On July the 26th the temperature in the city reached 37 degrees. The cause of the smoke that has mixed in with the car smoke, has been due to peat bogs outside the city. Yes I know it sounds odd, peat bogs usually have water in them! However "Stalin" and his merry chums, decided one day after an afternoons drinking rather too many Vodkas (and in between shooting people), that the peat bogs should be drained for farming. This order was promptly carried out and today every year or so, people in the city get smoked out, like kippers for your breakfast.If you have children or if you have Asama, you may want to think carefully before making the move to Moscow if you plan to live in the center of the city. See Video
There have been fires all over Russia. Putin has been seen on TV visiting victims of the fires that have lost homes and he promises to compensate them - yeah right, lets see if they actually get the money that's promised to them. He also promised to re build villages where they had burnt and he said this will be done by "December", call me cynical but lets wait and see if he is true to his word.
This evening, as I type this, its raining outside. Miracles can happen. As I wrote previously, the mayor of Moscow cloud bombed the skies for the cities 65th National day to ward off rain and it worked but I can't help thinking that he should not have messed with the weather and that his actions have contributed to the lack of rain these last few months.
This is nothing compared to the last time the bogs caught fire, the smoke this time is nothing, last time you could not read the bus numbers standing at a bus stop the smoke was so think.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to call you out on your cynicism here. Unlike our governments in the West, Russia has a proven track record of compensating the families of victims of terror, natural disaster, etc.
ReplyDeleteTo: The History of Russia,
ReplyDeleteI tried to join your blog but there are no posts!
Then I stand corrected, although not at all convinced. I don't really trust any government when they say they will compensate people and Russia is down there with the rest of them in my trust in what they say.
YOu are one of the few in Russia who has air con. My boyfriend is over there right now, suffering with closed windows in an apartment he is visiting. He is really, really sick from the smog. I dont' know much about Moscow - - I want to suggest that he go to the airport to hang out, or to a shopping mall, or a store, or even a hotel- - but dont' want to offend him if air conditioning at these places is non-exsitant. In North America, commercial spaces are pretty much considered public spaces - - and we use them as such.
ReplyDeleteI see that the officials' are advising the people to stay at home. Can they not open up a well-ventilated public building for people to seek refuge? Why are people not spending the day in libraries or museums or other places that would generally be air-conditioned?
Bless Russians' souls. They seem to have been trained to just accept things, suffer through them. amd yet remain so kind, generous and forgiving throughout.
Russians, in fact most Eastern Europeans do not complain its due to their past history. It certainly ain't fun here now and STINKS. I am lucky I have air con.... but trust its not as unusual as you think and its standard nowadays.
ReplyDeleteIf an apartment does not have air con don't rent it.
So, did Putin ever rebuild these villages?
ReplyDeleteOur city also suffering from a volume of smokes that exist. Smoke from the vehicles are the great factor. Hope that our government will make an effort to prevent this. I do hope that the amount of smoke exist will be lessen.
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