet some real Russians and experience real Russian hospitality. This basically involved forcing him to drink strange, nameless and incredibly syrupy spirits. I'm sure he was very grateful for the whole day. But hey, what are friends for?