Sadness and strength (19.10.22)

There seems to be incredible sadness, but also strength, in these amazing statues/icons on the top of a building opposite one of our regular tram stops. It strikes a chord for me, now, with what is happening in Ukraine.

Finally, there is acknowledgement by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,  that Russia’s strikes on critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine are “acts of pure terror” that amount to war crimes. Not that this will have any impact on Putin's expanding campaign to drive Ukraine into the cold and dark, and make peace talks impossible, as Zelenskiy says. We also don't think it will weaken the Ukrainians' strength and resolve, but we wonder how people will manage if the critical infrastructure of the country is destroyed.

There is a small good news story in our world, however. The visas of V and O were approved yesterday, after just 5 days, bucking the current trend of long waits for visas again. So they will soon be starting the final leg of their journey to a village near Pershore, Worcestershire, which seemed an unlikely event some 3 months ago when an elderly woman thanked us for a bag of fruit in perfect English.


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