writing from a lovely internet cafe in penza, raussia (with techno blaring in the loos).

the first proper city we have come accross that is not in our guide book.

we have just bought a sim card from the local phone shop; slow process due to limitations of phrase book.

last night we were going to camp at an abandonned garage with 2 thunder boxes (this is posh). we managed to undertake minor repairs on wilma (the car) and managed to find more things to organise and throw out. however, at 21:00 a lady said that we would have to move on as we were a fire hazard. this was a shame but she did give us directions to a wonderful spot on the local river, rna. it showed on vera (sat nav) so we knew we were going somewhere good. that night daddy built the most spectacular fire i have ever seen: he was suitably modest about his acievement.

this morning we drove past some live sheep on the road as we left our 'camp'.

driving to this city today i discovered that daddy loves a bit of dicing with death. i was driving and he told me that the road ahead was clear to overtake the truck in front but in reality that was a massive car coming towards us. when i tried to quickly bring the situation under control daddy got really angry and said that i should have held my nerve. we switched places.

we are off to find a nice place to camp next, hopefully next to another river as we have all been enjoying practicing our swimming. although i fear that daddy does not wish to get beaten by me a 3rd time and so has mixed feelings about finding another river.