PIPES

We inadvertently left off an interesting part of the blog last week. Have you wondered how the cities in Russia are heated in the winter? They send hot water through pipes all throughout the city. The buildings are heated with radiators. Hot water in the apartments is unlimited year round (except when they shut it off for repairs). Every year during late spring through early fall they check the pipes and replace as needed. The city is divided into sections; only part of the city is without hot water at a time. This year they seem to be adding and replacing all over (maybe that's why the landlady told us they city is working on making it so the mini water heaters we've talked about in past posts aren't going to be necessary).

They block off the area to be dug, which is basically the whole pipeline except the streets.

 Reduced passage for pedestrians

The other side of the metal wall

What the old pipes looked like a few months ago

   What they look like today, new and ready to carry lots of hot water! They'll soon be covered up and the sidewalk will return to normal.

This week's Russianism:

Our apartment is on the third floor in the corner of an L-shaped building. On the street level there is a small grocery store directly below us, and the suppliers take in their products through the back door of the store, right next to our entrance. We often see trucks below our window. There isn't a driveway specifically for the store; the trucks have to go through a small parking lot to get to the store. Sometimes the tenants or their visitors park wherever, which causes problems for the delivery trucks. We're amazed at the patience of people here--parking wherever seems to be a national pastime. The trucks back around and squeeze through and get out eventually. No complaints, no yelling, no blood pressure problems!