I never made it to Spain because I got the flu. Not Covid, but a mild case of influenza, so I cancelled everything and rebooked for the end of May. Now I’m spending my week’s vacation at home and the weather is terrible, cold and damp. I’m cooking (roasted vegetable lasagna tonight), watching DVDs (Wallander played by Kenneth Branagh; I really like Swedish dramas and want to go to Stockholm); reading the world news (not good), watching documentaries and stuff on YouTube, and drinking one rum cocktail every evening.

I recently learned there’s a whole new genre of movies and series called Nordic Noir or Scandi crime dramas. I look forward to exploring that.

I found this YouTube video below particularly interesting. Alexandra Tolstoy, distant relative to Leo Tolstoy, acclaimed to be one of the greatest Russian novelists of all time, shows us around her posh pad in Chelsea, London. But she got evicted because her billionaire partner, Russian oligarch Sergei Pugachev: former member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and father of her 3 children, has been on the lam for years, pursued by multi-governments for a variety of crimes. His properties were confiscated (including this one) and his assets and bank accounts frozen.

Today, Alexandra still lives in London, in a rental, and considerably downsized, house. Have your own money, women! Don’t be financially dependent on a man … especially a Russian oligarch.