V Day in Transnistria and first cherries

We had fresh cherries straight from the tree of our hosts' neighbours today. First cherries in the village were ready to eat on the 5th of May this year.

We are trying to see if we could go to the self-proclaimed break-away Transnistria Republic for the V Day military parade there on the 9th. It is one of the last "Soviet Union" enclaves and we are told that the V Day celebrations there are done in true Soviet style and are very interesting to see. And I am a sucker for self-proclamed, break-away, closed, frozen in time and weird places of course. The parade in Tiraspol, the Transnistrian capital will be very pro-Russian we are told, in contrast with the official parade in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, which this year will be a joined affair with the US. Pro-Russian protests are expected in Chisinau against the participation of the US in the parade and pro-West protests are expected in Tiraspol against the Russians apparently. The grass is always greener on the other side of Nistru (the river which separates Transnistria from the rest of Moldova) it seems.

Going for a swim

OK, our host is going to a lake not far from the village (there are quite a lot of them around) to open the swimming season. I am joining him. He told me he was always the first to open the season and I do believe him. This break has a lot of earlys, early cherries, early swim.

Two brothers under the orange tree

In Athens, Greece