A whole different world

Well I've taken some time off of blogging for a number of different reasons, the first being the lack of time... While I had to attend the Braty bluzu concert at Khmilna botchka - a business trip out of the country prevented me from doing so. I was in touch with some friends who had called me asking me about the gig, and where to get tickets prior to the show, but some of them unfortunately, also somehow didn't make it.

So know, for the next few days I am in a different world. I am trying to meet certain people in the middle of the holiday season in a land far away from my usual stomping ground around Kyiv, but on a stomping ground that holds many fond memories and where i grew up. While meetings with some people I've needed to meet haven't worked out - I had some surprises yesterday when attending my niece and nephew's swim meet. I met former team mates that I swam with competitively many years ago at the Pointe Claire Swim Club. It was good to see them and it brought back some memories...

Last night I sat with my brother and some friends and reminisced about our life guarding days at Dixie Pool and LaSalle Park Pool in our home town. There will be a little more of that on Saturday when Dixie Pool the place I spent my summer months in as a kid and some of my first jobs at in my late teens and early adult life will be celebrating its 45th Anniversary...

Today my brother says to me... "Hey, Vasyl... I just say your name in the Gazette!" He was right... I had put in a comment on another place I spent hundreds of hours training from about 1974 through 1981...

The place I grew up was always a different world from most places in Canada... we probably had the highest percentage of swimming pools per capita in Canada - we had attitude - and as I see my brother's kids growing up... I know why my parents settled in this neighborhood... It still has to be one of the coolest places to raise a family.

I listened to local FM radio today... and you know... Kyiv's radio stations have a long way to go before they come close to the quantity and variety of quality music that one can hear here... Anyhow, time to get home - get to sleep... More meetings tomorrow.