Let's Play Victory!
Back in September, I spent a couple of weeks in Mykolaiv, where I came across this paper placemat in a restaurant. It’s a great example of the kind of humour that keeps Ukrainians going.
It’s not so common in the UK, but in Ukrainian restaurants they often give you a paper placemat, presumably to make it quicker for the staff to clean up after you spill your lunch everywhere (this has not happened to me on a large scale, though I did once get egg in my hair in an airport cafe before leaving for Ukraine). These are generally printed with the restaurant’s menu; but sometimes management get more creative. This is the case in Hryfel’, where the placemat features a very simple progression – not even really a game, though you could call it that for convenience – on the theme of Victory.
Within Ukraine, mention of victory has become less common as the years drag by. Not because anyone has given up, but because the fight for survival is so draining that there is little energy left for dreaming. But the dream is still there, nonetheless.
Here’s the original version of the placemat:
And here, translated:
Of course, what’s bittersweet here is that the points from 15 onwards… have yet to come.
Maybe in 2026!
It reminds me of the Wipers' Times, printed (when they could) by the British troops on the area of Ypres in WW1, or the vignettes by Novello, sketched among the Italian Alpine troops on the Eastern Alps, also in WW2. It is amazing how the sense of humour can survive, and be a tool for survival, in such circumstances. Cheers for Ukraine victory!
What is the text of the Ukrainian restaurant placemat translated into English? As a completely blind reader of Anna's Substack publication, I cannot acquire the text from the picture provided.