Improve your society - Smoke and drink!

I think i'm going to start a section called 'Newspaper article of the day' as I am always amused by some of the stories - usually shocked actually. Today there is a fantastic article regarding smoking and drinking in Russia, I Quote-

'Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin has alighted on a bright new idea to balance the nation's books while improving his countrymen's over all health: "If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates," he said last week. " People should understand: people who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state."

Man, you gotta love this country! They tell it how it is - they like the tax from fags and booze and it helps the economy - the smoker and drinker are keeping the wheels in motion. Ha. The article was regarding the fact that tax on booze and fags is going to be nearly doubled in the next few years - wait a minute folks, I've only just got here - don't double it yet! I guess if a bottle of Vodka is roughly on average £4 and fags are generally about 80p then doubling the fag price won't matter to people but £8 for a bottle of vodka and I could get it cheaper in Asda. No No No.

Also, I was reading today that Russia are willing to scrap the visa entry system between themselves and European Union and have been willing to do so for a while but it's Europe who are holding out. It's as complicated as you would imagine anything to do with Europe would be - but basically they can't offer Russia visa free travel until all the eastern independent states like Azerbaijan are offered it too (there is a reason for this but I can't be bothered to explain it). To be able to have a visa free system the countries involved have to introduce passports and border controls that meet standards laid down in the Schengen agreement - whatever that bloody is. Russia can do this immediately but places like Azerbai- bloody- jan might take years...super.

Went to see more flats yesterday - just Arthur and I. One was in the wrong area, one was Classic Russian style and heh - I don't want to offend any Russians here as I'm liking the Russians, they're mean and moody with a sense of mystery about them - and I love the Slavic look - the cheekbones are amazing and they usually have very long legs - they are now sounding like people from Pan's Labyrinth...I'll stop now. So, I know people outside of my friends realm can see this so I don't want to offend anyone - different styles and all that but my god - it's really not something I could live in - EVER. There is so much ornamentation that you feel instantly claustrophobic - what would normally seem like big rooms are stuffed with pillars with gold leaf and great vases on top of more little pillars. The furniture looks like it has come out of the palace of Versailles  - oh and a stuffed Tiger to boot. There are also mirrors everywhere which don't give you a feeling of more space as they just reflect back stuff you are trying not to look at in the first place..... God I sound mean but maybe this was a particularly extreme version of what they call classic style although the property lady said that this was pretty much the norm and that she wouldn't show me another classic style flat again....indeed.

I did see one flat that could be on the short list - it looks over one of the only parks in the centre and is a great place for Arthur and Alice but the layout was slightly strange and it would mean giving Arthur the master bedroom - would be good for all his toys etc but there was also a balcony which I had initially requested as I think in summer it would be nice to get some fresh air but this balcony stretched along two sides of the flat and seemed a little rickety for my liking...it was made of concrete so rickety is the wrong word but it was old and crumbly! Anyway, my worry was for the cats as I can just imagine a sky diving extravaganza happening within two days of us being there and then I'd never forgive myself! I would have to chicken wire the whole balcony because of animals and Arthur and I was imagining a suntan of small octagons all over me. It's difficult - I like this flat and I like another flat closer to the centre - if I could combine the two then heh - life would be peachy. I guess this is where compromises come in although I'm not going to rush it just yet - supposedly Russians love renting their flats to expat families as they are more reliable and usually longer tenants and so hopefully more will come onto the market.  Anyway, i'm off to see some more in a minute although they're not in an area I particularly like but you never know!

Oh and can people please ignore any spelling or bad sentence structure - I'm becoming paranoid about my terrible writing style - more like how I speak - so just go with it.

....and another thing.......how cool is it to have blog followers (okay, I only have six - don't be mean) and if I get to a certain amount can I become a dictator?.....now this my friends could be interesting.