8 years ago today I was in the Republic of Transnistria, a country that does not exist

and wrote this.

Tony Fekete and I just enjoyed a maslenita dinner, with lots of pancakes, at the flat of Andri our Transnistrian guide. It's the Russian equivalent of pancake day but on Sunday not Tuesday. Tiraspol is poor, though no-one's destitute. Poverty like affluence can be corrupting and no doubt much is bad here, especially in business and politics, but a lot seems better here than in the West. As my British friend of Ukrainian parentage Olivia says, people think like human beings here. Not that much Americana, dissatisfaction with the politicians, nostalgia for the USSR, longing to join the EU. Mostly life goes on, people living the lives their parents did. A good place. Dull yes, very, but dull is another word for peaceful.

He wrote this.

Had delicious lunch with Romanian-speaking villagers in Transnistria. During the meal, our host asked me what is planted in our garden in Germany. 'Grass,' I answered, to which she enquired, 'Why not potatoes ?'. When I said that we had apple trees, she suggested getting a goat, which apparently like this fruit. Why didn't I think of all this myself!

Transnistria is an enclave, occupied by the Russian army since 1991, in the Republic of Moldova.