In which P & K go to market

DAY 7


Check the internet again and find it was all too late re artwork.

Decided to go to lshmaravoa market. But we got there much later than we wanted and the market was closing at 3. It was pretty though. There were still enough stalls around and we were surprised to find that so many stall holders spoke pigeon English and were very happy to banter. We got the hang of that and usually brought the price down by at least half, but I suspect that we were still paying over the odds.

Bought some hats which were a necessity. I had brought to Russia a woollen hat, which did not keep my ears warm against the minus 12 temps. I put on a fluffy real fur hat (a leather cap with very deep maroon fur lining and flaps) and suddenly my ears were toasty warm. It cut out all that bitter wind in an instant and in an instant I realized why the majority of Muscovites wore fur. I am against fur and the wearing of it, but I own up. I bought the hat. K bought a couple of proper army hats – all pretty good value. We then bought a present for my mum – the most beautiful Faberge style egg, which cost £50 – pretty steep, but I knew she’d love it.

Buy more tube tickets for tomorrow. And on the way back bought more food from the garage. Today was J's birthday - phoned her in evening. Mad noise. Can see she wasn’t missing me too much. All at home seemed well. Had tea of bread, ham and butter. Finally think I’m learning the Cyrillic alphabet. Wish I’d learned it before we came out!