Shooting Live: Bit busy in the room next door Tiffany?

Sunday 17th June

Donetsk

The view out my room window's not quite so pretty in daylight

When I woke my stinging eyes from the multitude of smokers in the restaurant last night had calmed down.

The Liverpool Hotel

The hotel reception, stylish? Chic? Classy?

Tiffany in reception area

The Beatles outside the entrance to the hotel

I went to have breakfast in the "Foodmarket". It is a self service canteen, reminiscent if a 1970's style motorway service station, that requires money to be put on a card before choosing food.

The "Food Market"

It had a vast array of food, none of which were what would be expected for breakfast.

There was no fruit, except as toppings for sticky cakes or trifles, no cereal, no toast, although there were bread based products. I had something that slightly resembled a Geordie Stotty Cake.

The only fruit to be seen on to of trifles and jelly

Plenty of sugary cakes

What there also was plenty of, was beer, five full fridges from which to select your breakfast beverage of choice.

Five fridges full of beer

Three Ukrainians on a table beside me were taking full advantage of this particular facility. I counted at least nine cans that they were starting to go through as Rav came down to join me.

Breakfast for the boys

He went off to find acceptable food and did exactly the same as I had done.

Red plastic tray swinging by his side he wandered up and down the display cabinets about four times before he came to the table with a piece of over cooked chicken breast, a cup of extra sweet vending machine cappuccino and bowl of what was described as mushroom soup, only it didn't contain any mushrooms.

We waited with anticipation for Tiffany.We were not disappointed with her reaction.

She copied exactly what Rav and I had done, same plastic tray, same walk up and down before choosing a small bread roll, two boiled eggs and a carton of apple juice.

At least Rav and I had enjoyed a full night's sleep under the single sheet that was on each of our Ikea style beds. Tiffany on the other hand had been kept awake most of the night by the sounds of a very vocal lady working hard in the room next door.

We decided that at the very least we would not eat in there again. If at all possible we would move to a better hotel as had a number of our colleagues.

Poster outside my room

The hotel corridor

Next on our agenda was to check out possible live locations for our broadcasts tomorrow and then wait for the calls from London to come and tell us what was wanted.

The hotel from up the road a bit.

That did not take us too long. It appeared that there would not be too much for us to do tomorrow morning. Perhaps just a sports broadcast and possibly a news one or two but certainly nothing in the programme proper. There was great excitement about what was join on in Greece keeping the chaps in London busy with Richard Gaisford heading out to Athens.

The accountant's dream, minimum crewing with cheap kit

This gave us a chance to take in a couple of the sights as we checked out possible live locations. Whoever had said that this was a horrible city was a little off the mark. It might not be a Florence, an Edinburgh or a Saltzburg but it is not the drab industrial hole that it had been described as.