Among my retirement dreams are as much travelling as we can afford and manage, making strides in family history research, and learning to speak Russian. These are interlinked by my elusive Russian noble forbears, the tantalising context of my father's birth in St Petersburg, and more recently the extraordinary privilege of an extended European holiday in 2018 culminating in a fortnight in Russia.

Whether and when further travel to Russia and/or elsewhere might happen, I can but guess between the Coronavirus pandemic and my own health. In the meantime,

there's plenty to share from 2018 ...