GENEROSITY OF RUSSIANS MAKES A TRIP TO REMEMBER

IT’S this nation’s people, with their kindness, who are creating some indelible memories. On Thursday I left my phone on the back seat of a Volgograd taxi but recovering it seemed impossible. Yet Yana Kurilov, who works at the Ring Hotel, arranged for her husband Denis and friend Tania Khalipa to drive me, in 40C heat, to track down the volunteer who booked the cab. The driver tells him he cannot see it but four hours later calls the hotel to say he’s found it. Yana and Denis go from their home to the taxi office to collect it and return it to me. That’s humanity!

IN St Petersburg, a melancholic boat tour guide tells how it is when summertime’s ‘white nights’ of 3am daylight have gone. He describes the ‘black days’ of winter, when it’s dark as you leave for work at 8am, dark again at 3pm and you ‘just want to go to bed because it’s minus 30.’ And then he quotes Alexander Pushkin. ‘I love thee, city of Peter’s making, I love thy harmonies austere...’ Life in Russia can be challenging but its people love their land.

IT’S a good month to bury bad news. At the excellent Chilli bar in Moscow, my friend Vasily relates how a rise in the retirement age from 60 to 65 for men, 55 to 63 women had been quietly announced. A ban on mass gatherings during the World Cup makes protest difficult.

THE pre-knockout stage haircut has been accomplished. At Fop’s in St Petersburg some rudimentary trimming ensued and a request to ‘take a bit more off the top’, with accompanying scissors gesture, was met with a quizzical look before some more topiary with the trimmer.