Peggy and I spent a marvellous day in the company of Russian visitor Alexander Abromov who, while on holiday here in South Africa with his substantial family, took time to play golf at De Zalze.

The delightful Rada Binovskaya, as our translator, accompanied us. Rada has settled here in the Cape and she really epitomizes the reputation that Russian women are beautiful and Peggy and I would add charming also.

Alexander, who is only two years into golf, but who has grasped how to play the game well (well he beat us!) is a major force in the Kremlin and with the current change in the Presidency over in Russia he is likely to be even more high profile than before. If this is so the Russians will have one of the most natural personalities in power. You spend four and a half hours on a golf course with a complete stranger and walk off as friends. In this case we found a truly amiable, fun loving and courteous companion who we truly hope returns for more golf in South Africa – well we did tell him we wanted a revenge match and he told us it would only be polite to accept.