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.