Little London

Two days ago we moved to the London Hotel as it is in a safer part of the city. I was determined to get a photo of me alongside a rather diminutive Big Ben they had erected outside.

I had been awake since 1am with insomnia and was just drifting off to sleep when the siren sounded at 4.30am. By 8 we’d had the all clear, eaten breakfast, said a fond farewell to our colleagues who would remain and were on our way to the Moldovan border. There were noticeably more checkpoints and anti tank defences across fields that were probably now also mined. Immediate defences again the risk of Russian forces trying to connect Crimea to Transnistria, but ones which will have long term consequences for food production and safety of agricultural workers.

We arrived at lunchtime to a rather beautiful hotel in Chisinău, newly opened and grateful for our custom as tourism has dipped considerably (although Moldova is beautiful and I would thoroughly recommend it as a destination apart from the obvious conflict risk).

Later I had dinner with colleagues and a French doctor eager to hear about medical provision in Odessa. I regretfully had little useful information in that front.,

It was wonderfully relaxing to go to bed knowing there would not be any sirens in the small hours. The constant stress and worry is another part of what all Ukrainians are living with, even those far from frontlines.