WEATHER

It's now +24 in Moscow! Yes, really scorching. All the trees are in full bloom as well. I'm not looking forward to going back to work next week if the heat keeps up. In some ways I prefer the cold. But it means I'll probably come back to England in the summer with a tan and confuse everyone who thinks that Russia is always cold and snowy.

St. Petersburg wasn't quite so warm but we still had a lot of sun. The trees haven't really started to bud there because it's so much farther north, but to make up for it we were getting sun-set at around midnight (and, disconcertingly, getting noticeably later each night). It's only a few weeks till the 'White Nights' phenomenon starts and the city has practically 24-hours of sunlight.