[midnight vigil] the long road out of town

There's a gi-normous Russian church on the Moscow road which was rebuilt after communism was swept away and it's gone from strength to strength.

I have to confess I haven't been there in years but all reports say that it gets a huge number of visitors. One turns off the main highway and follows the lead in road some kilometres, from memory and there it is - stuck out on its own, with little around it.

Of course, Russian churches are never one building. There are a number of them plus outhouses, accommodation for the monks and so on and the cupolas are their distinctive feature. Inside, the golden framed icons on the walls are also pretty stunning.

You can imagine last evening how many cars would have left the city just before midnight and here's the thing - many of them are nominally Muslim people. It's just that everyone knows the experience is a great one, the midnight vigil, the candles, the long, long service, the buzz.

I know this because my girlfriend described it to me and she's anything but religious. Why don't I go, if I'm so religious? I'm not and I hate crowds. I'm too much of a curmudgeon and I wouldn't have understood the biblical Russian anyway. I was there in spirit.

Today we have snow, can you believe? My friend just now, on the phone, said it was a present for us and there's certainly an atmosphere about for sure.

Just phoned a grandmother I know and had a long conversation in Russian. This is always enjoyable because those more my age or younger make allowances for my Russian and can speak English anyway.

But this lady is of the old school and only knows Russian so I have to be 'on song', paying particular attention to accent, otherwise we wouldn't understand one another. She also cooks Russian of the 'all day to prepare' variety and her cuisine is out of this world.

Now the sun's just broken out. Have a good day, all of you out there.