Once more to Lviv....

It was difficult to sleep last night with the thoughts of the next stage of our journey to Ukraine.
We were kindly taken to get our transport to Lviv, at a really early hour, by our Polish friends. It turned out to be quite surreal...a double decker bus, that is used to transport refugees west from the worst affected areas in the east of Ukraine. And we were the only passengers, except for the two drivers. We were accompanied by playpens and children's car seats.
Some 90 minutes later, on the way to Lviv, but still in Poland, we pulled into  a warehouse storage facility, which turned out to be a central hub for distributing humanitarian aid. We spent the next hour or so filling the bus up with dried powdered milk and weetabix. 
If that in itself was a bit unexpected, on closer inspection of the area outside, we spotted 3 old, (about 18 yrs) single decker buses that had been brought over from Bangor of all places to help ferry aid and refugees. Add to that a range of ambulances and other assorted vans, all delivering humanitarian assistance in one way or another. One realised that the logistics and range of support occurring here is more than impressive.
The warehouse was run by a charity based in Miami. After coffee.... which only us oldies (there has to be some benefits) were offered, we were once more on our way. 
Just a mention of the drivers of the bus, quiet,
just getting on with the job. Unfortunately we were not really able to communicate much but they were always friendly. 
The crossing over from Poland to Ukraine was relatively straightforward, however as always seems to happen with us, we started speaking to one of the border guards about the homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, which she had  already heard about, and, before we knew it, we were discussing the possibility of her mother, herself and two children coming to England, and we have a possible sponser available. So on Monday next week we will meet. As we have said so many times before, you can't make it up.

And so finally we get to Lviv. Unfortunately the apartment leaves a lot to be desired for a long stay, such as a sink in the bathroom! Still we managed to sort it amicably with the owner, who even offered to do our washing and brought beers round. The trades description act would have had a field day with the apartment :)
So tomorrow we start our work in Lviv, and who knows where that will take us.....

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