Although it’s still quite mild, it does feel as though autumn was short-lived as the mornings get darker and the trees more desolate. I’m practising the Dr Zhivago look ready for my trip – photographically speaking, that is. I’m not sure I can pull off the Julie Christie look – after all, she was only 24 when she made the film. Been trying to add a few more words of Russian to my not very vast arsenal of vocabulary and TBH, not getting very far. I can now introduce myself and say I come from San Francisco. I note in the next section we learn how to say vodka and both Coca-cola and Pepsi-Cola – the publishers are clearly trying to avoid favouritism. Guess mine’s a vodka and coke then!