* Many people are so enthusiastic about LA 'cause they've experienced a lot of American (pop) culture. I -- haven't. It's not in my heart, in my blood, in my childhood memories, wherever. (Mind: pop culture, because I've read Mark Twain all right as a kid).

* But Britain is there, and that's why it was so incredible a feeling to stand before those English paintings at the Tretyakov gallery. It was as good as half a journey to the British Isles.

* Dog roses, meetings with friends, warm weather. Dear summer Moscow, the most childhood-ish of all seasons.