Chernobyl and my travels in the USSR and Eastern Europe under Communism

Our family have been watching the excellent Sky Atlantic drama Chernobyl. For us it is an especially interesting series for a number of reasons. I had a fascination with Communism and the USSR from the age of 12. As a dyslexic, I didn't read a book until I was 12. On a family holiday, when it was raining and I was bored, my sister gave me George Orwell's 1984 to read, saying it was the best book ever written. She was studying it for O Levels. I started reading it and realised that my problem wasn't that I couldn't read, but that I was easily distracted. When there was something I found interesting, I realised that reading was easy. I am a slow reader, but I plough through.

Our USSR memorablia from 1988

When I finished, I just thought it was an interesting story. My sister then explained the true meaning. I was fascinated. A schoolmate of mine had a passing obsession with Chairman Mao in China and contacted the Chinese embassy, receiving in return some English versions of Mao's little red book. His Dad, a staunch Catholic, burned them as Communism was seen as anti Catholic.

When I left school aged 18, I went to live in Sweden for six months. I realised very quickly that the UK view of the world is very different to how other nations see it. Sweden had a long, proud history of neutrality and  both NATO and the Warsaw pact were viewed with suspicion. This changed whilst I was there.  A Soviet sub became stranded in Stockholm whilst spying on the Swedes. I nearly got shot by the Swedish army for getting too close when I had a look. I was told that I was lucky they didn't figure out I was English, or I'd have been shot, arrested or deported. The Swedes became very concerned by the activities of the USSR. I also visited Finland, and they hated the Soviets. Given that they had a war in living memory, where the USSR invaded Finland  and shared a land border, the fear was real and justified. People war badges that said "Russian Tanks, No Thanks". The fact that the Finns had rather surprisingly repelled the USSR was a source of pride. It also convinced Hitler that the USSR was there for the taking. Living in the region, I soon understood how poor our schools have educated us in history and the UK centric teaching of it is very misleading.

Up until that point, I had aligned myself with the far left. My travels convinced me that things were far more complex. I realised that the perfect political system did not exist, but was somewhere between the UK's and the Swedes on the political spectrum, and that the extremes such as Nazism and Communism where both dangerous and despicable.

In 1985, I met Clare, who was to become my wife. She was doing Russian studies at Manchester University. Clare was due to study Russian in Minsk in 1987 as part of a four year course. I was fascinated. These plans were disrupted in April 1986, when the Chernobyl reactor exploded. Minsk was close enough for there to be significant fallout in the region. There was much talk of cancelling the trip. My interest in the region became more intense. Martin Walker was the Guardian correspondent in Moscow and he became the first thing I read every week when his column appeared. Peter Hitchens also stared writing a column from Moscow for the Express.  I subscribed to both papers, purely to read their columns.

I thought that a book about the 'Eastern block' may be interesting. All of the books on the subject were high brow and about politics. I became fascinated by what the everyday people were doing. After much debate, Clare's trip went ahead. For three months, we exchanged letters. She had an amazing time. When she got back, she told a tale of a completely different world. I wanted to go, but our first trip was an Interail trip around Europe, visiting Budapest and Prague. The beer was cheap and the people were very welcoming. Clare said these countries were very different to the USSR. In 1988, she secured a job working for a subsidiary of Central TV, set up to faacilitate Film and TV contacts in the USSR. It was called the Anglo Soviet creative association, and set up film shoots for productions such as Sharpe's rifles and a Michael Palin documentary. Clare was involved in travel arrangements, so we decided to travel to see her friends. A trip to Moscow, Leningrand and Minsk, travelling independently was organised.

Arriving in Russia, you suddenly found a different world. The society was a very strange one indeed. The ordinary people had to queue for everything. The top party officials could access hard currency shops called Berioska. In these you could buy anything. The official currency was the rouble, which had officially parity with the dollar, but in reality was traded at dozens of times that rate on the black market. As I didn't want to buy tat in hard currency shops and wanted to meet ordinary folk, that suited me. Beer bars sold beer in Roubles. I soon twigged that Communism was not interested in equality. Incident in a beer bar in Minsk, with Clare's student friends also demonstrated the racism that we now take for granted, but no one was aware of in the West. A group of Cuban students turned up and were greeted with hostility, the likes of which I'd never seen. One of Clare's friends, who is now a senior official told a few of the working class labourers to behave themselves as there was an English person in the bar. They calmed down, until one old timer challenged me, in a drunken state and called the English Fascists. To his surprise, I replied by saying "Between 1939 and 1941 England was fighting Nazi's whilst you had an alliance. My Dad was a bomber pilot in the RAF bombing the oil wells in Ploesti Rumania, that stopped German tanks rolling through your country". The old man was stunned. He simply went and bought me a beer and we toasted the demise of Adolf Hitler.

Whilst in Minsk, one of my new found friends suggested that I visited Vilnius in Lithuania with him, for the day, leaving Clare to catch up with friends. The only problem was my visa did not cover the trip. It was suggested that this wasn't a problem as no one checked. I was told that if anyone came in our compartment, to say nothing and pretend to be a local drunk. Beers were purchased for this purpose. When we reached Vilnius, we went for lunch at my friends parents. They worked in Aerospace an provided an amazing spread and were really friendly. We then,a t my insistance, went for a beer with the locals. They were less friendly. One accused me of being a KGB stooge and my friend my minder. I replied that this was nonsense and they could ask me any question they liked and if they still felt that I was a stooge, they could throw me in the River. I was barraged with questions. What University did you go to? "None, I worked as a painter and decorator when I left school and I was a musician". Why was in Vilnius? "Because I was interested to see what was really going on".  What religion was I? I replied "Roman Catholic". They then asked me to recite the Creed. This I did, after about the fourth line, one  said "He's Ok". I replied "I should know that, I was an alter server for seven years.". At this they decided I did not need to be thrown in the river. They took me for a tour around the city. They explained the history and it was rather painful for my friend. They also told me that the USSR was finished and would cease to exist within five years. My friend was horrified but said nothing. I realised that the people we'd met were not scared. They were proud and saw Europe as the way forward.

On the way back, a very pleasant and attractive you Russian woman entered our compartment. As per our plan, I just slurped beer and looked out of the window. My friend had a great time chatting for a couple of hours. When she got off, my friend breathed a sigh of relief. She'd been an intelligence officer. She had been continually saying how much she hated Belorussian peasant drunks like me. I'd deliberately worn pretty unkempt clothes, so as to not draw attention to myself. Beer and looking like a slob is the key to invisibility.

On arrival back in Minsk, we went to a party. It was Vodka with everything. When the Coke style drink ran out, it was lemonade, when that ran out it was lime juice, when that ran out, it was mayonaisse. That was the last time I got drunk on Vodka. Clares friends were an amazing bunch. One ran a pirate radio station, another was planning a visit to the UK as he had a relationship with one of her friends. I invited them all to the UK to stay, open house.  I had a great time. I did think however, that I'd probably never see any of them again. Within a couple of years, six of them had visited, and most had worked for a friend called Tony Casey (God rest his soul) as building labourers earning much needed hard currency to take home. One married my sister and they are still happily hitched. They have all done rather well. I took copious notes. My plan was to write a book, as the band had become inactive. Sadly for my cunning plan, the USSR disintegrated and the world changed. It was completely out of date. In 1990, Lithania declared independence. What I had been told had come true in less than half the time.

I went back to the USSR twice. I've not been since. Somehow it no longer interests me. All of the veterans are probably long gone. They were treated like heroes then. The Babushka's would tell you off for not wearing a hat are a distant memory. As for Chernobyl, that was something we'd forgotten about. As we watch it, Clare has mused whether or not she will have any health effects. Was Minsk safe? I hope so. Was it worth going? Definitely.

As for Chernobyl the series. It is stunningly good. It captures the humour and the paranoia of the age. The conclusion I drew is that the Russian people will make any sacrifice for their country, but will trusted no one and had no designs on ruling the world. The way the miners are depicted in the series is spot on. That is true Russian character. The English drink beer and the Russians drink vodka. I suspect both tipples sum up our national character well. Vodka is strong and to the point and does what it says on the tin. Beer comes in many different strengths and flavours and you will never really get to try all the different flavours and you'll never understand why your friends hate the ones you love.