164:Money rules in Russia

“Money rules in Russia,” a super wealthy businessman acquaintance told me not so long ago. “If you have cash, you can do anything. Your every desire will be fulfilled and the law is no obstacle to your wishes.”
This is a quote from an article by Marc Bennetts who lives and works in Moscow and writes about things Russian. Here is a link to the article:

Deeper Than Oil: The Pages of Wealth

23:51 04/06/2012 At first, I thought the price tag was a mistake; that some inattentive shop assistant in the downtown Moscow bookstore had added a couple of extra zeros and no one had noticed. After all, there was no way 500,000 rubles ($15,000) could be right for a collection of twenty books of children’s stories. Even if they were bound in what was described as “high-quality” leather. But the error was mine – the price was genuine.>>

Other news of the day

'If you've got it, flaunt it' seems to be the attitude of the "New Russians". They lift ostentatiousness to a new level. I hasten to add that teachers, as far as I know, don't fall into this "super wealthy" category. This one certainly doesn't!
My own, meagre, contribution to today's blog is a photo I took recently which I have called "instant Summer". One minute the parks and gardens are bare and the next they are filled with flowers, thanks to the toil of an army of (usually immigrant) workers. It brightens up the city enormously. All we need now is some sunshine! I'm told Summer will arrive in the second half of June.