Back in the USSR

[TimothyN]

In the 80s, I used to drive around the Soviet Union a fair bit, in my capacity as an executive jet pilot.

There were many things to dislike and despise about the place, the fact that nothing mechanical worked, that the food was awful and the people permanently drunk. But the thing that really defined it for me was the potholes. Roads that we would consider virtually impassible because of the potholes.

Well, here we are…

 

[T1 Terry]

In the 80s, I used to drive around the Soviet Union a fair bit, in my capacity as an executive jet pilot.

There were many things to dislike and despise about the place, the fact that nothing mechanical worked, that the food was awful and the people permanently drunk. But the thing that really defined it for me was the potholes. Roads that we would consider virtually impassible because of the potholes.

Well, here we are…

Back in the USSR, you don't know how luck you are .......

T1 Terry

 

[OriginalBigAl]

In the 90s a friend went to Moscow . He and his wife went into a posh restaurant and ordered a meal. About 20 mins later they heard a familiar "ding" followed by the arrival of their obviously pre -frozen then microwaved scram, and a very beaming waiter who thought this new technology was the bees knees.

 

[MG Clive]

Back in the USSR, you don't know how luck you are .......

T1 Terry

Yes that's what it means to me as well.

 

[TimothyN]

I do remember buying breakfast for the crew (2 pilots and hosts) in Alma Ata (as it was called then) and my $1 bill being refused as far too much, they didn't have the change.

 

[TimothyN]

Yes that's what it means to me as well.

Um, yes, derr.

 

[salty]

Had 3 days in Moscow. Was there for the 2008 Champions league final. Man Utd v
Chelsea at the Luzhnikl Stadium.
(Man Utd fan) Really enjoyed it, particularly as we won.

 

[Ian Key]

My friend and his partner rode their motorbikes across Europe, through Mongolia and then into Russia to ride the Road of Bones (The Kolyma Highway). Unfortunately due to the time limit on their visas they could only do part of it and had to put themselves and their bikes on a train to get back through Russia.

At the border crossing there was a 24 hour delay and one of the Russian guards put them up in his house overnight and even gave them one of his caps as a memento.

 

[GaryMG4]

My only experience of the USSR was a brief trip to Moscow to see the Bolshoi ballet in the 1980s. There was a company, Canterbury Travel I think , that did a series of Flights of Fantasy trips on a chartered Concord. We departed Heathrow in the morning, a quick flight to Moscow, off to the ballet, back to the hotel for a banquet meal at around 11pm which I think was mostly caviar, vodka and dried meat, a wander around Red Square. The following day was breakfast, a brief coach tour of Moscow followed by a trip to Gum, back on Concord and Heathrow. Of Moscow I remember very little, wide roads with little traffic, seeing queues of people outside food shops.

 

[Rolfe]

Wow! What did you see?

 

[GaryMG4]

Wow! What did you see?

It was advertised as swan lake but turned out to be nutcracker. My then partner was into ballet, I was starting to enjoy classical music so we were both happy with the performance.

 

[Rolfe]

Oh dear! I hope you weren't specifically going for the advertised show.

(The best I can do is a tourist performance of Swan Lake in a small theatre in St Petersburg in 2016.)

 

[GaryMG4]

Oh dear! I hope you weren't specifically going for the advertised show.

(The best I can do is a tourist performance of Swan Lake in a small theatre in St Petersburg in 2016.)

No, she was a little disappointed but enjoyed the nutcracker anyway and I just wanted to go on Concord.

 

[Rolfe]

Nutcracker is good. (As I typed that, it got a name-check on the radio.)

Much more of this and I'll be telling you my theory of how Swan Lake is basically Götterdämmerung with the serial numbers filed off.