A Year in Kharkiv
One year ago I drove into Kharkiv on a day much the same as in the photo above, taken this evening, with a clear blue sky. My co-driver had to try to direct me because there was an air raid alert, during which satellite navigation often does not function. I remember driving across impossibly huge squares, having no idea in which direction traffic was supposed to go! Today the air raids continue, day and night, and now those huge squares are familiar and beautiful to me. Kharkiv felt very different from Lviv and Odesa, where I lived previously - the enormity of the spaces, the Soviet-style architecture - but it soon grew on me and has become my favourite city in Ukraine. Of course, it's always people who make the difference and, in Kharkiv, I've felt the welcome and friendliness of people more than anywhere else. There's also a slightly crazy, anarchic feel to this city that I think has always been present, and may have been enhanced by people's experience of trying to l...