MSB and I set off on our secret mission to Russia by EasyJet. Our challenge was to retrieve the sky blue C90 cassette tape and return it intact to the UK. We ignored our Macedonian intern’s fears that we’d never get out of Russia alive without valid visas. Against her will, we forced her to accompany us as our “local” translator.

In the event the most dangerous part of the journey came as we attempted to cross the ungated railway tracks, dodging commuter trains. The guards at the border barely glanced at us, showing no interest whatsoever in our travel documents. This was all too easy.

Indeed by the time we found the cassette tape I was beginning to wonder if we were in Russia at all. The complex of out of town superstores that I could see from the window looked remarkably like Fort Kinnaird, just off the Edinburgh city bypass.