27th February 2011, 4pm
Venue: Blythe Room, Clare Colony, Chesterton Lane, Cambridge
This time, the evening was focused on people’s personal reminiscences and perceptions – what we now remember and how we now feel about the not-so-remote Soviet past, what our children make of it, what we would rather forget, and what we shall always cherish…
In a warm and friendly atmosphere, we shared our versatile experiences – those of us who had lived there and then, and those who had only heard the stories:
- personal witnesses of the “Doctors’ Plot”;
- foreign travels with the Bolshoy Theatre artistic cohort, at the times when they tried to save every penny;
- visiting the Soviet Union for the first time ever and getting arrested for trespassing;
- mastering colloquial Russian and confusing a pub with a brothel!
- everyday-life contrasts in the USSR – being christened and joining the Young Pioneers on the same day;
- receiving a parcel from Poland with masses of hidden chewing gum;
- meeting Bulat Okudjava,
- and Pyotr Kapitsa, and many more…
PLUS authentic Russian vodka reception with “zakuski”, and amazing, freshly baked rye bread, still warm, that had just been delivered by Andris Cerin from his own, newly open bakery in King’s Lynn.
The evening ended in beautiful, nostalgic singing to the guitar, by Antonina Meshko and Valentin Rusinov.
<a href=”http://www.camruss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Maslenitsa.jpg”><img class=”alignleft size-full wp-image-3680″ alt=”Maslenitsa” src=”http://www.camruss.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Maslenitsa.jpg” width=”180″ height=”131″ /></a>
