Bend over and prepare for your free An*l exam

Travelling just got a whole lot less fun:

PASSENGERS TO THE US

• Cannot carry liquids or gels, including drinks, shampoos, suntan lotions, creams, toothpastes, hair gels and other items of similar consistency as hand luggage.
• Exceptions are baby formula or juice and medicines, including insulin.
• All footwear to be screened prior to boarding.
• Passengers asked to allow more time for check-in.

PASSENGERS TO THE UK

• No restrictions on hand luggage for UK-bound flights.
• Passengers transferring between international flights at a British airport will not be allowed any hand luggage when flying out of Britain, except a single plastic bag holding permitted valuables. This includes:
• Pocket-sized wallets, purses with money, credit cards, identity cards, travel documents and essential medicines.
• Glasses without cases; contact lens holders without bottles of solution.
• Baby food, but parents must taste the milk at screening point to prove it is real.
• Unwrapped sanitary items, tissues and handkerchiefs.
• Keys, but no electrical key fobs.

What they're not offering to do is to actually take care of the items in your checked baggage, or buy you a new pair of glasses when the ones in the plastic bag, with your keys, get the fark scratched out of them.

I give it six months until the first thing you have to do when you get to the airport is bend over, grab your ankles and think of England...

*sigh*

Ein kurzen Besuch

My brother Gleb is here from Novosibirsk - and we're doing a lot of exciting things... like playing cards :) To be perfectly honest we have done a bit of other stuff - been to IMAX 3D, been to see 'Pirates of the Carribean 2', been to the zoo and saw a panda, been to Zitadelle Spandau (used to be a military fortress, pretty cool place), been for a bike ride through Tiergarten, and still some stuff planned before we have to hand him over to parents in Dresden this weekend...

... to see da Queen...

Yes we were in London briefly on the weekend of 21-23rd of July. We managed to fly into the most de-central airport Stanstead but gracious Matt came to pick us up - the drive must have lasted at least an hour and a bit... we were driving some and then there came a sign '24 - London', and only a couple of secs later we realised that it was miles and not kilometers. We actually arrived together with Julia's cousin Simon, who assisted with the partying aspect of the weekend.

We were there to wish Matt a happy 30th b'day and to see everyone. Zoya looks great and it's freaky to think that in just a handful of months there will be a whole new addition to our family - very exciting.

Julia, Simon and I went for a pedal-boat cruise around one of the lakes in Hyde Park, which was fun, while Jack and Matt had a bit of a boy-only time in the pub. Later that night we were in a bar just off Oxford Street to celebrate Matt's birthday. It was all fun and Matt's Mum even danced a bit with us!

Now my brother is visiting for 10 days after which we're off to Russia for another couple of weeks, so prolly no posts for a little while. But in the meantime - here be some photos:





Matt with something from Deutschland.











Zoya and I went for a quick wander around Kilburn on Sunday.












Julia and Simon on the bus going to High Street in Kensington.








Jack and I.... same bus.