Perm - city of culture

Got the day (or rather night) wrong for my flight to Perm, and so had to do one of those running to the airport things, and then get onto a plane leaving at 1.30 and arriving at 5.30 in the morning (2 hour flight, 2 hour time difference) and then go straight into the conference, and my session and then all those associated 'performing animal' meetings and greetings and meals. Finally to this room - called the Extreme - trying and failing to be a downtown boutique hotel. I quite like it in a funny kind of a way, although the lovely translator delegated to keeping me happy said she found it scary.

fireworks time (at a distance)

After a sunny day - and I still can't deal with the idea that Moscow is very hot in the summer so I now have sunburn - we are in the middle of a cracking thunderstorm with black clouds and torrential rain.

But, because I wanted to share, I got a very wet arm by sticking my little camera out of the balcony window, to bring you this snap of the Victory Day fireworks. Pretty difficult to see I know, so you will just have to believe me (and imagine for yourself the splashes of reds and greens as well as whites, and the loud bangs and the drunken singing going on all around.)

veterans

What was inspiring - and also sobering - was the presence of many elderly uniformed and be-medalled veterans in the crowd. Victory Day (День Победы Den Pobedy) commemorates those who died in Great Patriotic War/WWII and celebrates survivors and veterans. People carry flowers - mainly carnations - to give to any veterans they see. Sobering both because it is a reminder that in what became the Soviet Union (USSR) an unbelievable number of people - 26.6 million - lost their lives in that war. And because here are individuals who witnessed the regimes of both Hitler and Stalin, as well as the more recent upheavals of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin. Hard to imagine what lives like these have been like.

The photographer, James Hill, has been taking portraits of veterans on Victory Day over the last 4 years. He currently has an exhibition of this work at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (MMOMA) until May 23 2010, as part of the current Moscow Photobiennale. For some examples click here.

crowd scenes

What I did see was lots of crowd anticipation at the beginning- and also people leaving, packing up flags and instruments and things at the end. The atmosphere was terrific, everyone relaxed in the sun and having a good time. And every type of Moscovite, from elderly gentlemen dressed up in ancient dark suits and homburg hats, through to young skateboarding dudes, women tottering along on their high heels in hot-pants with children in tow, plenty of families and - most surprising to me (which shows just how it easy it is to imagine the stereotypical russian as a shapka wearing, black coated, slightly depressive winter type of person ) - lots of people in sleeveless tees, shorts, flip-flops and even hawaiian shirts.

missed it!

Well, a beautiful sunny day today with a clear sky and a light breeze, so perfect weather for Victory Day. Embarrassed to admit to it, but I missed the parade itself. First there were control checkpoints for getting close all along the Tverskaya route; and then having blagged my way into Red Square I managed somehow to find myself beyond the cordon again (due to a being distracted by nipping into Zara in GUM probably!) And then, by the time I made my way back to Pushkin Square, everything had already gone by.

So I have to watch the Russia Today video on YouTube like you ( whilst taking note of an - accurate - comment posted beneath that "RT really did a horrible job on this one. Instead of a bunch of un-informed amateur commentators they should have just TRANSLATED what was said in the loud speakers for everyone to hear at the parade".)

wearing the ribbon

Tried to take a surreptitious photograph of these young women on the metro - obviously unsuccessfully - because I wanted to show the black and yellow ribbon tied around the handbag of the girl in the middle. This is a georgievskaya lenta, or St George's Ribbon, worn - like the poppy in England - to commemorate bravery during the War, and a lot of people are wearing it, usually in a single, crossed loop.

preparations

Victory Day, next Sunday 9th May, is a big and important affair, especially with this being the 65th anniversary of the capitulation of the Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in the Second World War (known here as the Great Patriotic War).

The preparations are serious too. Moscow News has a story about the replica of Red Square which has been built in the village of Alabino, south-west of Moscow, for training soldiers over the last two months. And Ria Novosti, the state owned news agency, has a must-see video (if only for the glories of the voice-over) entitled Repainting military equipment for Victory Day parade.

Easter stall

Easter isn't a holiday here; as with Christmas it is a leftover from Soviet period when religious festivals were ignored. People go to church and decorate eggs and bake special cakes, but otherwise you would hardly notice.

Didn't even eat any chocolate.