My new observations on this ever-fascinating subject are in the latest Total Politics (free registration needed for the E-zine).

See eg:

Yeltsin’s Moscow before that (1993-96) was fascinating in big policy terms, but a grinding, debilitating place to live in. In late August the air abruptly went chilly as the Russian Winter geared up. By the following April the Embassy was a squabbling wreck, everyone fed up with filthy frozen ice and overheated apartments. As warmer weather approached, reports of deep-frozen drunks emerging from melting snowdrifts (and hefty twenty foot-long icicles crashing down to kill pedestrians) did little to ease our flagging spirits.

And the world’s first British chauvinist’s guide to possible postings, including Belgrade/Balkans:

Pros:   Tasty grilled meat. Lively, quixotic people. Issues. Warm climate. Excellent grilled meat. As much craziness as you can cope with. Easy place to make and meet friends. No commuting problems. Beautiful women. Oh, did I mention the terrific grilled meat?
 
Cons: Delicious grilled meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner (including Serbian spicy stew, leskovacka muckalica – when you try to say that (or eat it) your false teeth shoot out). Gets bombed every few years. Ruthless war crimes indictees are the boyfriends of the beautiful women…