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…
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