August 1, 159th day of the war
Gasoline has become cheaper, water (water bill) has become more expensive, creative projects hardly help not to get bogged down in the swamp of everyday life and not to go crazy from the horror of the news.
I’ll start with a pleasant one: gasoline has become cheaper. On Sunday, I paid $4.19 for a gallon (at BJ’s). Sweet.
But the water bill went up a lot. It’s all about the long heat and lack of precipitation. We have to water everything: vegetable’s gardens, lawn, trees. Daniel bought a sprinkler. He moves it around the garden every 15-20 minutes. This way we save time but spend money. I do not know how these water bills are compiled. But for some reason, sewage in the bill costs twice as much as water supply. Hopefully it will rain soon.
While we have a drought in New Bedford for how long… last two-three weeks?.. There is a lot of rain in Tomsk. My friend complained that she could not (or did not want to) walk through the rainy forest to her dacha. My sister complained about huge water paddles everywhere in the city. This made her journey to work long and unpleasant. Here in the USA, we often complain about the roads. Well, Russian roads and sidewalks are often much worse.
By now, the rain has stopped in Tomsk. But another regan is under Emergency mode due to floods.
Flood waters flooded 1,747 residential and country houses in Chita and five districts of the Trans-Baikal Territory, rescuers evacuated 285 adults and 38 children. This was reported on August 1 in the press service of the regional Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
Chita is a city in the south of Eastern Siberia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway route.
I will leave a link to the article under the post. The article is in Russian but there are a couple of photos.
I am glad that there are no such big and serious problems in Tomsk. It’s a little different there. In some areas of the city, there is no hot water in apartment buildings. In some (about 500 buildings) there will not even be cold water during the day in mid-August. But who knows… this one day can turn into two days or longer.
The infrastructure in Russia is very old. Tomskvodokanal* repairs it every year, but it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
COVID-19 is still with us, although people talk less about it.
The number of new COVID-19 cases in the city of New Bedford is growing, and in the week from July 21 to 27, the state Health Department reported 267 cases.
In the Tomsk region, 52 residents contracted the infection during the day on August 1.
Russians have stopped wearing masks almost everywhere.. Rospotrebnadzor** recommended that citizens from risk groups wear masks in crowded places and on public transport.
And The New Bedford Light published a promising article about Dartmouth’s Toxic facility. The link is here.
Briefly, The Tonix Dartmouth plant is developing live viral vaccines against COVID-19 and monkeypox and is increasing its production. A human trial is scheduled for 2023. It will probably be convenient to have such a plant locally.
to other Russian news…
-Car owners in the Russian Federation are prohibited from changing some parts in the car themselves in 2022.
It probably doesn’t mean anything to you. But I know that Russian car owners can easily replace the oil in their car on their own. And they can also do a little repair on their cars.
But now, in order to repair their vehicle, they have to buy certified and registered in the traffic police spare parts.
Among them, for example, bumpers, wheels and other “parts that can significantly reduce the level of passive safety of the car.” Really?
On May 12, 2022 The Government published Resolution No. 855 “On approval of the application of mandatory requirements for Individual Wheeled vehicles and the assessment of their compliance.”
It said that manufacturers can abandon components that are unavailable due to sanctions. Domestic concerns were able to produce Euro-0 ecological class cars without ABS and airbags.
It seems to me the government cares more about making money than about its ordinary citizens.
Unfortunately I lost a link to the article, it was in Russian anyway. Lol.
-Today I learned another piece of news.
Duty-free shops for diplomats, consuls, employees of international companies and their families will appear in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The corresponding decree of the Government of the Russian Federation is posted on the official Internet portal of legal information.
For rubles, dollars and euros, it will be possible to purchase goods that are subject to the duty–free trade procedure – alcohol, tobacco, cosmetics, perfumes, jewelry, smartphones and watches. The right to purchase must be confirmed by the relevant documents.
Here we go again, back to the Soviet Union. Back then there were shops where ordinary people did not have access. Only members of the politburo of the Communist Party and their friends and acquaintances.
Putin really brought Russia back to the Soviet Union. Some quite elderly people missed it a lot.
On the other hand, how can citizens purchase goods in these stores if they cannot withdraw their own foreign cash from banks?
-On Monday, the Central Bank announced that it maintains the current limit of 10 thousand US dollars or the same amount in euros for withdrawing foreign currency cash from a foreign currency account or deposit. Restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency remain in force until March 9, 2023: banks can sell citizens only euros and US dollars received at their cash desks after April 9, 2022.
Of course, not many Russians have accounts in foreign currency, but some of them do.
Now they have to pay a commission for using/having an account.
-Rosaviatsia*** extended the flight restriction regime at 11 airports in Russia until August 11. This was reported on the agency’s website on August 3.
Flights to Anapa, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Gelendzhik, Krasnodar, Kursk, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Simferopol and Elista airports are temporarily restricted.
The temporary flight restriction regime was introduced on February 24 — the day of the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine. Since then, the restrictions have been extended more than 20 times. Earlier, the Federal Air Transport Agency banned flights to the listed airports until August 5.
Doesn’t sound temporary to me.
Well, if you are still reading, then personally about us…
At work, everything is as usual.
Cucumbers and tomatoes began to grow in our vegetable gardens.
It may be too late, but they (both cucumbers and tomatoes) grow in the open ground and without seedlings. The corn has already been harvested and eaten. Not everything, we left some for the squirrels. Probably, due to the drought, not all ears of corn have grown to an edible state.
The flowers are blooming, the grass is almost dying.
Wild turkeys settled in the neighborhood: three adult birds and three chicks. They don’t go to our grass, probably because we are too active. They are not afraid of cars. They slowly cross the road, it immediately becomes clear who is the king of nature here.
Two families of sparrows raised chicks (it seems twice) and flew away.
Now the squirrels climb onto the roof of the birdhouse, get comfortable and eat corn. And they also eat the neighbor’s peaches, green, half-ripe. And our plums, if the plums have grown (?). I don’t see plums, but it’s going to be a reason why squirrels climb our plum tree…
I’m not blonde anymore, and my hair is short.
Two months ago I went to the hairdresser. So now I don’t have to worry about getting a haircut for a year. But I’ve already bought scissors. Hairdressers don’t scare me anymore.
I’ve read a few books, listened to a few.
You should always believe you’re going to win. The moment you show up and feel like you’re going to lose, you’re going to lose.
Usain Bolt (born August 21, 1986)
I want to believe Ukrainians win!
*From Tomskvodokanal
“The main purpose of the company’s activity is to solve social problems in the field of providing high-quality water supply and sanitation services to subscribers of the city of Tomsk and a number of connected territories.”
**Rospotrebnadzor is the Federal agency that works to provide oversight and control of well being and consumer rights and protection of the citizens of the Russian Federation. Rospotrebnadzor reports directly to the Government of the Russian Federation.
***The Federal Air Transport Agency, also known as Rosaviatsiya, or FATA, is the Russian government agency responsible for overseeing the civil aviation industry in Russia. Its headquarters are in Moscow. It is also called the Russian Federation Civil Aviation Administration.
Materials I used:
https://www.banki.ru/news/lenta/?id=10970085&utm_source=yxnews&utm_medium=desktop
Beautiful blog! Thanks for sharing your news. Reading this tonight made me smile so thank you 🙂
You are very welcome. It took me a while to put myself together. I’m glad I made you smile.