Park life

Kyiv is a fantastically green city, full of huge tree-lined avenues and parks in which there are currently groups of people camping waiting for a pretext to protest the results of the elections just past. Even the industrial areas are a bit bosky.

Appearances can be deceptive. Whilst Kyiv might look like a greenie’s dream, Soviet-era cars and tractors and trucks sputter through the streets of the city spewing out clouds of black smoke at swallowing height. I’m not convinced the proliferation of trees quite balances things out, she writes, coughing and rubbing her eyes...


There are plenty of parks in Odessa too, and they are all full of people. Very nice, very nice.