More from the Mount Street scribe:
Friday 22nd July
Set off from L'viv heading east for Kiev. Ukraine lives up to its former function as the bread basket for the USSR. Big acres of wheat, oats and maize with a rotational crop from the car that looked like Lucerne but on closer inspection wasn't, the Rudram botanical research team is working on it.
There were obvious subsistence farming with strip cultivation horse an cart and one or two cows, then there were small farms with small tractor and enclosed fields making small bale hay and loading with pitch forks quite nostalgic but the vast acreage was obviously run by big agribusiness companies with up to six combines working together and some trial plots ??? GM.
The roads were dead straight which tended to be a bit soporific, Kiev was a large city with bleak suburban areas and the centre quite vibrant and up together. I didn't notice anything of architectural merit. We stayed in a tourist hotel and caught the metro into the centre. Wandered around Independence Square where there was a small tribute to a journalist killed 2 days previously. There was a lot of street performers including outdoor karaoke. We had chicken Kiev and a beer from a pavement cafe and watched the Ukrainian proletariat enjoy Friday night. Nobody seemed concerned about military action in Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts.
Saturday 23rd July.
Our aim today was to get into Russia. Kiev to Sumy on the border was around 200 miles and more of the same terrain. Lunch break was interesting when we stopped in a village store and made our own sandwiches with out a word of English being spoken. The car required more maintenance which I am sure Gordon will describe bolt by bolt, suffice to say we now have a Kia on an even keel.
Sumy must be the most depressing town I have ever been to, even makes Bridgwater on a wet Sunday evening seem vibrant and fun packed. At the border some rather tedious form filling which took me 3 attempts so the border police man regarded me as the village idiot and Gordon his Bossom pal and we are all mates in whatever police force - I had to do the forms as the car is registered to me.
Three hours later we were in Russia and stopped at the first hotel where after a little currency difficulty we were in. However being Saturday night there was a wedding upstairs and down where we were was obviously the local night spot for all the locals. Both involved mega decibel music (?) and the girl's attire at disco would put the Newcastle girls to shame.
Friday 22nd July
Set off from L'viv heading east for Kiev. Ukraine lives up to its former function as the bread basket for the USSR. Big acres of wheat, oats and maize with a rotational crop from the car that looked like Lucerne but on closer inspection wasn't, the Rudram botanical research team is working on it.
There were obvious subsistence farming with strip cultivation horse an cart and one or two cows, then there were small farms with small tractor and enclosed fields making small bale hay and loading with pitch forks quite nostalgic but the vast acreage was obviously run by big agribusiness companies with up to six combines working together and some trial plots ??? GM.
The roads were dead straight which tended to be a bit soporific, Kiev was a large city with bleak suburban areas and the centre quite vibrant and up together. I didn't notice anything of architectural merit. We stayed in a tourist hotel and caught the metro into the centre. Wandered around Independence Square where there was a small tribute to a journalist killed 2 days previously. There was a lot of street performers including outdoor karaoke. We had chicken Kiev and a beer from a pavement cafe and watched the Ukrainian proletariat enjoy Friday night. Nobody seemed concerned about military action in Donetsk and Lugansk Oblasts.
Saturday 23rd July.
Our aim today was to get into Russia. Kiev to Sumy on the border was around 200 miles and more of the same terrain. Lunch break was interesting when we stopped in a village store and made our own sandwiches with out a word of English being spoken. The car required more maintenance which I am sure Gordon will describe bolt by bolt, suffice to say we now have a Kia on an even keel.
Sumy must be the most depressing town I have ever been to, even makes Bridgwater on a wet Sunday evening seem vibrant and fun packed. At the border some rather tedious form filling which took me 3 attempts so the border police man regarded me as the village idiot and Gordon his Bossom pal and we are all mates in whatever police force - I had to do the forms as the car is registered to me.
Three hours later we were in Russia and stopped at the first hotel where after a little currency difficulty we were in. However being Saturday night there was a wedding upstairs and down where we were was obviously the local night spot for all the locals. Both involved mega decibel music (?) and the girl's attire at disco would put the Newcastle girls to shame.
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