лето - summer

Summer (лето) is fast approaching and people are beginning to ask will this summer be like last summer? The city of Moscow cooked and chocked in thick acrid smoke. Temperatures were up to (and sometimes, beyond) 36c, it was sweltering. The entire city stank. The smoke contained toxic particles, your clothes and hair stank as if you had spent a few hours bent over an open fire of damp leaves. Carbon monoxide levels were reportedly 30% above safe levels.

The Russian government then began to fire (sorry for the pun) key personnel across Moscow, who they held responsible for fire prevention. People blamed other people, in an endless circle of blame. As far as I know, Moscow last suffered smoke levels like last year back in 2002. The former Mayor Yury Luzhkov, even returned from his holiday when the smoke became too bad. People wore surgical masks when walking outside and Moscow looked like London in the 1800's in a thick pea soup. I have not experienced conditions like it in my life.

It is impossible trying to get a small child to wear a surgical mask, they just tear it off in seconds. I expect it is easier to get a child to wear one in Tokyo and china were the wearing of a mask is second nature when going outside. They are used to smog that comes from their vast coal burning power plants and city traffic. We are not so used to it. You can protect yourself from city smoke by drinking a lot  of water, keeping windows closed and by wearing a mask. Here is an example although it does seem a sightly comical in my opinion, 

Russia is a place of extremes for many reasons, not least of all becuase of its climate. You freeze in the winter, usually from about late November through to late March and cook from May through to late August. The winter brings with it welcome relief from the heat. The roads and paths are covered in snow and ice and the air seems almost fresher. In the summer, the air is heavy with pollution and the heat is unbearable. Many expats as well as Russians, flee the city from July and August. Russian families escape to their dachas, (country houses) while expat mothers head home to parents or friends during the hottest times. Fingers crossed, this summer will be better? We can only hope the Russian authorities have put plans into place to be ready for any fires and that Russia does not experience a heatwave again this year in 2011.

In Moscow, you can be blown up by terrorists, frozen like fish fingers in the winter, cooked on a high temperature in the summer and then smoked like kippers until you are brown.