Spring cleaning.

---

In Aleksandr Ivanovich's class this afternoon we translated into Russian 12 signs from shop windows - the type that have their own section in joke books because of an unintentional second meaning.

"To anyone who has children and doesn't know it, there is a creche on the first floor."

Karin left the obshezhitie today. In the evening we went for a long walk along ulitsa Trekhsvyatskaya and as far as the river, so she could see the town for the last time. It feels as if spring has already passed and it is summer already. The temperature was 20 degrees earlier; too hot for babushki to be outside (I'm sure they only own thick heavy winter clothes) but warm enough for young people to sit on benches in the street, drinking beer and chatting. Most groups I walk past have at least one friend playing a guitar. Some of the shops have been re-painted and ulitsa Sovetskaya has been swept. The flower beds around the statue of Lenin have been painted too; Tver has started to look very attractive again.

When we got back Karin said 'goodbye' or 'see you soon' to everyone at midnight, then left to get her train.

---