I get an email from the Russian consulate after midnight, telling me that my passport is now ready for collection. Yes! Though I was rather looking forward to going there with my sister and giving them a hard time for processing her passport before mine. Never mind; I'm sure I'll get my chance to lock horns with petty bureaucrats during the course of this adventure. Am picking up my passport on Monday because I can then combine the trip with a myriad other tasks: picking up my British passport from the Mongolian embassy, dropping it off at the Chinese embassy along with Steve's paperwork, and getting my first tick-borne encephalitus jab.
Have a bit of a retarded moment when I book my visa appointment online with the Chinese embassy and then realise that I can't possibly make the earliest time because I need to pick up my passport from Mongolian embaassy first. Rebook the whole thing.
Lightning-quick lunch with my sister at 'Patara', off Tottenham Ct Road. Fill her in on the Baikal route. She and Steve will have no say in it; this is a research trip, not a holiday. May even put them to work in Irkutsk to help me cover all the sights.
Work on the Easter Island section of the Chile chapter on the train down to Devon to visit my best friend. The main sights are now covered; now for the finicky bit - making sure that all the addresses, phone numbers and website addresses are correct.
A bit melancholy; find out that the professor that I'd been looking after pre-South America had passed away on Saturday. He was a cantankerous, willful man, but also a very intelligent one; I enjoyed reading Russian poetry to him and actually grew rather fond of him. Feel bad about not inquiring about him earlier; I could've caught him alive last week. It's hard to leave one's work behind when it involves human beings.
My best friend is pregnant! Am very happy for her, but also know that in six months' time, things will change irreversibly; I shan't be able to just drop in on her whenever I feel like it.
Plod on with the Chile chapter. Interrupted by a phone call from Rasheed, one of my death row friends. Haven't talked to him for months, so it's good to know that he's alive and well. Arrange to write to him via his son while on the road. I feel that I've neglected my death row guys this year due to spending so much time on the road and not being able to correspond as often as I'd like. Must make amends before leaving for Russia.
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