A month before our Week with Wodehouse, I promised Elin Murphy to provide her with my brief impressions of the tour, but I couldn’t imagine what a difficult task it might be. Today I have rather mixed feelings and almost have no words to express myself. You see, I was among those lucky people who attended the Millennium Tour seven years ago, and – whether you want to or not – you start to compare these events. In 2000, it was almost my first trip abroad and I regarded everything with wide-open eyes. I fell in love with England, and looked forward to visiting it again with great impatience.

However, you can’t enter the same river twice, and – alas! – you can’t enter Hanley Castle twice. Where is its abundance of flowers? [Victims of all the rainfall. – Ed.] Where is a peacock in the streets of Corsham? Cars, cars everywhere, and these ugly constructions on the grounds of Sudeley Castle ...

But I don’t intend to grumble. When people asked me “Why did you come again to see places you’ve already seen?” I answered that I needed it, because I was an absolute Wodehouse novice seven years ago, and I needed to look at those places with fresh eyes (although I could watch it on my video every day). What I really came for was to experience again that splendid feeling of Wodehousean friendship.

The first evening was miraculous – people whom I met in 2000 absolutely hadn’t changed, maybe were even slightly younger. And Norman – in the same jacket and hat, with the same pipe, as if those seven years had never been. An unbelievable feeling!

The organisation of the tour was irreproachable. The Society's chairman Hilary Bruce surpassed herself! And what a great idea it was to divide us into small groups – it made our walks easy to assimilate (well, Christine’s and Elin’s walks, at least) [Hoy! – Norman] and cemented our friendship. Shall I say that my group was the best? Well, I am sure that everybody will say the same about their own groups?!

Tony Ring’s efforts on organising the entertainment – especially on the coach en route – produced splendid results. However beautiful songs with PGW lyrics may be, they can’t rouse you so efficiently as a good reading, especially if you are a reader. I had a reading, too. Oh! For me it was an extremely difficult task. Tony and – later – Elin tried to inspire me to read the whole text, but I absolutely refused to spoil Wodehouse’s language with my horrible English. I decided instead to present one of two Russian characters from the pages of Wodehouse books. Vladimir Brusiloff (stress on the “i” – remember, please) from “The Clicking Of Cuthbert” seemed to be the best one, especially in the part where he expressed his opinion concerning modern Russian literature, as well as his own, Tolstoi’s and Wodehouse’s mastery.

To think of Brusiloff’s costume was quite easy to me. Like a Great Russian Writer, he should appear bearded and in a folk Russian shirt. Coincidentally, Jelle Otten bought such a shirt, when he and Marjanne visited me in Moscow, and – thank you, Jelle – he brought it to me in London. However, I had trouble with the false beard. Unbelievably, I couldn’t find one in Moscow, and I bored almost all the Londoners on our tour, asking whether they had a false beard – a Santa Claus’s, at least. Alas, London’s Wodehouseans don’t believe in Santa Claus. Patrick Hinchy, whom I was so happy to meet last year on the “Wodehouse in Germany” tour (in fact, I was the only participant of this tour), found a false (and brown!) beard and was ready to bring it me to London, but we mixed up the days of our meeting. Never mind – Patrick, at least, can now pretend to be Bingo Little at Speaker's Corner in Hyde Park a la "The Inimitable Jeeves".

As for me, I was almost completely demoralised by the prospect of my reading, when suddenly I realized that Hilary had providently put me in the same group with Arthur Findlay. Of course, I’d love Arthur even if he were clean-shaven, but now I saw I had the answer for my reading. My (well, Jelle’s) folk Russian shirt and Arthur’s beard – we would be a great duet! Having asked Arthur to help me, I learned that he hated public presentations, perhaps even more than I did, but I hardened my heart. Poor Arthur, I’m afraid I spoiled the whole Friday morning for him. But noblesse oblige ... Thank you, Arthur, my reading was nothing without your help.

Now I must refer the reader to my articles on the Russian references in Wodehouse. Preparing his part of the text, Arthur asked me whether Nastikoff was a Russian name. No, it wasn’t, and I had always wondered from where Wodehouse took it? Arthur then explained to me that Wodehouse combined it from the words “nasty” and “cough” (the same joke as with Gotsuchakoff). Thank you, Arthur, again and again!!! And, certainly, all my gratitude to all those who spoke so kindly of our reading.

However, I have digressed from what I really want to say. Seven years ago I couldn’t even dream that I might find a group better than we were then. It’s hard to choose the exact words, and I don’t mean to hurt my dear friends from the Millennium Tour, but people that I met this time were so ... well, Elin was right in an email to me, I just can’t find enough superlative adjectives in all my dictionaries. It seems that something was born between us, and if seven years ago, having come back to Moscow, I felt that I lost a part of myself, today I feel that I have lost everything.

A few last words. While visiting some foreign Wodehouse societies, I was rather surprised that they were presented mostly by people of the elder generation, while our Russian Wodehouse Society unites lots of very young people. Is it that European youths do not read Wodehouse? I’ve wondered this with a certain regret. That’s why it was a big pleasure to meet so many pretty young girls and brave young men on this tour [We can confirm that Masha was on the PGWS tour and hadn't joined another group by mistake! Must be all that vodka -Ed.]. If Norman has to leave his walks (with all our tears of regret and words of gratitude), it is wonderful that Christine Hewitt can pick up Norman’s umbrella and pipe and continue to acquaint us with Plum’s London. I firmly believe that the UK Wodehouse Society will continue to flourish, and I dream of the next Wodehouse Week.

Tour photographs taken by Tamaki Morimura and added to Hetty Litjens' website (click here)