The Russian Fairytale Wars

When Russia and Ukraine argue, which is basically all of the time,  it usually has something to do with gas supplies.  But now they've found something much more fun to squabble about. 

The Russians have produced a national fairytale map which features thirty-odd characters from popular folklore and traces their origins to various parts of Russia. Which would be fine, except that the Ukranians already had their own map and it features some of the same characters. 

At the centre of the controversy is Kolobok, a plucky currant bun who skips through the forest to avoid being eaten greeedy monsters.  The Russians say he comes from the Ulyanovsk region (also the home of Vladimir Lenin who the BBC describe as
"less cute, though more revolutionary" than Kolobok.  And to think people worry that the BBC is dumbing down.)  Meanwhile the Ukranians say Kolobok is one of their own, and are quick to point out that 'kolo' is a Ukranian word meaing 'round'.  Then again, apparently 'kolob' is a Russian word meaning 'round dough', so who knows which side to believe.  No one seems to be laying claim to Vladimir Lenin.

I sort of like the fact that they're arguing about this.   Partly because it's funny to imagine a currant bun running through a forest, but mainly because people only argue over things they consider valuable.  It's easy to measure the value of gas pipe-lines and their contents; much harder to put a dollar amount on stories and mythologies.  It's easy to forget that this doesn't make them any less important.  Or valuable.  

Of course we'll probably never know who had the story first, and it may well have orginated somewhere else entirely - there's a gingerbread man version as well, remember, as well as endless other variations - but that's not really the point.

Been a while.......

I had dinner with a friend and old work colleauge a few weeks ago.  He told me that he had - and this is a direct quote -  "checked the blog first, so we'd have something to talk about".  I'm not sure what he found more disappointing - the fact that I'd written nothing new since April, or the prospect of an entire evening spent discussing mackerel.

There's no particular reason why it's been so long since my last post.  Except maybe that the longer I took to get around to writing something, the harder it became.  Sort of like one of those friendships which dies a natural death because you both leave it too long to get in touch, until it's been so long since you were in touch that it would feels awkward if you did, so you don't. 
 
Now of course I'm faced with the scary propsect of having to write what is essentially a "come-back" post,  which by definition ought to be significant, or brilliant, or at the very least worth the wait.

This one is none of those things.  Essentially it's just me checking in to make sure that I don't leave it for so long that I stop all together.   Life is busy, and good - very good.  I don't have Olympic tickets but I am going to Wimbeldon next week, and last week I learned to make a bloody mary out of absinthe, veal jus and wasabi flying fish roe, and in twenty-something sleeps it's time for Latitude again, and I'm juggling several writing projects I'm quite excited about, and I'm moving house soon, and I've become involved with a fantastic charity doing really fun things, and......well, you get the picture.  Lots of good things going on.   Plus my little brother - who will always be my little brother - became a dad about a month ago.  So I'll have a new niece to meet next time I'm in Australia. She's very cute.  And we share a name (my first name is her middle name), which still makes my insides melt whenever I remember.

So, as I said, life is good.  I'm pretty lucky.  No - very lucky. REALLY very lucky.

 I'm not promising to be back with any sense of regularity, at least not for the next month or so, but I'm still around.  Let's stay friends, shall we?