Aurora

On October 25, 1917, a shot from the gun on the forecastle of the cruiser Aurora here signalled the start of the Bolshevik revolution in St Petersburg that led to the formation of the Soviet Union.

This morning was as grey as the battleship and pouring rain scuppered my plan to walk to the ship. So on the way to the airport I asked the taxi driver to stop there briefly so I could get this snap. Just as well because the walk would have been a lot longer than I thought and time was limited. Gill preferred it in colour (she always does) but I've been enjoying looking at old black and white pictures of Russians in WW1 and during the revolution.

The guns from the ship were removed during WWII and used in the defence of the city, then called Leningrad. The siege lasted 872 days and claimed the lives of more than 800,000 civilians and a million soldiers in the Red Army. The German casualty figures are unknown. Less well known than Anne Frank's diary is the diary of Tanya Savicheva that noted the deaths of all her immediate family from starvation. Tanya too did not survive the war.

It's been a hectic weekend for the extended family with the newly weds in Yosemite, George up in Yorkshire, John at Glastonbury, Gill at Wimbledon and me in Russia. It really doesn't feel like a Monday.

I've just finished reading World War Z and quite enjoyed it, a bit different from the Goldfinch and I'm glad now that it's over. All those zombies have been giving me nightmares. I can never get lost in fiction for fiction's sake without trying asking why or how questions or thinking something's a bit far fetched. Look, Richard, they're zombies, they just are. Oh, OK then..... but what if.......?

A few shots from the trip.
Extreme 40s.