British Mummy Blogger of the Week

Not so long ago I met my new neighbour. She's mid-50's, Russian, and speaks a little English. Not a lot of English, it's true, but certainly more than I speak Russian. She is hoping that with me next door her command of English might improve, and that we can spend some time together occasionally so we can both work on our language skills.

This is fine. This is good, I tell her, I would love to do that. She gets very excited by that prospect, and starts planning a trip out. But not just any trip out. No, this is a trip to the 7th circle of hell for your average repressed English woman. Because apparently, her work has use of one of the finest banya's in town - and I now have a standing invitation to join her and her work colleagues to go and sweat in a steamy room, drinking tea, and beating myself with a bunch of birch twigs before jumping into an ice cold bath any second or fourth Wednesday of the month that I feel like it.

Starkers. Obviously. Funnily enough, I haven't booked it in yet. (I know, I know I should. In my own words, 'it's an adventure!' and all that. But there are limits to my adventuresome-ness, and I'm afraid that you can take the girl out of the convent...)

Sitting naked in a room of complete strangers chatting to each other in a different language, letting it all hang out, and periodically batting myself with a bunch of twigs? That's a situation that that this week's British Mummy Blogger of the Week - braver than me, it goes without saying - has personal experience of. Heather at Notes from Lapland writes (and vlogs) about life with her family in the far north and says of herself:

'My name is Heather, stay at home mum to The Girl (born 2006) and The Boy (born 2008), writer and poop scooper extraordinaire. Originally from Rochdale, Lancashire (UK) I now live 50kms outside Kuusamo, in northern Finland. I'll let you into a little secret. I don't really live in Lapland. I live about 20kms south of it, but Notes From Nearly Lapland didn't have quite the same ring to it, some how. Besides which, what's 20kms between friends, right?'

For the British Mummy Bloggers Ning, click here. (Note: It's called 'Mummy', but Dads can be members too).