100 Kopeks equal 1 Rouble <\/i><\/p>\n
Are you still with me?<\/i><\/p>\n
Lev was sitting on a bench on the platform at Astapovo railway station<\/p>\n
Tuppence and Penelope were sitting in front of him<\/p>\n
Yes we are <\/i><\/p>\n
Then I will carry on <\/i><\/p>\n
The image of St George and the Dragon is to be found on the coins <\/i><\/p>\n
He is the patron saint of Russia <\/i><\/p>\n
Just as he is in England <\/i><\/p>\n
The double headed eagle is the symbol of our great country <\/i><\/p>\n
It faces both east and west <\/i><\/p>\n
Tuppence looked at the sun through her dark glasses<\/p>\n
It is so hot today is it always like this? <\/i><\/p>\n
Penelope glanced at Lev but did not say anything<\/p>\n
No it can get very cold much colder that England <\/i><\/p>\n
So this is where he died <\/i><\/p>\n
Yes <\/i><\/p>\n
It is so rural <\/i><\/p>\n
The middle of nowhere really <\/i><\/p>\n
He was like a cat crawling away to die <\/i><\/p>\n
It was more than that <\/i><\/p>\n
His relationship with his wife had become hostile <\/i><\/p>\n
He was running from her <\/i><\/p>\n
But why to <\/i>Astapovo?<\/p>\n
He just stopped here <\/i><\/p>\n
He did not deliberately come to Astapovo <\/i><\/p>\n
He just died here<\/i><\/p>\n
Tell me more Lev <\/i><\/p>\n
When is your train?<\/i><\/p>\n
In an hour <\/i><\/p>\n
Ok then I will begin<\/i><\/p>\n
He had been ill for some time and was causing concern to his family <\/i><\/p>\n
He had written about death and had rejected his aristocratic lifestyle<\/i><\/p>\n
And in the middle of the winter he suddenly disappeared <\/i><\/p>\n
People were concerned about him and his departure was followed by many newspapers <\/i><\/p>\n
But he was safe from his wife <\/i><\/p>\n
He had left her a letter explaining his actions <\/i><\/p>\n
I believe that it said that he was leaving his wife as it was what old men did to spend their last days in solitude\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
But he only got this far before illness forced him from the train <\/i><\/p>\n
The stationmaster gave him the use of his house <\/i><\/p>\n
But the station was not as peaceful as it is today <\/i><\/p>\n
The whole thing was a circus <\/i><\/p>\n
The media arrived and there was no peace to be found <\/i><\/p>\n
The Count died in public which was very sad <\/i><\/p>\n
He had not wanted that <\/i><\/p>\n
His wife who had travelled to this station was only allowed to see him when he was at the point of death <\/i><\/p>\n
I doubt that he was aware of her presence<\/i><\/p>\n
Penelope let a small tear drop onto her pale blue vest<\/p>\n
Why are you sad?<\/i><\/p>\n
I was just thinking of poor Anna under a train <\/i><\/p>\n
How can you be sad on a day such as this?<\/i><\/p>\n
Tell me Lev how do you see your country?<\/i><\/p>\n
How do you see yours?<\/i><\/p>\n
A mess run by people who are basically quite limited <\/i><\/p>\n
All leaders are poor <\/i><\/p>\n
That is true in most cases <\/i><\/p>\n
One does not see natural leaders very often <\/i><\/p>\n
Most just climb over corpses to the top<\/i><\/p>\n
I feel scared for the future of my country <\/i><\/p>\n
Why?<\/i><\/p>\n
It is acting like a wounded lion <\/i><\/p>\n
Once it was strong and fierce <\/i><\/p>\n
But times have changed <\/i><\/p>\n
It is just the same as your country <\/i><\/p>\n
One you were strong and to some extent ruled the world <\/i><\/p>\n
But then you grew small <\/i><\/p>\n
Times changed <\/i><\/p>\n
But do you know what I admire about your country?<\/i><\/p>\n
Your sense of fair play <\/i><\/p>\n
I believe that we are the most democratic country in the world don\u2019t you Penny? <\/i><\/p>\n
That depends what you mean by democratic<\/i><\/p>\n
I have always wondered why large countries such as China and Russia can be ruled so tightly from within <\/i><\/p>\n
This would never happen in the UK <\/i><\/p>\n
I do not know why but I do not feel it <\/i><\/p>\n
Enough my friends you are guests in my country and we should not discuss large things <\/i><\/p>\n
A great writer breathed his last here <\/i><\/p>\n
You have travelled many miles to pay homage <\/i><\/p>\n
I welcome your visit and will accept your invitation to visit your great country quite soon <\/i><\/p>\n
Both Lev and Tuppence stood up and walked towards the station building<\/p>\n
Do come <\/i><\/p>\n
I will stay here as I want to enjoy the Russian sun<\/i><\/p>\n
As soon as her friends were out of sight Penelope pulled a paperback from her canvas bag<\/p>\n
She was about to read Anna Karenina<\/i><\/p>\n
She had lost her original copy in Moscow but had found an English language copy in Astapovo<\/p>\n
This struck her as unusual but many people visited the town<\/p>\n
It had most probably been left by a backpacker<\/p>\n
She looked at the ground and at the small stones that roasted in the sun<\/p>\n
Quite soon she and Tuppence would be many miles away<\/p>\n
Lev would return to Moscow<\/p>\n
But the small stones would remain<\/p>\n
In a few months they would be covered with snow or at least would suffer the harsh winter<\/p>\n
But if she returned next summer they would be there or nearby<\/p>\n
She wondered if The Count had trodden on them as he made his way towards his final bed<\/p>\n
In the distance she heard a train<\/p>\n
It was time to leave<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
100 Kopeks equal 1 Rouble Are you still with me? Lev was sitting on a bench on the platform at Astapovo railway station Tuppence and Penelope were sitting in front of him Yes we are Then I will carry on The image of St George and the Dragon is to be found on the coins […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}