To quote the title of a level from Cannon Fodder, "Bugger Me It's Cold". In little more than a week or so, the temperature has dropped from quite a bit above zero to -13. This dramatic fall is something that I'm just not used to in the UK, and even though I was in Kyiv last winter, it NEVER felt as bad as this. My fingers seem to be going numb after just 5-10 minutes outside, even WITH gloves on. It's inexplicable. Why I never got numb fingers last winter, when it was supposedly colder, I'll never know, but it's almost unbearable now.

Anyway, let's not complain too much about all this bad weather. I have pictures to show you from the past three weeks. Not too many, mind, but I've not been too keen to leave the flat in the last week given the sudden drop in temperature.

We begin with a somewhat childish photograph: yes, someone has indeed drawn a toilet on this bench in a building. Kids today.







Er, this little statue is in the north of the city, near Artema Road. The sign reads "Loshadka", which appears to mean "horse". What that has to do with a hedgehog, I don't know.









Here is the thing that gives the Metro station 'Teatralna' its name: the Theatre. Very grand.







This guy was Ukraine's first proper president, before the Soviets came along.










Ah, beautiful Kyiv... yes, there are a lot of cars here, at Ploscha Peremohy.







This photo was taken on 10th December, just to show the first snow that arrived. It's been falling sporadically since.







In other news, I went shopping in a relatively-new shopping centre in Obolon, with the catchy name of Dream Town. It certainly lives up to its moniker. There are several themed places in the centre: this one is Hollywood. Apologies for the bad focus, but see if you can spot everyone. King Kong is obvious, but Spiderman and Batman are there, too.







Below is an equally interesting spectacle. Old American-style cars, very nice.







And a piano! Notice the man with an old hand-cranked camera on the left.







Elsewhere we have some bizarre stuff. Next to a Western saloon, there's a Crazy Golf course.







This is a fake waterfall in the jungle section.











There's also an Oriental section.








This is the wonderful ice rink, for those who fancy a bit of skating. There's a rollerskating area, too, if you prefer.







For no reason, there's a model of the world here, with some crazy signifiers of different countries. Big Ben can be seen on the UK towards the left. All in all, it's a wonderful shopping centre, well worth a visit. Kyiv's certainly improving its shopping experience with places like this, out of the centre of town.




Here's another example of bonkers advertising inside Metro stations: all the walls are covered with ads for one of those bio-yoghurt-type things. So, they thought it'd be fun to put a load of balloons on the ceiling to demonstrate the point.





And a photo from a few days ago to illustrate the inclement weather.







That's yer lot for now. Maybe you'll see another update around Christmas. Or, maybe not. It's not long to go now.