MacDonald’s

There is a MacDonald’s in our living area, within walking distance. It was built quite recently, about 2 years ago, and since that time me and my daughter go there regularly. She scolds herself for that and feels guilty because she thinks it’s not healthy for her. I don’t scold myself though I gained weight. But we can’t stop.

The thing is, we don’t go there for any specific food or coffee or something. We go for atmosphere. We want to sit in a cafe and talk, and watch the street flowing by. It’s a piece of different life in our provincial Russian city. It remind us of many cafe in other countries we have visited. But there are no cafe in Russia that are both good and cheap – well, very few of them (except Moscow and S.-Petersburg). No place to eat and talk. Restaurants are too expensive. Small cafes are mostly concentrated in big shopping malls, maybe for economical reasons. And when you just walk along the street, there’s nothing. While if you walk along the street in, say, Istanbul or any town in Japan, big or small, there are tons of various cafes and restaurants to choose.

Of course there are economical reasons for that as well. Small business is in a desparate situation here. Taxes and rent and corruption makes it very difficult to run. Global corporations like MacDonald’s, KFC and Subway can survive even in Russia, but not local businesses. Which is really sad…

That’s why out evening often – oh, very often – goes like this. After my working day ends we go out on sunset and head for MacDonald’s. The later the better, so that it’s not so crowded with high-schoolers and parents with small kids. We take some food or coffee and something sweet, sit next to the window and talk. A vague illusion of different life…

No hot water again…

Hot water supply is stopped again. It’s already 3-rd time within the last 2 months. I hate it! Everybody hates it.  Actually it is a usual thing, kind of an integral part of the warm season. I tend to forget about it each time. I am waiting for spring. I dream about summer. And when it comes, this thing comes too and spoils the joy.

 This tradition began from Soviet era and never changed since then. Hot water disappears for a week or so at a time. It happens during warm season only because in cold time the same hot water is used for centralized heating that cannot be stopped. It is done allegedly for the purposes of check and repair of piping. But nobody believes it – why do the repair so often? The real goal seems to be simply saving municipal money. In a big city like mine these outages go in turn, district after district.

 Living in an apartment without hot water supply is really inconvenient.  We can’t take a bath or shower. Washing dishes or washing one’s hair becomes bothersome, too. People try to accommodate somehow, installing electric heaters or heating water by gas in a big saucepan. Those who have friends or relatives living in another part of the city can come to them for a bath. Well, we are used to inconvenience. We are used to constant survival. But beyond inconvenience there is something more. We feel humiliated. We feel that authorities don’t care a fig for us common people. Such attitude is really disgusting. It’s depressing, too. I don’t want to do anything at home, like cooking or cleaning etc. And then, as my child says, it doesn’t match the image of a civilized country that Russia is trying to create.

 The strange thing is that no one ever tried to do anything about it. Yes, we are unhappy and angry, but nothing happens. No strikes or meetings or complaints. Actions of authorities, however offensive, are accepted silently like a thing that cannot be changed – like weather, for instance. Are we too patient for our own good? It’s largely the reason of many bad things that take place here.

…And then a happy day comes when hot water appears. People rejoice, take a long-awaited bath and forget their troubles again. Until the next time.