Never too late to do something for the first time so it’s embarrassing to sample operetta this late in life.
Lviv National Opera being the perfect place to start.
Not a sell-out – ticket was 400 hrivna, about £9.
Die Fledermaus
Lviv larks
Lviv’s lively street celebrations almost defy belief more than 550 days after Russia launched its crazed invasion.
Above, crowds gathered to banish the blues as a series of acts entertained citizens before the city suffered its first bomb attack shortly after I left for Kyiv.
Mr Arbitrium, Lviv
This chap looks like he’s propping up the Lviv National Opera by himself.
He’s actually a war-inspired work of art by an Italian artist.
He’s just in the bottom left hand corner here.
Football on the moon – Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Obolon Kyiv 0
It seemed like this was played on the moon, at any rate.
Obviously it wasn’t, just in case you were wondering. And there were no Clangers at this game. Honest. I went looking.
Ukraine Premier League (UPL) has been played behind closed doors since Russia’s invasion in February last year.
For Shakhtar, effectively evicted from Donetsk in 2014, it’s been life on the road ever since.
Continue reading Football on the moon – Shakhtar Donetsk 1 Obolon Kyiv 0
All you need is Lviv
Wednesday 8pm: It’s as if there is no war – Lviv is celebrating itself.
Crowds throng the half-mile long piazza in front of the city’s opera house under the watchful eye of national poet Taras Shevchenko, looking down benignly from his plinth, and probably delighted by the spectacle.
Children scamper through the ornamental fountain; old men play backgammon with an intensity you can almost smell; babushki gossip, flashing their immaculate dentistry; Roma children as young as four try to sell you flowers.
A couple snog on one bench – unusual to see that in Ukraine – a sozzled alcoholic straddles the next one. He looks like he’s making love to it.
A girl sporting a T-shirt with the slogan Killer Tits (not in Cyrillic) scoffs candy floss with her boyfriend; teenage schoolgirls watch the musicians raptly, clinging together and grooming each other’s long tresses.
And then there’s what can only be described as the best street musicians in the world providing defiance/joy/inspiration.
Mamma mia, here we go… DakhaBrakha, Madrid
First gig in Madrid and they went down a storm. Of course.
The capital city’s smart set turned out in numbers for this fund-raising tour by Ukraine’s most popular musical export.
It was something of a surprise that people got there at all.
Kybok ‘n’ roll – FC Poltava 2 Karpaty Lviv 1
Some of the best things in life are free and this was no exception.
Continue reading Kybok ‘n’ roll – FC Poltava 2 Karpaty Lviv 1
Gherkins and the Golden Boot – Ukraine 1 Wales 0
She nailed it. My pal Anya, 33, from Kyiv, first game ever, said after 85 minutes: “You guys need to practise scoring.”
Continue reading Gherkins and the Golden Boot – Ukraine 1 Wales 0
Chew, what a scorcher – Ukraine 1 Wales 1 (2001)
In the middle of Kyiv, 50 yards away from the Khreshatyk tube station is a restaurant/pub whose name escapes me.
On the menu are listed the usual starters, main courses, desserts, wines and half a page devoted to . . . chewing gums.
Continue reading Chew, what a scorcher – Ukraine 1 Wales 1 (2001)
Ukraine u21s 1 Wales u21s 0 (2001)
All I can say is: ‘We wuz robbed.’
Viva Vorskla! Poltava 0 Zorya Lugansk 2
Last game before the winter break, as Ukraine wraps up warm and retreats into hibernation.
Vorskla, fifth, versus Zorya, third.
The banned played on – Dynamo Kyiv 2 Chornomorets Odesa 1
First game for European football’s bad boys of the moment since they’ve had their backsides whipped.
Continue reading The banned played on – Dynamo Kyiv 2 Chornomorets Odesa 1
Miles from Nowhere 