как дела ?

I have a soft corner for Russians. Not the Russian governments of the past, but Russians, the common people. I had a Russian girl friend in school and another Russian (now Polish) girl friend after High school. I have learnt many things from the Russians, have played football with them, learnt chess from them on one of those Russian chess computers, learnt how to make Russian salad while my mum learnt making Russian chocolates and many other dishes.

So whenever I hear anything bad about Russia, I feel bad. Another submarine, though thankfully not as big and as dangerous as Kursk is lying at the bottom of the ocean and US, Japan have rushed the recovery vehicles. I hope there is no loss of life this time.

I hope the answer to my question "как дела ?" is "Very Good".