Jenny the weather girl on CNN couldn't have been more right when she said winter was coming back. It now certainly has, and let me tell you that it's pretty drastic when it drops down to just 3°C from the 23°C of just two days ago!
But it can't be said that it has a drastic effect on my life, so I won't moan and complain.

I couldn't help but watch the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-finals last night, although the only channel that showed it was TVE Internacional (Spanish TV), at least the commentator didn't go as far as translating the lyrics of the songs as some of those Russians do (no, I'm serious). I do however feel that the whole thing doesn't feel the same now that there are two shows with so many songs (most awful of course, but that's the Eurovision), although on the other hand I couldn't imagine sitting a whole evening watching in excess of 36 songs from as many countries with as many performers making such idiots of themselves as tends to be tradition at this event.
What I will say about last night though is that some songs deserved to go through to the finals (to be held on Saturday evening, or actually night on Moscow time) and some were, well, uncommentable (again, if this isn't a word I do apologise, but it fits). My personal favourite was that of Serbia & Montenegro, they weren't trying to be something they were not, and I loved the outfit the singer was wearing (gotta go to Belgrade soon).
Now, it's just a couple of days till we know how bad the Icelandic song is gonna do and who will turn out to win (wouldn't surprise me if it were Greece, Sweden or Ukraine). If you feel like it you can always go ahead and have a look at the songs and videos of Saturday's contestants aswell as yesterday's relegated songs at www.eurovision.tv, under Multimedia something.

"... and in Northern Europe, winter's coming back!"
That's what Jenny weathergirl on CNN told us this morning and she couldn't have been more right. Even though it's a pleasant 15°C and partly cloudy, the outlook isn't that great.

I guess the dead man I saw today was a bad omen or something.
Yes, DEAD, as in lying on a concrete bench (this is Russia) with his hands in an awkward position dangling from the sides of his huge bloated and blue body. Well, he was of course in clothes, but seeing the face of him was enough to convince even the stupidest of all that he had been dead like all day. Of course the fact that there were 2 Militsya men there too waiting for the medical coroner added to the weird atmosphere around the scene.
I tell you, never a dull moment in Moscow!

And even more so now that yours truly has started learning the language of those people surrounding him all day.
And let me tell you, it sure isn't easy. It's more like a 1,000,000 piece puzzle where you think you got something right, but then see that it's infact so wrong that you're thrown off course for the next couple of hours/days/weeks. But a month or two shouldn't hurt. My teacher's called Nana, and yes, she's somewhere around 60, with dyed reddish/brownish/orange hair and if somebody said the Air France check-in staff at Heathrow had caked make-up, then wait till you see Nana, the mother of über-caked make up and smeared lipstick.