I started working at the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs on the 20th of September 1984.
My first trip was to Moscow. My travelling colleague was a crusty old former member of the Air Force called John.
Flight to London
We left Canberra early in the morning on the 10th of October for Sydney, before flying to Singapore and onto London.
I can recall that the place was very grey and gloomy as the taxis drove us from Heathrow to the Tower Hotel which is, as the name suggests, next to the Tower of London. The cost of the taxis was GBP 18.
The plan was to stay awake all day to avoid jet lag.
Meeting old Friends
I had arranged to meet up with a girl I knew from Kent. I got to know her when I was living in London in 1983. She worked for an interesting organisation that had offices opposite Green Park.
After a quick shower, I headed to Victoria Station meet her off the train. We spent most of the day together.
In the event I met up with couple also from Kent. I had met the bloke at the St James Tavern in 1978 when I was first living in London. I become good friends with him and bunch of his mates. We used to meet up at the St James Tavern most Friday nights. It was a very popular place with Swedish au pairs. Two of the blokes ended up marrying Swedish girls.
My mate didn’t marry a Swedish girl. He married a Welsh girl. I was privileged to go to their wedding in 1983.
My diary note says that we had dinner in Convent Garden and the I was “knackered” when I finally got to bed.
Flight to Moscow
The next day, Sunday John and I flew to Moscow. The First Secretary and the Attaché from the Embassy met us at the airport and drove to the National Hotel which is opposite Red Square.
We ate in the hotel. The food was excellent.
Interesting Bathroom
I got up early to have a shower before breakfast. The bathroom was a bit odd. It opened directly on to the bedroom. The bath/shower was in the middle of the bathroom. Another odd thing that was that there were no curtains on the windows of the room. It looked directly on to Tverskaya Street and the building on the other side of the street were quite close.
The really odd thing about the shower was that there was no hot water. I had a very short and invigorating shower.
After breakfast, a locally engaged driver arrived and drove us to the Embassy.
The First Secretary asked us what we thought of the hotel. I told him about the issue with the shower. John had no problem with his shower.
The First Secretary also asked if I had noticed that there were no curtains on the windows. I said I did. He then told me that I had almost certainly been photographed by the KGB from the building across the street.
He also said that when I got back to the hotel: “if the water is still cold, you should talk to your door knob and ask for the hot water to be turned on”. He suggested that I call the door knob “Boris”.
The Hot Water is Delivered
Back in the hotel after work, I turned on the shower. The water was still cold. I left the tap running and walked to the front door. I spoke directly at the door knob: “Boris can you please turn on the hot water”. Almost immediately, steam started billowing from the bathroom.
Beautiful Women
For the next two nights, we ate in the restaurant in the hotel.
An unforgettable feature of the bar in the hotel were the women. The staff in the Embassy had told us about these ‘Beriozka’ girls. They were state sanctioned prostitutes who were allowed to ply their trade in the hotel and long as they told the police and KGB who they had been with and what had happened.
This information could be used as “black mail material”. They were called ‘Beriozka’ girls, because Beriozkas were stores in the USSR that would only accept hard currency and could only be used by foreigners and high ranking Soviet Officials. They sold western and luxury Soviet goods, not that there were many of those.
One of the women was particularly stunning, with long black hair, pale skin and striking blue eyes. Her body was perfectly designed.
My colleague, John was at pains to tell me that “under no circumstances was I to have any contact with any of these women’. If it did happen, “news of that would be get back to ASIO and my security clearance would be gone and so would be my career in the Department”.
Down Under Club
Friday night was drinks night at the Embassy. It was held in the social club called the Down Under. All of the ‘friendlies’ – UK,USA and Canada have these clubs and took turns to be the main venue each Friday. This was, and still is, the practice in many capital cities around the world, particularly at the so called ‘hardship’ posts where social life for diplomats can be limited.
Staff from all the ‘friendly’ Embassies were at the club. It was a big night.
Sightseeing
Next day we went on a tour of the Kremlin and walked around Red Square checking out the grave of the ‘Unknown Soldier’ and Lenin’s Mausoleum. We also went into the GUM Department Store. There wasn’t much for sale, and what there was looked like something from the 1950’s.
On Sunday we went on city tour. This didn’t involve much except a visit to the university.
The Circus
In the evening we went to the Moscow Circus. That was fantastic.
We got to and from there on the underground train system. The stations are like art galleries. Truly amazing.
Concert
After work on Monday we went to the Moscow Conservatory to see a concert. The tickets were organized by the Embassy.
We arrived late and could not take our ‘special’ seats. At the intermission, the attendants came looking for us and were very apologetic. It was our fault that we were late.
The concert was excellent and include Dvorak’s New World Symphony. My colleague didn’t like the concert at all. I added philistine to my list of opinions on him.
Dinner being Monitored
On Wednesday night, we had dinner at the apartment of the Trade Commissioner.
All the Embassy staff, with the exception of the Ambassador, lived in the same apartment complex. Staff from other missions, such as the Brits and the Canadians also lived in the same complex. It was a very secure place.
We had been told about the extent of the monitoring and surveillance diplomatic staff are subjected to. We were now going to be given a demonstration.
Part way through the meal, the Trade Commissioner indicated that he wanted silence. We all stopped talking. He then looked to the roof and said: “I have you are having a good night Comrade. We are having an excellent meal and very good Australian wine. I am sure you would like it”.
The rest of the guests laughed. He then went on to say: “Comrade, I don’t want you to get jealous. I am going leave a bottle of wine outside the front door”.
The Trade Commissioner beckoned me to follow him to front door carrying a bottle of wine. He opened the door and left it on the floor outside.
We then returned to the meal.
After about 10 minutes, the Trade Commissioner beckoned me back to the front door. He opened the door. The bottle was gone.
Last Night
Friday the 25th of October was our last night in Moscow.
The First Secretary had arranged a meal for us and Embassy staff at the ‘Berlin Restaurant’. We needed a ‘Third Person’ diplomatic note to be granted permission.
John and I walked to the restaurant from the hotel.
The girls manning the cloakroom very remarkable attractive.
We were taken to the table where we met the First Secretary and other staff from the Embassy.
Part way through the meal a band started playing and people started dancing. One of the cloakroom girls came over to the table asked me to dance. I looked across at the First Secretary and struggled as if to say “what do I do?”. I declined the offer. After she left, I told the others who didn’t hear the request, what had happened. I asked if would have been ok to dance with her. They said that it would have been ok. My colleague, John frowned with disapproval.
No long later, a second girl came over to the table and asked me to dance.
This time I accepted.
As we were dancing, she asked me where I came from. I told her that “I was an Accountant working in London for an oil company”. She gave me a very confused look and walked off.
Back at the table the staff from the Embassy agreed that “the girls must have been trainees”.
Speaking to Bar Girls
After the meal, John I walked back to the hotel and agreed that we would have one beer in the bar to celebrate leaving Moscow.
The very striking ‘Beriozka’ girl, that I mentioned above, was there. We both looked at her and she smiled. It was obvious that she was coming over to speak to us. I said to John, “what are you going to do now?” He said “I suppose a chat on the last night is Ok”.
The girl said “you two are here every night but don’t talk to the girls?”. John looked flustered. I said “we can’t afford to buy you drinks”. She laughed. We then had a bit of chat about what we had seen in Moscow. She told us that she “worked as a secretary”. At one point she asked us “how are the repairs at the Embassy going after the fire”.
We left the bar.
Leaving Moscow
In the morning the Attaché and a driver came to the hotel to take us to the airport for our flight to East Berlin.
On the way, we came across a body of the road and group of blokes trying to pick it up. They were all obviously very drunk.
Getting through immigration was a circus. The Official took my passport and simply stared at me then it. He repeated this over and over for at least half an hour.
Once through immigration we boarded our East German Airlines Ilyushin jet heading to East Berlin.
Flickr Link
https://www.flickr.com/gp/twwilko_photos/3Hg799
Links to National Hotel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_National,_Moscow
Hard Currency Stores
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryozka
Moscow Conservatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Conservatory
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