You have all probably noticed a sudden surge in activities here in the Ukraine - well thats not because everything is free. Its because we’ve got ourselves organised and planned a few things as we are quickly running out of time - scarily quickly actually!

This week I gritted my teeth for Carmen - thats an opera for those of you that don’t remember your schooling. We got top seats for 50 EUR, with our own box - shame the seats were broken and too small for me to get my butt on. Luckily it was broken in 2 acts, with act 2 in two parts - 3 hours of spanish with russian subtitles - I will not need to do that again I am sure. I felt a little sorry as well as you could see the costumes from the previous scene under the current costume so it was a little bit cheap. The young lovers that were in the lead roles were obviously brought back from the pasture as they struggled to lift each other and hold the swords.... a sign of the crisis here I think.

This weekend I made a quick trip to London, did a BIG shop which meant I max’ed the cards - the reason to be revealed - and I had way too many rums with Pete & Lou in the afternoon. We had a cracker time though and I am sure it won’t be the last. Dasha spent the weekend with her Mum before she shot off to Italy again so by the end of the weekend I was well and truly missing her - Dasha that is!

Anna and Mike were again in top form - and I have to say that Anna is quite the chef now. She whipped up some prawns, an avocado salad, a rocket and nectarine salad - capped with a nice bottle of red.

A top weekend all round - but I am glad to be back.

p.s I encountered a new twist on my visa saga - I now have a bit of paper that gives me temp residency rights in Ukraine. The only issue is that it looks like a bus ticket from the 1950s - except with a photo of me on it. As I have this, I no longer have a visa in my passport and I had to convince the BMI check in dude that I could get into Ukraine with my bus ticket. After 10 minutes of Ukrainian customs education I think I must have convinced him that I was either mad or I knew exactly what I was talking about - he let me on the plane but lets see next time!