A special day...

...in Striskyi Park, where we said a temporary goodbye to our friends, Igor, and Svitlana. Igor has featured in previous blogs - he was our translator last summer, helping with English lessons, playing guitar and singing to the children, and also distributing fruit with us in the refugee centre.

Igor brought his guitar along today and, in the dapped shade of Striskyi Park, gave some excellent renditions of Sting and Beatles songs, as well as Ukrainian folk songs, of which there are many. We thought we should have put a hat in front of us and collected some money for ЗСУ, the army charity!

Igor said that he would miss us and he also said something very moving - that meeting us last summer had made a positive difference to him when he was at a very low point. He and his wife, Svitlana, both doctors, had fled Mariupol, after it was bombed to destruction and occupied by the Russian army. They lost their jobs, their home and their way of life.

When we met him, Igor wanted to leave Ukraine - to go to Canada or Spain, where one of his daughters settled - but he was not allowed to leave until his 60th birthday, which is later this year. Now that he will be able to leave, he no longer wants to as he and Svitlana have made a life in Lviv -  they have a flat and jobs as doctors - Igor has two. He said that meeting us gave him the boost he needed, and also made him think about humanitarian work - one of his jobs is with an international organisation that provides free medical treatment to internally displaced people.

Igor also says that reading our blog helps him to improve his English, which is already very good. He said that he always learns at least two new words each day, which I'm happy about - at least it shows that we have a varied vocabulary!

It goes without saying that Igor has had a really positive impact on our lives, too. He has also made us realise that, maybe, we don't have to be as ambitious as we thought in what we do in Kherson - we can make a difference, just by being here from a foreign land and showing our support. We knew this, of course - the way that people still come up and shake our hands, if we're wearing our T-shirts with the union jack and Ukrainian flags. But it's good to be reminded.

As we've said, it feels like the right time to leave Lviv, and also that Lviv has changed in a way that's hard to define - maybe brasher, with an almost carnival atmosphere in the city centre. But, amidst all the crowds and posing, men still play chess on park benches...

We have been given an answer to yesterday's conundrum regarding the bridge to nowhere at the Polytechnic University. It's the diploma work of a student from the Department of Building Structures and Bridges. After looking at the student's calculations, the teachers rejected his work, saying that the bridge would collapse. It was made using a new technology, at that time, of reinforced concrete. So the student, in order to prove himself right, built this bridge at his own expense, according to his calculations, in 1894. The bridge, with a span of 11.5 m, has survived to this day and is one of the first reinforced concrete structures. (For example, reinforced concrete floors began to be made only in the 1900s.) It is the pride of the entire Lviv Polytechnic; wedding and student graduation photo shoots are held on it.

Thank you, Vladimir.