I met a genuine Russian today!

[Marc]

I remember when my father come back to Catalunya after a short business trip to the Soviet Union. It was in 1982, the year of the Moscow Olympic Games. He brought back with him a few films in Super 8mm format, some of them shot in places where he was not supposed to film. I only remember the images of soviet soldiers marching at "goose step" in the red square and some images from a museum devoted to the Soviet space race. But taking into account that I was only seven years old and I still remember them, I suppose those images impressed me very much!

The next time I saw a russian soldier was in machinegun nest near a bridge in Pristina. This time, the russian (not soviet) soldier impressed me very much, too. But in a very different way. He seems too much young and, though dressed in his combat fatigues and fully equiped, the uniform seemed enourmos for him. He was standing at the side of the road, surrounded by mud, but wearing trainers instead of boots. I don't know if this is representative of the state of the russian army at that moment, but it was difficult not to feel sad for him.

BTW, amazing anecdote Littlearmies!

[Mohoender]

Originally Posted by Marc

The next time I saw a russian soldier was in machinegun nest near a bridge in Pristina. This time, the russian (not soviet) soldier impressed me very much, too. But in a very different way. He seems too much young and, thought dressed in his combat fatigues and fully equiped, the uniform seemed enourmos for him. He was standing at the side of the road, surrounded by mud, but wearing trainers instead of boots. I don't know if this is representative of the state of the russian army at that moment, but it was difficult not to feel sad for him.

BTW, amazing anecdote Littlearmies!

It was certainly representative of the Russian army not that long ago.

[Littlearmies]

I'd certainly second the recommendation for Sam Adams beer (although I'd say it was closer to IPA than lager).

The rough bottom to create effervesence has been around at least twelve years in Europe (I think it was Kronenbourg who introduced into British pint glasses in around 97/98 - you can tell which geek used to work for a beer company 10 years ago). The idea arose because it was found that bubbles formed around minute specks of dirt on the inside of the glass (if you find your beer has "big" bubbles forming on the side of the glass it's an indicator the glass isn't as clean as it should be) and was adapted from that.

My personal faves include Leffe Blonde (perfect to refresh the palate after a tough day's wine tasting) and Deuchars - both Heavy and IPA. Some of those fruit flavoured Belgian beers are fun to get into and try....but creep up on you as they don't taste alcoholic.

I wound up sending one of those Russians food parcels (he had commented how hard it was to find candy for his kids) for a few months - I remember them all being fascinated that I could have a "second home" and not be "rich" or need a licence.