Some random changes we noticed during our visit:
1. it was unseasonably warm. Usually by now there is snow and hard frost at night. Hats and gloves were hardly needed. This weather must be ordered specially in preparation for the sharp price rise for gas and electricity planned for the New Year, which is likely to cause the new government some problems in the eastern region where their biggest support is. I saw a report suggesting that payments for utilities are already quite low in the Donetsk region.
2. The posters in the metro telling you to pay your utility bills (with a picture of an ostrich with its head in the sand) have vanished. Instead (?) there was a very discreet poster for Aids Day. Aids in Ukraine is growing fast, according to the Kyiv Post about 1% of the population are infected. However, the World Bank has just reinstated its loan to fight the spread of AIDS and tuberculosis, which it suspended earlier this year due to lack of progress.
3. At Boryspil Airport a third language has now appeared on the screens announcing departures and arrivals. It's quite strange to think that perhaps the one place that justified notices in Russian, didn't have them till now.
And a restaurant review for "Parmesan" from Petro's Jotter
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