You can tell it's almost autumn again - Petrenko is back in town and ready for the new season at the Phil.
The RLPO's young conductor met the media for a spot of lunch and a catch up today.
With Capital of Culture careering towards us RLPO and Petrenko fans are being promised a goodly number of concerts featuring the winning combination between now and next September.
Vasily himself has of course signed to stay on at Liverpool until 2012 (although the Phil would obviously like him to stay on longer), and is in the final stages of buying a house.
He's even been checking the local schools for his three-and-a-half year old who will no doubt be speaking Scouse English before you can say alright la?
He's also got a lot of ideas when it comes to the Phil developing its concert hall, facilities and car parking.
Although it's probably not on the scale of the new development he was telling me about planned for his home city St Petersburg - a 101 storey tower right in the middle of the four storey historic heart!
Can you imagine the furore in Liverpool?
Mind you, I suspect the native St Petersburgers aren't too chuffed.
He was also telling me that apparently the Russians are also talking about building a highway from Moscow to Vladivostock, and a road from Lake Baikal in Siberia to Alaska, with a tunnel under the stretch of water between the US and Russia.
You'd need an awful lot of travel sweets Welcome Breaks along a route like that!
Anyway, if you want to revolutionise the Phil, I told him you need to find yourself a friendly Russian billionaire who is more into Dvorak than right back.
Or, as he suggested, strike oil in Hope Street (it would play havoc with the new paving though).
In the meantime, it's on with the autumn programme, starting next week with the 'opening flourish' including a new work by Liverpool composer Kenneth Hesketh.
The Phil have got him slaving with a quill in the back room to turn out all manner of world premiere masterpieces for the year ahead.
