Remarks on Russian reality Grigory Pasko, journalist 1. Fools and roads 130 kilometers outside Moscow in Vladimir Oblast is the little village of Ileykino. From Ileykino to the nearest population center with shops, a hospital and school – is 8 kilometers. But neither hospitals nor schools, from all appearances, really interest the inhabitants of the village. They’re accustomed to treating what ails them with folk remedies. And there’s nobody to go to school – children only appear during the summer holidays, coming to visit the old folks from the cities where their parents live and work. A grocery-store-on-wheels truck comes by once a week: for the old people living out their days in Ileykino, that is enough. True, there is one unpleasantness: the electricity is often turned off. But without it is difficult. Because the village doesn’t have gas (the kindness of Gazprom still hasn’t reached such faraway places – a whole 130 km from Moscow!), and there’s nothing to burn in the stoves. As soon as the wind even starts to blow or the rain to fall, immediately – as if though by someone’s malicious command – the electricity in the village goes out. What haven’t the inhabitants done: they’ve written letters, made phone calls, travelled to the rayon center to the management to demand, tried to themselves collect (and did collect!) the money to restore the electric transmission lines… All senselessly. The power is cut off regularly, from year to year.