Russian Football: Capello's pay woes

News reports suggest that Fabio Capello, manager of the Russian football team, isn't receiving his salary. Hmm, working in Russia and your employers not paying you or not fulfilling contractual obligations... can't imagine that... not!

Capello incognito after a string of mediocre results.

Capello claims that he hasn't been paid for five months. Maybe that's true; maybe his salary is being paid in another currency but linked to the Rouble so it just feels like he's getting nothing in comparison.

Indestructible?

Adler, Russia, 2011

Indestructible?

I'm currently reading Bill Bryson's The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, an autobiographical account of him growing up in the US in the 1950s. It's an enjoyable read and humorous in a gentle, self-effacing way that seems in keeping with such an anglophile. Anyway, enough of that tangent... so, I'm sure you're wondering why someone writing about Russia would mention 50s America. This short extract made me think of two periods of my life:

Happily, we were indestructible. We didn't need seat belts, airbags, smoke detectors, bottled water or the Heimlich manoeuvre. We didn't require child safety caps on our medicines. We didn't need helmets when we rode our bikes or pads for our knees and elbows when we went skating. We knew without written reminding that bleach was not a refreshing drink and that gasoline when exposed to a match had a tendency to combust. We didn't have to worry about what we ate because nearly all foods were good for us: sugar gave us energy, red meat made us strong, ice cream gave us healthy bones, coffee kept us alert and purring productively. (pp105-106)

 

It transported me back to two times in my life... the first period was when my face was as bald as my forehead is now, in the UK twenty-odd years ago... days when I used to play outside, jump off walls without thinking about how my knees would cope with the impact, whizz down the road on my scooter and climb trees blissfully unaware of the possibility of falling.

The other time was...

baby food

The Director of Studies and I had to interview a five-year old with a view to her having lessons. The little girl, having lived in Boston, USA, for 2 years had an impressive level of English for her age. Also there were her mother and 6-month old sister. Using a book for prompts, she was asked about her favourite food - burgers. Then Helen asked, “Does your sister like burgers?”

KVN/ КВН

KVN, pronounced ka-veh-en, is a national institution. The Club of the Joyful and Inventive is like the Cambridge Footlights kind of sketches and Whose Line Is it Anyway? turned into a competition. It takes the form of clubs, teams often from universities, who compete against each other at city level, regionally and nationally.

Higher Level Contest, from an official video

Meat disguised as chewing gum

AFP report that Russian customs officials have seized EU meat disguised as chewing gum...

The Smell

I could smell it. Walking around our 8th floor flat, there was a definite smell. I was walking around the flat, in that manner unique to locating an odour - head up, neck stretched, nose jutting out, like a feeding chicken stuck on peck.

could be a chicken; could be me sniffing in search of a smell

Russia: A Victim of Bad Press?

It's fair to say that Russia has something of an image problem. Despite the opportunity offered by this year's Winter Olympics to win new friends, Russia is in fact doing the opposite. In addition to the obvious, major candidate of Crimea and Ukraine, there is a steady stream of minor news stories relating to issues such as racism, freedom of speech and homophobia.

Screenshot of the Guardian website today