It took us five hours to drive from Krakow in Poland to Lvov (or Lviv) in the Ukraine. The road was rocky and the Lada roared and shook all the way like a plane taking off.
I spread out on the back seat on the long route towards the end of Europe and got stuck into a guide book and Tolstoy. I thought about M, it had not been possible to go back to search for her the following week as we had to leave a day earlier to pick Paddy up in Krakow.
An hour into our journey we were pulled over by police who clocked us doing 120km when we should have been doing 80km. That is an automatic 500 zloyty fine (115 pounds) and 10 points on your licence. Or, as always, they suggested we could just give them 80 pounds unofficially and drive on, which is what we did. Police in Poland are notoriously corrupt. Needless to say, within five minutes Kuba was doing 120km again.
Every now and then, massive advertising placards interrupted the pleasant view and descending sun, mocking and cynical in their boldness, they present a new western lifestyle, bank loans, cars and houses.
At one point Kuba exclaimed "Look at ze beach!" We were surrounded by nothing except flat fields. Ten minutes later he screeched again... "Zer is anuza one... look at ze beach!" It was then that I saw her. The 'bitch' to which Kuba was refering was a forlorn female alone on the grass verge in a wonderbra, mini skirt and knee high leather boots. I've seen prostitutes before on Polish highways and it's always troubling to think about the abuse that they almost certainly endure and the danger they put themselves in.
There was a moment when all the traffic slowed to a snails pace for about 100 yards and then accellerated off again. This was due to a speed camera which was well sign posted. But why inform all these lunatic drivers that it's there? If these idiots were receiving fines through their letterboxes every week and the threat of a two year ban, they would soon slow down and bring a little more civility and a little less death to Polish roads.
The border out of Poland (and Europe) and into the Ukraine was deserted. One reason is that Ukrainians need a visa to enter Europe, and another is that it was Easter in the Ukraine so everything shut down. The big hatted border guards eyed us with great curiosity as they rarely see westerners this far east... and watched us as we drove out into a land with a history even darker than that of Poland.
