It's time to start ploughing through all the stuff I haven't mentioned this year. Given the amount of stuff I'd like to show, I think I'll just do a big dumping update, with a whole load of pics of random crap that I never got round to talking about during the year. The pics are in chronological order, for what it's worth. Let's get started!

I made a surprising (but not exactly thrilling) discovery in my local supermarket. Yes, that's right: it's a fag end in a pack of rice.










In Russian, the word for 'photocopier' is 'ксерокс' ('kseroks', or a mispronunciation of Xerox, a bit like how we call vacuum cleaners 'Hoovers'). I saw this sign in a couple of places, which appears to be mixing Cyrillic and Latin characters for humorous effect. Made me laugh, anyway.




As you know, this update stretches back through the whole of 2010. This was taken in mid-February, and give you a clear idea of what Kyiv is like in the winter. Those days are coming again soon, looking forward to it!





Around the same time, me and the missus went looking for a shop, and ended up here. So I took some pics.







Looks pretty nasty. I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this before.








Quite a contrast: this pic was taken 90 degrees to the left of the previous one.










Just made me chuckle: 'CRISP NEW BANKNOTES!' Um, okay. I guess that's important to some people.







If you can't read the label, it says 'Car Shower'. Yes, this is how Russians advertise car showers (it's Russian, not Ukrainian). I just now noticed the 2nd pic down on the left.






30th March, and the winter is fully behind us. This is a shot of the hustle and bustle surrounding Livoberezhna Metro, on the left bank of the Dnieper. The photo was taken from the window of McFoxy, a KFC-like Ukrainian chain which has opened relatively recently.




And so, onto April, and Easter. This holiday is somewhat different to what you may be used to in Britain. I went to my missus's parents' house to celebrate. First, they hard-boiled some eggs with some dye to make them red, like this. Then we put stickers on them. This one says 'Христос воскрес!', or 'Christ has risen!'




It's common to greet people on Easter by saying that phrase, and they reply with 'He is truly risen!' The religious aspect of Easter is far more apparent in Ukraine.






Unlike in Britain, you can get fireworks all the time. Here's a nice selection of the ones we would use that night.







That's a big one.











This is 'paska', a type of bread that you eat on Easter. You can buy them in the shops around that time. It's pretty dry, but nice the following morning with a cup of tea.









Here's our meal for Easter. Ukrainian meals usually consist of a wide variety of dishes in a buffet style, even ones that are no special occasion.






The tradition with those painted (or be-stickered) eggs is to hold them in your hand and smash them into someone else's. If yours survives, you try with someone else. It's like a combination of Christmas crackers and playing conkers.





And this is the result. You eat all the eggs regardless.








There were even some egg decorations on the lampshade. Lovely.








Right, back to random stuff. Walking home one night I spotted this dude in the doorway of a building. Scary.







There's a TV show where schoolkids from all over Ukraine and the CIS pit their wits against each other. This is a boy who looks like a girl.






It's a toilet with a face! He looks a bit shocked, really.











I went to a wedding, my first Ukrainian one at the time. It's very different to British weddings in many ways. This is a bread thing that is offered as a gift (then eaten by the guests).






Here's another bread thing, with salt on the top. I can't remember the significance of bread and salt, but there's something symbolic about it.






A nice little wedding cake, none of the extravagant stacked ones here.







This is where all the guests sat. You see the food is similar to what you saw at Easter. We'd stay in that room for the whole evening, with a master of ceremonies officiating games for people to play. I was roped into dressing up as a Cossack and dancing like a fool. No, you can't see pictures.




They put special candles in the wedding cake and... well, it's self explanatory.










Back at my flat, I was just surprised at the amount of head in my glass, so I took a pic.










We went down the riverside one day, and saw these guys rapping, but it was the rather silly dancing girls that caught my eye. The guys were using some fruity language in their raps, also, which surprised me as this was in public.





Typical Ukraine: an entire block of flats loses power (I think ours did too), but the advertising board stays on throughout. Well, it is more important. In fairness, that's attached to a different building, but still...





I believe this is an anti-abortion monument. The anti-abortion movement seems more clear in Ukraine than Britain, though perhaps not as clear as in the States.









All change at Zoloti Vorota Metro. Often I like running ahead of the crowd and looking back at the hundreds ambling towards me. Shame about the focus.






I found some Chinese knock-off Lego toys that made me chuckle.








Here's the reason this one made me chuckle. The Balkans are on fire! OMG!







This is a great collection of Engrish. I don't think I even have to copy what it says, you just read it.







Ahh... I love sunsets.








I went in a Metro station I hadn't been in before, and noticed the Olympic rings. Not sure which Olympics this could be connected with: I don't know about Olympics being held in Kyiv. Then again, the main stadium is called the Olympic Stadium.





This monument is sitting on the bank of the Dnieper. Not sure what it means, though.







We went for a day on the beach. This is the end of June, and you can see that it's pretty damn hot. It's on Trukhaniv Island (which technically isn't really an island, but who cares...).






And this was about the time we decided to go home.








I think you can figure this out by yourself, but there was a fan park in Kyiv for the World Cup. No beer in public anymore, though, which sucks big time.






Germany vs Argentina certainly attracted a big crowd.








Shame about the exposure on this shot, but you get the idea. You can also see where it was.







There's a weird towel in my flat.








This penguin is lovery.








And this penguin wants to fight, for some reason.








As the World Cup was coming to a close, I noticed this in the window of the adidas shop on Khreschatik. He's wearing a German football shirt, and his right arm is raised... I think the shop staff were having a laugh. Not sure any passing Germans would appreciate the joke, though.








In the Globus shopping centre, they're selling different kinds of funky chairs that do things. This gaming chair is one of them. No idea how it works: I imagine you plug it in your USB and it vibrates while you play or something.








Anyway, that's your lot. It was a big update, and a bit random in places, but I'm glad I've got it out of the way. All I need now is to update you on a few of my trips that I've had this year. See you then.

This is ridiculous. I haven't even written anything about my life in the whole of 2010, and I haven't written anything at all since June. Well, I'd better get back to it, then. I've got a ridiculous amount of personal stuff to update on, but this first update will be a little different.

In September, the new US television season began. I've never really understood the whole TV season thing: Britain (or any other country) doesn't seem to have such an organised system of new shows at a certain time. All the brand new stuff starts now, and all the old shows begin again at this time, too. The worst part, however, is that unless the ratings are decent, some of them can get pulled off the air extremely quickly, as you'll see. I took the liberty of checking out every new show, just out of curiosity. I figured there's so much TV out there, so I should check out the very first of everything at least, and then know in the future what to expect.

Here they all are, in the order in which I watched them (most were shown the same week, and in general I only watched the first episode):

Hawaii Five-0: Dumb action show, bit like Knight Rider but not so explicitly aimed at 14-year-old boys (well, a bit). Ratings have been through the roof, so this one'll be back next season for sure. I'll stick with it for a bit.

Detroit 1-8-7: Good looking police procedural drama, NYPD Blue-esque. I liked it, more seasoned critics seem to suggest it's been done before, but I wouldn't know about that. Ratings have been seriously dropping, so it may be lucky to make it to the end of the season... I'll follow it while it lasts.

Mike & Molly: I know US sitcom pilots are usually shit, but this is just "fat people" jokes for 21 minutes. Sigh. As with most sitcoms, may be worth waiting till season 3 or 4 to see if people like it (it'll probably reach that far as ratings have been fantastic - which says something about the American public).

Hellcats: Finally, someone made a TV show version of Bring It On. Not that I was waiting for one. It's a cheerleader show. As enjoyable as that is, I'm not sure I'll be hanging onto this one. It's on The CW, the least-watched of the five major networks in the US, so even though the ratings have been average, it'll probably be around for a while.

Lone Star: Best show I've seen thus far. Don't wanna spoil it, just watch it. Staggeringly, it was cancelled after only two episodes, after the first show got epically awful ratings. All the critics loved it, so it was a big surprise to see it bomb so spectacularly.

Undercovers: Married couple as secret agents. Doesn't take itself seriously. I'm sure it'll do well as it'll grab both gender demographics. I thought it was okay.

Chase: US Marshals chasing baddies. Meh, not very interesting, seen it all before.

Better With You: Decent-looking comedy following three couples who've been together for different periods (7wks, 9yrs, 35yrs) in one family. I thought it was okay for a pilot comedy show. It's certainly got legs, as the premise is good and the writing is smart.

Nikita: Intriguing action series about woman who was pissed off with government agency and is now going around messing everything up for them. It looks interesting enough, and since it's on The CW it'll probably last with an average amount of viewers.

Outsourced: Comedy, guy is sent to India to be manager of callcentre selling novelties to Americans. I've been following this for a few eps and it's quite fun. Don't listen to anyone online who says it's racist: only white Americans say that, and they're all morons.

My Generation: Mockumentary following a group of people 10 years after graduating high school (when they last interviewed them). Basically aimed at me, then, as I'm the same age. It had promise, but the mockumentary approach made some of the 'shocking' revelations etc a bit meh, because it's not real. Clearly the public didn't like it much either, as the ratings were disastrous, and, like Lone Star, it was cancelled after a mere two episodes. Never mind.

Blue Bloods: Cop show with the twist being that a bunch of them are in the same family. Other than that it's pretty standard stuff. Ratings are good, though, so expect to see it around for a while.

Running Wilde: The second coming of Arrested Development! My new favourite show (though the ratings are falling rapidly, so this one could be over before long, sadly). Will Arnett (GOB in A.D.) and Peter Serafinowicz are extremely rich idiots. Recommended viewing, quite simply.

Shit My Dad Says: William Shatner is a grumpy dad. That's pretty much it. It was okay for a comedy pilot, but as with most comedies, might be worth seeing how it pans out. The writing seems to be pretty good for the first few eps (it has to be, as the premise is exactly how I just described it).

The Event: Odd action drama, a bit like Lost but doesn't look quite as intriguing or well put together. No idea where it's gonna go from here. Ratings are average, people have called it 'the new Lost', but it'll need a few more viewers for that.

The Whole Truth: Legal drama following two lawyers - a miserable cow and a dickhead. Interesting enough. Could be fun, but I've got enough to watch at the mo.

Outlaw: Jimmy Smits with a silly voice is a judge-type bloke who quits to go it alone (with his mates). At least, I assume his normal voice isn't like that. It's a somewhat unique show, so could be interesting. There seem to be a lot of legal dramas though, so getting tired of them. The ratings were terrible for this, so it's been cancelled after four episodes, and the other four already in the can have been dumped on Saturday evenings. See you, Jimmy.

Raising Hope: Guy lives with stupid white-trash family and has to raise a kid on his own (hence the title). Features Cromartie from Terminator: Sarah Connor. A bit like a gross-out comedy at times, could be lots of fun. I'm tuning in weekly for it, and so are many Americans, it would seem.

The Defenders: Jerry O'Connell and James Belushi are a team of Las Vegas lawyers. Light-hearted drama, quite entertaining, looks like it could be pretty good. Still, it is another legal show...

No Ordinary Family: Superhero family drama. Wait, maybe that's a spoiler... ah, what the hell. It's at least rather original. I'd recommend giving it a shot.

Law & Order Los Angeles: Erm... it's Law & Order. In Los Angeles. There's really nothing new here.

School Pride: Reality show (the first one this season) where schoolkids renovate their schools. Sounds pretty dull, I know. It's nice to see dilapidated American schools getting a makeover, though - courtesy of corporate sponsors, of course. It's the American way!

So, that's all of them - for now. Body Of Proof was originally going to be a slightly late starter, but has now been put back for even longer. In mid-season there'll be a whole host of new shows hitting the air, so I'll check out those in due course, and post my feelings on here.