Trawden For Ukraine

We were last in Kharkiv (Ukraine's second largest city) in winter 2022, delivering aid. Then, it was very cold, -27°C,  and the streets were deserted, many civilians having fled and businesses - cafes, bars, restaurants, etc. - closed. Yesterday, on a warm spring evening, Kharkiv had the feeling of a fairly bustling, cosmopolitan city - young people out, enjoying themselves, people shopping - even one fashionable young woman in high-heeled boots, with lots of brand name shopping bags, posing in the middle of traffic for a photo! And nearly getting run over.  But nearly everywhere you go, the beauty of this historical but modern city is juxtaposed with buildings that have been gutted by bombs. There is a fairly constant threat of air raids; sirens sound frequently throughout the day, often one straight after the other, so you end up losong track of them. It's a huge city so the risk of injury or death is minimal, but the attacks are random. Today, a woman

Yesterday was our last day in Lviv, for now. I said goodbye to the lovely women in By-Porokokhova camouflage netting... although I will call in again on the return journey through Lviv. Some of them are from Kharkiv.  The day before yesterday we filled the car with aid for Kharkiv, thanks to our volunteer friends of стари місто Львів (Old City Lviv). We have some really good stuff: canned fruit and vegetables, dried soup, paraffin candles, wet wipes, emollient cream for chapped lips, wounds, etc and insect repellent - the last 3 items much needed by soldiers. As we were packing I noticed that one tyre was losing air. So, off to a tyre place. As often happens here, they would not accept payment for fixing the tyre and thanked us for what we were doing for Ukraine. Below, goats in the middle of a city. It was also Bob's birthday. His best presents were WhatsApp videos sent from the two classes he recently taught

We spent a year in Lviv from June 2022, and we did some good work at the refugee centre in Striskyi Park - helping people who wanted to move to the UK with finding sponsors and learning English, and distributing fresh fruit. Eventually, we left because we felt that we would be of more value living in Odesa, taking aid and teaching in Kherson. And now the time has come to leave Lviv again. I've done some useful work here...camouflage netting, making energy bars, including developing a less sweet recipe, as requested by soldiers, and a little English teaching. But there's always a greater need where people experience the consequences of this brutal war directly, which is why I'm going to Kharkiv - to volunteer in the wonderful Hell's Kitchen and other projects, and maybe teach English. Yesterday morning was the last of my English conversation groups. As usual, there was a lively and stimulating discussion, this time around improvements people would like to see in Ukraine.

Being towed. Given the distances travelled in Ukraine ( Lviv to Kharkiv is practically the same as London to Vienna) and the age of the car, it's not the biggest surprise that, occasionally, breakdowns will occur. Driving away from Kharkiv on my way to Kyiv, I stopped for a coffee at a fairly remote petrol station. Got back in my car, turned on the ignition. Nothing. There was only the petrol pump attendant. I asked him for some help; within moments he was stopping cars to get people to help. We realised it wasn't the battery. The starter motor had stopped working. So it couldn't be repaired there. The attendant called some mechanics who appeared in a car that was probably in worse condition than mine, some 20 minutes later. They explained that nothing could be done there and they would need to tow it to the garage. At that point, I realised that some ragamuffin had        "borrowed" the front tow hook. But, ingeniously, they found a solution. So off we went, towe