The great Kyiv outdoors. There's more to life than economic growth.  My leave in North Wales has been wonderful, but it's a pleasure to return to Kyiv.  With the presidential election in five months, the city is beginning to gear up for the election battles ahead, and new posters are appearing daily.  But the summer traffic is still light, and people are out enjoying the sunshine in an variety of ways.  On a walk home from work I encounter salsa dancers in a park; a roller blading academy; open-air cafes and restaurants with splendid views across the city; a bouncy castle; a donkey rental; a set of mini-dodgems; an improptu rock concert under the Friendship Arch; children playing on garishly-painted tanks and countless couples and groups of young people sitting on benches under the trees, many of them with beer, Ukrainian champagne or soft drinks.  Today, Saturday, I hear music wafting over the residence.  I'm used to stirring songs floating over from the nearby Museum of the Great Patriotic War, but this sounds more like Kylie Minogue.  I investigate to find the local park has been taken over by a vast gardening exhibition and stage.  Thousands of people are buying bulbs, gardening gloves, ethnic shirts, cold drinks, seedlings, saplings and secaturs.  Others photograph each other in front of spectacular displays of gardening prowess.  Many families are simply wandering around enjoying the spectacle.  The splendid outdoor life of the Ukrainian summer is a reminder of the fact that, despite the economic challenges facing the country, Ukrainians have immense experience of getting along when times are hard.  It's also a reminder, at the risk of getting existential, that economic growth, however desirable it may be, is not the only measure of quality of life here or anywhere else.