Zdrasvuytye maya padruga

or, apparently, "hello my friends" (in Russian, spelt phonetically and romanised). I have checked the translation - it seems legit - he has suggested others, but I suspect they might be rude!!!!

Meet another one of my willing subjects, or loyal comrades...continuing on the Russian theme.

Blipland, this is Kieran. He brought props - two things that represent the things that he is associated with most/ loves the most (apart from his family, and me of course!).

Kieran is a man of many talents (don't worry - this isn't going to be rude).

The Jacket - his Angling club jacket. He is a fisherman extraordinaire (should it be angler? I dunno - I'm sure he'll tell me in a short while!) and I think I have mentioned him in dispatches previously as one of the staff who has given his time to take students out on activities that they might not normally get involved in. They very much appreciated it too.

The Hat - yeah - it's cold where we work, but not that cold. Kieran was involved in our partnership project with schools in Siberia a couple of years ago, hosting one of the Russian staff at his house for quite a while, and he thoroughly loved it to (Kieran and Vladimir I think!!). He went back to Siberia as part of the reciprocal visits as well. In fact, just recently in our cold snap, he was comparing the difference between getting off the plane in Siberia and not being allowed to get off the plane in England because of a little ice!
I'm pretty certain if someone asked him to go again tomorrow, he'd have no hesitation at all. Me? - I'm scared of the amount of vodka they drink and the extreme cold - so I will stay here for now.

Kieran is my Snow Guru. I didn't believe him the first time he told me he could "smell snow" in the air - I thought maybe he'd been on the Jack Daniels. But he was right. And he's not been wrong in 7 years. So much so that James will ask me now if Kieran has said there is going to be any snow!!!

I've worked with Kieran for nearly 7 years, but in a really good way, it does feel like I have known him for so much longer. He has a wicked sense of humour, cheers me up when I am miserable, or angry or just having a good old temper tantrum, and gives me a hug when I need one. No messing, he tells it like it is - I know where I stand :-)

Thank you Kieran for letting me blip you. Love the hat :-)

Edit - Just noticed my "one year ago". It's that time of the year. Grandad in my head so often, but without having seen the one year ago, the time and date has been at the forefront of my mind for the past few days. Miss you tattyhead!
xx

Edit 2 - my mum has started posting pictures from her cruise. This one is absolutely superb - real sense of scale and perspective. Nice one Mum - that camera was well worth it!