Treptower Park not far from us. A soviet monument to Russian soldiers who died in the Second World War. From my scanty German and interpretation of the none too subtle reliefs of bad German soldiers killing/ good Russian soldiers stalwartly defending honest Russian peasants, it seems a memorial to Leningrad and all the bad things the Germans did. Particularly in the icey-ness of mid-winter it's massively impressive and not exactly subtle. Think blurry film strips of parading nuclear missiles.

Ul sniffling today. I come back from my outing to find him tucked up fetchingly in a toe-length duck-egg blue blanket-sarong. I'd left him flat hunting which is increasingly optimistic as we're leaving in 10 days. My sympathy rapidly melts he's joyfully tells me how he's polished off all the beer and crisps and that the flat hunting hasn't exactly advanced. But it's also only 2 weeks since he left Congo - quite incredible even to be vaguely functioning.

If he was a super hero Ul's powers would be heat radiation, sleeping and an insatiable capacity to eat.