I’m revisiting Kyiv and it’s a strange new experience for me.
Everywhere else we’ve left, I’m expected to go back - Japan because I was still working at the same company and France just because you always go there for holidays - but never did. So, this trip to Kyiv is the first time I’ve revisited a different country where I’ve lived *

It’s weird. Firstly, my autopilot keeps taking me back to the old flat. Secondly, whilst I’m on the way I have weird impulses based on strange foreign-country-survival-instincts I didn’t know I had. The strangest example being “Oh, the English bookshop is just here, I could see if they’ve got any new books in to take back for Jane”.

Then there’s the weird things you get used to whilst you live here and suddenly strike you as. I imagine this would be better in Japan where we regularly used to drink cold coffee from cans and eat seaweed for breakfast. In Kyiv it’s the way you need so much cash to get anything done. In the US, you can buy coffee using a credit card. In Ukraine, they want cash to pay for everything from dinner to the clothes you buy to wear while Air France find your bags. The other thing is that all the lobbies smell of cat wee.

The picture is of the flat I’m staying in. During the two years since we first stayed in Kyiv, the accommodation has improved hugely. Sadly, the colour matching skills are still a little iffy.

* Blighty excluded obvioulsy