Autobiographical

My life and the future

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  • Back to reality – the final countdown 

    After a carefree year teaching at the school complex near Sofia Antipolis in the south of France and working there in the summer basking in the sun, the return to England in September 1986 was marked by rain and cloudy weather yet again. The time abroad had an adverse impact, in particular, on my Russian…

  • An idyllic summer in the south, barring the near-death experience

    When the year came to its inevitable end and I said my farewells to both pupils and teachers, I really didn’t want to leave. I had no desire to return to England after a break of nine months, which was no doubt the reason why I had been more than happy to spend time with…

  • Life as an English assistant teacher: sun, copious amounts of wine and a minimal amount of teaching 

    The Complexe Scolaire de Valbonne or Valbonne School Complex (now the College and Lycee of the Centre International de Valbonne) looked massive to me, consisting of two state schools offering both the French curriculum and an international section, with some foreign students. Most importantly, unlike other English teaching assistants placed in the region and other…

  • Back to reality, France on the horizon and a romance to ruin all plans

    After the three-month break from university in the USSR and the subsequent Christmas and New Year holidays, it proved hard to settle back to the daily study routine, in part due to family issues that may warrant attention at some point.  Admittedly, I felt far more confident about my Russian language skills and found it…

  • The Soviet Union, the KGB, forever wars, double talk and George Orwell 

    One final word on those three unforgettable months in the USSR. It would be remiss of me not to mention here Tatiana, a lovely girl from Voronezh who made the experience far more enjoyable and fascinating than it otherwise would have been. She left an indelible and positive mark on me.  The relationship also led…

  • Time in Russia’s second city where the food and atmosphere belied its status

    In the previous entry, I intimated that we were going to Saint Petersburg. Of course back in 1984 it was known as Leningrad. The city had initially been called Sankt Petersburg after Saint Peter by Tsar Peter the Great in June 1703, becoming the capital of the Russian empire in 1712. A little over 200…

  • Street fine, socialising, vodka, beer and different roaches

    Looking back, those previous entries conjure up a sombre mood of the despair of life in the sticks, whereas most of the foreign students made the most of the time to build friendships and improve their Russian. There were some, however, who stomped around aggressively, sounding off all the time on the infinite advantages of…

  • Living in the past and afraid of the future 

    Voronezh was the epitome of a smaller Russian city, defined by the focus on the past, the mythologisation of the Great Patriotic War and the constant refrain of the all-encompassing nuclear risk that could only be averted by the constant vigilance of the USSR. Any external interference from the West should be prevented at all…

  • A New Reality: Trains, Toilets and Termites

    So Voronezh it was. A relatively small town in the South-West of Russia, with a population of approximately 850,000 in 1984, located 535 kilometres from Moscow. To get there, we were loaded onto a rickety overnight train. As it was still September, I couldn’t fathom why everyone was wearing boots. Late at night in almost…

  • Behind the Iron Curtain: Cold as Ice

    At least, that was the initial reaction we all had when we landed (what a classic hit from Foreigner, though). Perceptions change over time though. Today it is very hard to imagine the size of the Soviet Union –  over twenty-two million kilometres, with Russia accounting for seventeen million. According to a 1989 census of the…