Simon in Russia

Am i the only gran who as a child was threatened with being sent to siberia if i was naughty ? Thats having a german mum, no messing with the naughty step. Watched last night and am glad i was usually good!!

TriciaF, that sounds interesting. I suppose they have engineers and space parts (or whatever) on board, because the train can be miles from civilisation. I once fancied going on it, but I suspect thousands of miles of birch trees and snow might get boring eventually!

Grandma70s wrote:
"What happens if the Trans-Siberian Railway breaks down in the middle of nowhere? Perhaps it never does."
I once read a book (in english!) by Anton Chekov about his journey on this railway soon after it was built - 1890s. I think there were quite a few stops/breakdowns. He was a doctor too, and was going to visit the russian prison settlement on Sakhalin, an island off the coast of Russia.
Then he wrote a report.
They were advanced in railways and medical care ( I believe had one of the first 'national health services' in the world.)

I agree lemongrove think the Russian police interventions were contrived and typically BBC biased.

Much prefer the style of Levsion Wood.

I thought that some of it was good, the worse bits were Simon Reeves himself, sorry, to all those who find him engaging, I didn’t, and thought that all his head shaking and tut tutting about the Russian police were put on for our benefit.Did he do no research at all about them?
That is what life is Russia is like, for those who live there and especially for Westerners.

I always enjoy Simon Reeve's travel programmes. I find him very engaging, and unlike some travel presenters, he's always directing the focus away from himself and towards the people and the country that are the subject of his film. No big ego, which I find refreshing

Excellent!
I totally agree with TriciaF it’s a strange country and there are big bucks (roubles?) being made by some people.
Wonderful scenery!

It’s quite difficult to take in how HUGE the place is.

What happens if the Trans-Siberian Railway breaks down in the middle of nowhere? Perhaps it never does.

We've just watched the first episode - excellent.
What a strange country Russia is - a mixture of advanced and primitive.

Bit like the curate's egg, good in parts. No BBC bias at all was there !

I had to get a blanket and hot chocolate to watch. Amazing how the older people weren't interested in moving from primitive accommodation in temperatures well below zero.

Recorded this to watch when we have the time, sounds good.?

Astounded at the perma frost melt. Bloody hell Trump needs to be left there.

All day of course and I watched them ON cold afternoons ! This iPad still thinks it knows better than me!

I looked forward to that programme all say - over last winter I recorded a couple of his other series and watched them in cold afternoons.
SO much snow last night - interesting how they were followed for so much of the time. Loved the reindeer herders!