tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8932024.post9117850886959636247..comments2023-06-18T14:28:19.967+00:00Comments on Shades of Grey- retired: [russia] depoliticization and the scramble for comfortShadeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07777836927500400430noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8932024.post-52526850667890909282007-08-25T04:26:00.000+00:002007-08-25T04:26:00.000+00:00You bring a very realistic perspective on day to d...You bring a very realistic perspective on day to day life James. All we get is that Putin is a bully and wants to cause trouble. I think the only thing I read about Russia this week was the return of practice bombing runs by Russian Planes towards the UK. The photograph was fantastic, obviously taken from the cockpit of one of the planes. <BR/><BR/>I can understand why you might want to raise some blog income, given the cost of living. This seems to be a world wide issue. Australian inflation is heading up and we have seen an explosion in the cost of almost everything in the last five years and very noticeably in the last two.Colin Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14991363859883869289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8932024.post-73851485441875156302007-08-22T15:27:00.000+00:002007-08-22T15:27:00.000+00:00Yes, fabulous post. You really bring home the rat...Yes, fabulous post. You really bring home the rate of change there. Such a nice description of your flat, too and I see where you are coming from on credit now. Couldn't you get these articles published in a British newspaper? They'd be real eye-openers for most people.Welshcakes Limoncellohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17209759237794290941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8932024.post-39763256933650943242007-08-22T15:20:00.000+00:002007-08-22T15:20:00.000+00:00This is a very interesting post James. You are an...This is a very interesting post James. You are answering questions which I have never had the nerve to ask my good Russian friend. She lives in Moscow, was a scientist herself although now retired. She comes with her physicist husband twice a year to Vancouver for two months at a time, for him to use the cyclotron and has done so for more than ten years. She speaks a little about the difficulties of life in Moscow although not much.<BR/><BR/>However last year both her husband and mine had malignant melanomas, both removed in operations, his with serious side effects, my husband with less side effects, but still nasty.<BR/><BR/>She told me that it cost them $8,000 while it cost us nothing for the two ops my husband had under our medicare system. I can't imagine how they could have afforded it, but they did somehow.<BR/><BR/>They have never owned a car and she does not drive. I don't know what his arrangement is here, if he is paid additionally by someone here. One doesn't ask but I do know that life is not easy for them there and she loves her life when she is in Vancouver. She says she feels more at home here, probably because she has made very good friends in this international group of women that I consider my friends.<BR/>regards<BR/>jmbjmbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13563252743976699923noreply@blogger.com