Tests

May 18 tuned into June 1. Olga and I agreed a fortnight's delay as she was not feeling well and suspected that she might even have the virus. She was clearly not in great form and not getting much help from any doctors either, just doing her best to eat food that might assist in her recovery. Her sleeping has been quite considerably upset with Yuri now working many times at night, coming home at early hours of the morning and not always when he's expected to either. This has resulted in her staying up for many hours and even when she does finally get to rest she doesn't find sleep comes easily. I feel sad for her situation but there is really little I can do about it. She will not give her son a key as she fears that he will lose it and it is extremely difficult to replace being a quite unique design for the heavy outer door that has been installed at her apartment. So she needs to be awake for his calls to say when he'll be home. Yuri could help things a lot by not drinking and socialising as much as he does or, at least, communicating better with her, but it seems he just forgets. Genuinely, he means no harm but he simply forgets and it seems that no amount of telling off or argument with his mother makes any difference.

I fear that the combination of her lack of sleep and stress with Yuri's behaviour and hours will delay her  recovery from whatever she has.

Her English test was on May 13, the day after her birthday. We celebrated her birthday as best we could over Skype but the real celebration was for her English test result - it arrived on May 19 and she passed!! This is truly wonderful news. She had not been feeling well and the trip to Kiev was arduous. Despite practicing for hours and hours and writing out exercise after exercise she was not at all confident. I have to admit that I was not confident either. I was very much prepared for her not passing and having to give her some extra help when I get back to Zhytomyr and slowly building her recognition of words up to be able to pass. I was also of the view that it would probably be later in the year now that she would be able to make an application. Indeed, we might even have to think about alternative places to live - or my frequently visiting for some time yet.

But no, she passed! I was so pleased and proud of her efforts. It is such a relief for her and, of course, for me as we can now put plans back into action. Brilliant news. 

Immediately I dug out all the papers that I needed for my part of the application. I looked at the list recommended by the agency and slowly collated everything required. Within a few days I had everything! A massive set of documents which then had to be scanned. Thank goodness Adrian's old scanner is still working well. Apart from some minor adjustments, my part of the paperwork is done. It does seem fairly black and white, rather than being much more at the discretion of the staff looking at the application.

Adrian putting me on a PAYE basis has bridged the gap in finances that I can demonstrate as regular income and, in total, I certainly meet the criteria. Just to be on the safe side, I also completed my tax return rather earlier than normal! This shows a small profit and all the income from my book records is shown which ought to cover all that I have actually received too, including some web work for David.

Although I have now had both vaccinations for some time and the rates are staying low across the UK there is still a requirement for a whole load of tests to travel. It is quite a pain and can be complicated too, requiring more than a little planning. For a start you have to choose where to get tested. The Government web site has a plethora of several hundred organisations who seem to offer the service and are 'approved' but at costs ranging from about £60 to over £300 a time! It is quite impracticable to check every one and, in the absence of anyone to consult as I must be one of the earlier people doing all this stuff, I was quite uncertain about where to begin. Fortunately, WizzAir had a link on their web site to a company called Randox Health where a code could be used to get the price substantially reduced. I tried to understand what I could from the site but it was still a bit strange so I called them. Remarkably, the phone was answered by a most pleasant and knowledgeable chap! He explained the whole process. I order the kit, much like one I did for a trial a long time ago. The kit comes in a box and I test myself. I then drop the box off at a collection place where a courier collects them daily and takes them to Northern Ireland where the laboratory is based. I get notified that the sample has arrived and then advised of the result, by email.

There are a couple of complications. One is the location of the drop boxes for the firm. The nearest he thought was in Biggleswade! That's an hour or so's run and does add to the cost. The other is the timing of the whole thing. You have to show a negative test at the Border Control as well as when boarding the plane. This has to be a test taken within 72 hours of passing the Border Control. So it is necessary to work backwards from there. In my case the plane is due to land at 12:30 on a Tuesday. So the test has to be taken after 12:30 on a Saturday. Also, in this instance the Monday would be a Bank Holiday so I was quite concerned that even if it got there on Saturday night there would be people around to deal with it and get a reply back to me in time.

The sample needed to be placed in the box by 5pm too. Allowing an hour and a half to get to Biggleswade meant leaving before 3:30pm and I'd probably go at 2:30pm as I am not familiar with the area there at all. That doesn't appear to leave much leeway for either a delayed flight or, maybe more significant, a queue to get to the Border Control itself! A couple of hours could easily be lost along the way and the news ahs been full of much longer delays at Heathrow.

In the event I found later that a box in Leamington Spa was nearer and could enable me to to take the test a little later and also I had forgotten that Ukraine is two hours ahead of Britain so 12:30 there is only 10:30 here. That means I could take the test at around 3pm and have four and a half hours leeway which was much more reassuring, although still tighter than I would want. When I was ready to take the test I found another box had been opened in Northampton which was much closer so that's where I headed on Saturday afternoon.

Finding that box was not at all easy! It was a grotty industrial estate and no-one knew anything about this new box. I had only limited instructions as to its location and was about to give up and head for Leamington Spa after all when I finally found it in what looked like a private car park, fenced off. The box was in a shady corner and not at all obvious!

The system worked extremely efficiently and at 5am on Sunday I had a receipt and in the afternoon that day I had the required negative result! Marvellous! It cost £66 which still seems a lot but that is definitely at the cheaper end of the scale at the time. There is considerable pressure for firms to bring down the price and many reports of people not receiving a result in time too. I can see this becoming white an issue. There is a service where you can get tested at a Boots Chemist store by someone and they send it off for you. That is perhaps more convenient and may be more likely to avoid an 'inconclusive' result but the cost of these is £99 and a Boots is not easy for me to get too either, with difficult parking and traffic if it is the Northampton branch. There are also very bespoke services where someone comes to you, takes the test and so forth as well as several options in between.

To get back I will have to take a similar test in Zhytomyr as well as show that I have booked two tests, probably again with Randox. This is a nightmare but less troublesome although there is the possibility of queues at Luton on my return causing trouble time-wise. In this case I may try and get the result on the day before I fly rather than two days before so I have plenty of time on the way back.

Here in Ukraine you really would not know there was any virus around. No-one has an vaccinations or, from what I can see, any hope of getting one in the foreseeable future. people wear masks on the trolley buses still, and in most shops, but you really do not get the feeling anyone's particularly concerned. It is quite different to Britain where we really should now be relaxed and not at all concerned but we seem remain very wary in most circumstances when others are nearby.

I stayed on Jason's sofa on Monday night and actually got a fair bit of sleep as he and Steve both retired very early. Steve dropped me off very early at Luton Airport and, this time, I had to queue at a Check-in desk where the insurance and PCR test are examined. That took a while but all was in order and it was a very quiet and easy run through security and I was sitting ready for the Flight Gate to open pretty soon afterwards.

Arrival went really well too and the queue at Border Control was short with not many people from outside Ukraine anyway. Olga was also waiting when I emerged! I had expected that she would be late as she'd said there was a long traffic queue due to road works. So that was nice and we made our way back to Zhtytomyr on an old bus, including a really bumpy section where it veers off the main highway to go though a small place en route. I was quite concerned for my gold filling!!

Now I can relax completely and am getting well fed and watered.