There is something good about Google’s contextual advertising that we get in our Gmails. Had it not been for a Google ad, I’d not have learnt that a popular 1960s Northern Soul band The Fl...
As they say, “better later than never”. I have mentioned a few times on my Russian blog that January 26th was the date of the Chinese New Year (of the Yellow Ox, no less), as well as the f...
Pay no attention to these well pre-dated Easter adverts (left) – since the weekend, winter has settled in Manchester. I don’t know about you, but I am rather pleased. It has taken 5 years ...
Queen Victoria on ‘Fyvie’ with John Brown at Balmoral, originally uploaded by National Galleries of Scotland. “The key goals of The Commons on Flickr are to firstly show you hidden t...
I am pleased to confirm that I am going to the February concert of this multi-award winning French composer, and if you are Manchester-based you can book your tickets directly from Bridgewater Hall. T...
Alfred Schnittke‘s Minnesang is close to my heart for several reasons. It is a sublime piece of music; it was composed in 1980-1981, so it is nearly the same age as me; and it was inspired by Ge...
A short note about Alexander Pushkin as a favourite artist. 2009 is the 210-th anniversary of Alexander Pushkin‘s birthday. Ten years ago, therefore, Russia and the Russian-speaking world celebr...
In the spirit of my resolutions, I wish the very happy Orthodox Christmas to my Russian readers. As you might know, the Orthodox Christmas is celebrated on January 7th, and what is interesting this ye...
I have written previously that I love streetlights, and it is perhaps only natural that I like to sit in candlelight. I have been doing this very often recently when the dark nights descended on our c...
You will love this video if, like myself, you have always thought that Excel is for those tricky calculations, with too many functions that some folks just love using to produce even trickier results....