11/11: The Brothers Memorial
It was eleven o'clock this morning in this part of Siberia, on November 11th, six hours earlier than the British remembrance ceremony but nobody else was counting. I stood at the quietest of the monuments that I know of in Berdsk for my two minutes silence, probably the nearest I get to a religious ceremony these days. The Brothers Memorial is of course devoted to those citizens of Berdsk who died, brothers in arms, in the Great Patriotic War (Russia vs Germany, 1941 - 1945). However, it suited my purpose. The allies too could be considered brothers in arms, and the monument is an unobtrusive obelisk, not unlike the type to be found in town squares all over Britain.
The temperature was minus 14 but I was favoured by a lack of wind over the time I was at the monument on the edge of the central park beside Ploshad Gorkova, Gorki Square to the rest of us. (No, not Gorki Park; that's a huge place in Moscow.) The wind came up on the walk home and my toes and hands got to know about it. I withdrew my fingers within their gloves, balling them into my hands for warmth. Soon, I must buy some mittens. If the temperature drops further, I may also wear more in the way of socks.
The Russians' Victory Day was held in May, as previously written about in the blog. The British Remembrance Day has given me some repeat material for my lessons. People were interested and respectful, checking out the vocabulary ('age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn'). I was also able to wheel out probably the best thing that Stalin ever said, on the subject of the Second World War: "The Americans paid in money, the Russians paid in blood and the British kept the whole thing going." I guess that's good old British bloody-mindedness for you.
The temperature was minus 14 but I was favoured by a lack of wind over the time I was at the monument on the edge of the central park beside Ploshad Gorkova, Gorki Square to the rest of us. (No, not Gorki Park; that's a huge place in Moscow.) The wind came up on the walk home and my toes and hands got to know about it. I withdrew my fingers within their gloves, balling them into my hands for warmth. Soon, I must buy some mittens. If the temperature drops further, I may also wear more in the way of socks.
The Russians' Victory Day was held in May, as previously written about in the blog. The British Remembrance Day has given me some repeat material for my lessons. People were interested and respectful, checking out the vocabulary ('age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn'). I was also able to wheel out probably the best thing that Stalin ever said, on the subject of the Second World War: "The Americans paid in money, the Russians paid in blood and the British kept the whole thing going." I guess that's good old British bloody-mindedness for you.