First impression

I wanted to start with something descriptive. Something that would give a reader a first idea about how things work here. So here it is: a picture of the Borsypil International Airport (KBP) here in Kiev. Note the squared out part.

See the red fence and no cars driving around the only roundabout? For quite a while already traffic police blocks the roundabout near the airport, making it really hard to drop off and pick up people at the airport, and forcing drivers to actually break rules by having to drive the wrong way on the roundabout.

There seems to be no actual reason to do this. No important international guests, no imminent danger – it’s just being done. I thought a bit about the possible explanation, and the only one I could come up with is this: they do it to increase turnover of several paid parking lots located at the right and left of the terminal displayed.

This is where people first come to the country. So much for the good first impression.