By tradition we saw in the New Year with the Rayevskys, this must be the seventh or eighth time in a row. Uncle Sasha is not well, and the household was therefore rather subdued. We had a game of vint and I improved my knowledge of bridge. After we had welcomed the New Year, Andryusha and Shurik bashed their way through the overture to Carmen and then asked me to play something. I sat down and played Lel's aria from The Snow Maiden. General consternation. To pacify my public I played the Grieg Sonata, which they all wanted to hear, and we all went home at half past one.