This thread is like the Little Engine the Could on mescaline.

VM, the people I stayed with in Petersburg still live in that apartment; I don't think they'd appreciate a 14-year-old British alcoholic showing up on their doorstep. Hence, my not giving you the address.

And I still, for the life of me, cannot figure out how this conversation has carried on so long. But by all means, continue. It is a hoot. bad manners, you're perfectly welcome to look up the colloquial use of the term "hoot" in the dictionary.