Euro 2012 Diary – T’Storms & Boys Behaving Badly

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This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Jun 19th, 2012

Now well into my 11 day stay in Ukraine I’m feeling pretty comfortable in the surroundings, although listening to Russian and not understanding a word is a constant peeve. That said, one of Slav’s friends had an uncanny ability to come across as understandable. No matter how much (or how quickly) he conversed in Russian, it felt like I understood him, despite that not being the case. I still don’t know whether that’s a good or a bad thing, or whether I’m just going mad….

Following the excitement of the game I took the opportunity to pick up some souvenirs and get about the city to see what was on offer. Unfortunately I left this a bit late in the day, and as I passed the Fan Zone on my way to the shops this was the sight I was greeted with:-

Needless to say shortly after the heavens opened and I was on the receiving end of a hefty drenching. It also seemed the Soviet roads weren’t exactly built to withstand water, as soon after it was gushing down the roads in the city centre. Worryingly drivers just decided to plough on regardless of the conditions!

The storm lasted well into the evening and little did we know it was a sign of things to come in Donetsk the following evening when Ukraine would take on France.

Before all that we headed over to explore Kharkiv’s Botanical Gardens which were a welcome retreat from the fast-paced city centre. As in many countries drinking water is still a bit of a no-no here in Ukraine and one of the features in the Botanical Gardens is a spring where people fill up their bottles with fresh water. We also stumbled upon an amazing church constructed from only wood (if you ignore the top bits!). Religion is a very important part of everyday life here in Ukraine and the absolute attention to detail within the church was testament to that fact.

Me at the Botanical Gardens with the wooden church in the background

Following on from the religion theme earlier in the week we decided to get some tickets for a performance at the Kharkiv Organ Hall (an amazing building if you ever go to Kharkiv you must see it). However we soon realised that the concert clashed with the Ukraine match so we were forced to make a choice….you would think. No, we decided to try and do both so we made it to the Organ Hall with the intention of staying for 20 minutes maximum (the performance was around an hour and a half!). We sat down to some fantastic organ playing and opera singing, and just as the lady was belting Ave Maria as though her life depended on it we snuck out like two naughty school boys.

When we made it to the Fan Zone it was packed. Everyone was huddled around the big screens trying to get the best vantage point until the match was abandoned after 5 minutes due to violent thunderstorms in Donetsk. You could forgive us for thinking it was some message to us from God that we shouldn’t have left the Organ Hall in the first place!

Eventually the game did restart and Ukraine were beaten fairly comprehensively by France. That didn’t dampen the spirits too much though, it only gave them more fire in the belly for a showdown with England a few days later.

Next time I’ll bring you the last diary of my Ukraine adventure as we witness the final game of Group B and I say goodbye to Kharkiv.