'Gone. Pfft. Doesn't exist anymore. All the countries have gone back to being their own, most of them democracies. Well, of a sorts. More like plutocracies, but the Cold War is over and it looks like the West won. Gene, they tore down the Berlin Wall. Young people with sledge hammers, took it right down to the ground. It was brilliant!'

He can guess that Alex was glued to the telly the whole time. That was the year she met Peter, and it seemed like the whole world was on the edge of a revolution.