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My sister and her husband lived in Moscow for a couple of years . I never visited her , unfortunately .
There are a few little vignettes she gave me which remain in my mind . She spoke of the market , and how the ladies who sell cream have to keep turning the cream to stop it freezing . She also spoke of the flowers sold on the market . They are sold in upright sealed packages , and are protected by a little flame to stop them from freezing . She also said that people walk around drinking beer from cans . She tried it one day , and found that the drops of beer froze as you walked .
My sister was also amazed by the beauty of young Russian women . As Brits , we had always been brought up on sad images of fat peasants selling potatoes . She said that these beautiful women appear from disgracefully filthy lavatories .
Another image : in the office there is a big bottle of medicine ( and I do not mean vodka) for the staff .
Concerning the vodka , she could not believe how they knock it back , and hell , we are British and we know about overdoing the booze . But this is in a whole different sphere . Vodka is delivered from huge tanker-style lorries .
She says that when you go on the train , people have little packages of dried fish . This is special train food .
Talking of trains , I dream of the Trans-Siberian . Anyone done that ? I have only read Theroux on the subject .
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