Everything but the bees...

... which may seem a strange title, but I will explain. We met many wonderful people on this aid run, more than ever before, and, as always, everyone gave us something. So we have returned home with a large jar of pickled porcini mushrooms, 3 jars of honey, homemade vodka (in the Pepsi bottle) and wine, eggs, apples, walnuts, and fresh cream, cottage cheese and a huge jar of milk.

I was also given a jar of pickled bees! I was informed that bee stings are really good for curing arthritic joints and, next best, would be smearing the dead bees on my painful hip. I was ready to try it but, when I opened the jar, the smell of rotting bees was so powerful that I just couldn't bear it. So the jar is outside the door. And I will continue to have a painful hip because I'm so squeamish!

We feel a little emotionally drained after this aid run of over 2,200 miles, but really pleased that we managed to do it and that it was so much appreciated. Also, we are very glad that we were able to help our Polish friends deliver aid to soldiers and communities on the frontline, by driving it as far as Malenivka, south of Kharkiv. We hope that they return safely, soon, from their travels.

As always, it was the people we met who will stay in our memories: the women in Kyiv, who we have got to know well, helping the disabled community, refugees and soldiers; the volunteers in Kharkiv, so proud of their city and determined to carry on, despite the hardships; and the community of Ivanivka, near Chernihiv, trying to come to terms with their memories of Russian occupation and rebuild their shattered community.

It was also a pleasure and a privilege to meet the family of Ania, who is staying in our house in Trawden. I was able to spend some time with her mother and talk, not only about remedies for arthritis, but about what it is like to survive in a country at war. She said that, at the beginning of the war, they could see and hear the missiles going over their heads, on course for Kharkiv - but who knew where they might land? The family lived in their basement. As is the case with many people who live in villages in Ukraine, they grow their own fruit and vegetables. Every second day they were able to venture outside and obtain a ration of half a loaf of bread.

We received a few comments from our Ukrainian friends abroad about our Kharkiv post. For example: "Have just received a fresh post about Kharkiv...Cried a little. That beautiful blue historical building on the photo is just next to my office..."

We keep saying to people we meet that we can't imagine what it must be like to have your country invaded and your communities destroyed. I try to 

imagine our village of Trawden being taken over by an invading force, people living in cellars, suffering death, torture, rape and other degradations, or the fear of all these. Either you stay and hope you remain alive, or you decide to leave the place where you have maybe lived all your life, and move far away to a strange country where you don't speak the language...as we say, almost impossible to imagine.

We are planning our next aid run, which will be a short one, to Odesa. On our way back to Lviv today, we left the Polish aid van with the trusty mechanics at Wheels of Victory in Ternopil, as there is something wrong with the steering. We are grateful to have been temporarily loaned a smaller van.

There is another story concerning the homeward journey that I'll leave to Bob to relate tomorrow!

This was a wintry scene on our return journey. We arrived in Lviv in a blizzard of wet snow; the weather is set to continue snowy and much colder.