by On a snowy last day of February, I’m definitely feeling better. That might just be because the painkillers are kicking in, but I’ll take it. I’m taking a concoction of drugs right now. One of them comes in a partly pink box that looks like it should have a feminine hygiene product inside. Another has a name that sounds like somewhere Putin would like to invade, and consists of tiny amber-coloured pellets. But yes, I’m better. Last Monday, when the lesson with the twins rolled around, I was in pain and really didn’t want anything do with it. Today I managed to complete all my lessons at my desk instead of on the sofa. Tomorrow I’ll have my stomach ultrasound, which I bet won’t show anything.
The Ukraine war is mental, and unbelievably sad. Ukrainians are losing their lives all because of some twisted fucker whose delusions know no bounds. As my brother said, Putin has lost the plot. (He thinks one of his henchmen might take him out.) When I woke up on Thursday, it was like a magnitude-10 earthquake had jolted Europe. I googled Ivano-Frankivsk, a city 150 km from Romania’s border, whose airport had been bombed hours earlier. Google Street View showed a bustling city in summer, with shops and bars and a popular confectionery market.
The war is providing a grisly backdrop to everything. I’m grappling with all these Ukrainian names I’d never heard of before – all these harsh Vs and Ks. I’m not even quite sure how I should be pronouncing Kyiv, the Ukrainian (and therefore accurate) version of the city I’d always called Kiev (the Russian name). Yesterday morning there were at times both Ukrainian and Russian players at my online poker table. Last night Dad was complaining to me about the awful Australian-owned banks (and they really are profit-gouging bastards), and I jokingly suggested that the NZ goverment should kick them out of SWIFT, a system I’d only vaguely heard of a week ago.
Europe is increasingly uniting against evil. (I had serious doubts over this.) Germany finally got on board with sanctions over the weekend, and is now providing weapons to the Ukraine. I must say I liked seeing the rouble plummet to one cent against the US dollar this morning. Roll on half a cent. It’s bad that innocent Russians – many of whom already live in poverty – are going to be hit hard by this, but what’s the alternative?
I bought some shoes today, on the way to the supermarket. They’re leather, blue and brown – well mostly anyway – and made in Romania. A super-rare impulse purchase (and another sign I’m feeling better). They were 130 lei, or about NZ$45. A bargain.
I’m now seriously considering a trip to New Zealand in August. NZ is feeling the full force of Omicron right now, but with such high vaccination rates it should be much less painful than it was (and still is) here. Then normality, we all hope.
