the electronic telegraph emigrate to russia that s a steppe too far filed NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER so you think you ve got it bad fed up with folkestone bored with birmingham or sick of sheffield those NUMBER per cent of britons according to a daily telegraph yougov survey this week who dream of a stress free life in sunnier climes should perhaps heed a word of friendly advice on the realities of living abroad kommersant a russian daily newspaper yesterday offered those dissatisfied with life in blair s britain a taste of what to expect should they choose to emigrate to provincial russia after reading about the gripes of affluent britons its tongue in cheek article admitted however that the grass was not always greener on the other side the inhabitants of foggy albion keen to travel could go to any russian city deep in the provinces where things are quiet said kommersant in any central russian district life by british standards is unseemingly cheap and remarkably laid back by NUMBERam most of the working population are becoming traditionally relaxed the time for elevenses in britain perhaps the opportunity for a quiet cup of tea and a chocolate hobnob is known in russia as the wolf hour it was so named in soviet times because at NUMBERam a wolf appeared from the famous animal clock at the obrasov puppet theatre in moscow it is also opening time in the nation s vodka shops and the vodka like all other spirits is cheap kommersant pointed out that the money a briton can earn from selling even the most shabby house would be enough to support them at the local standard of living for the rest of their life the local shops are full of all they would need and they could buy a bottle of whisky for kopecks there are NUMBER kopecks in a ruble and the ruble is currently worth about a halfpenny in sterling the whisky is cheap however because it is unlike anything the average briton will have consumed before it is made of samagon home distilled moonshine vodka coloured with tea and is a popular beverage in rural areas and among diehard alcoholics while alcohol is plentiful and cheap food may not be so easy to come by the newspaper pointed out that traditional british foodstuffs it selected oxtail soup as an example were in short supply however the wealth of the british settler should overcome the difficulty for a modest reward in most russian villages the locals would happily cut off the tails from the entire collective farm s herd of cattle one or two potential emigrés might be deterred by language difficulties there are few english speakers to be found among the green hills of tula on the mongolian border however kommersant pointed out language difficulties were not considered a deterrent by the NUMBER per cent of britons who nominated france as the country in which they would like to live france the russian paper claimed was a country where english is only known by the beggars belorussian prostitutes and russian tourists despite the low cost of living and the easy going lifestyle the russian weather remains a major stumbling block for britons even in the most temperate regions winter temperatures of NUMBERc are common and somewhere like the sakha republic east of siberia and the coldest place in the world enjoys just one month of summer and endures winter temperatures that drop below NUMBERc houses are built on concrete stilts because the permafrost makes digging foundations impossible again the russian paper had a word of reassurance while acknowledging the climatic problems it said that thanks to global warming this difficulty will solve itself kommersant also had an answer to the labour crisis that would be created in britain if NUMBER per cent of its citizens decided to opt for a life in russia thirty three million russians could be sent to britain to replace the NUMBER million who leave we think that the required number could probably be found amongst our citizens unfortunately for those NUMBER million russians however not one of those britons surveyed who wanted to move abroad nominated the russian steppes as their preferred new home yahoo groups sponsor NUMBER dvds free s p join now URL to unsubscribe from this group send an email to forteana unsubscribe URL your use of yahoo groups is subject to URL 