| Communal Living in Russia: Documents | |
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Notes Left for Neighbors:
Note about cockroaches
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| Summary | |
| An old lady who is a controlling type writes to a temporary resident that she saw a cockroach on top of her cabinet. | |
| Basic Facts and Background | |
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When: 2006 Where: A midsized apartment in a prestigious neighborhood in the center of St. Petersburg. Who: The addressee of this note is a renter; she and one other woman are renting a room in this apartment. The writer of the note is an elderly woman who has lived in this apartment longer than any other resident. What: The author of this note habitually communicates with the help of announcements and extensive written messages. See other such messages from this apartment in "A note about gas," "Concert announcement" and the appeal "Don't hang up your underwear!".
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| Translation of the Russian Transcript | |
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[name deleted by editor] Yesterday, the 8th of December], I was cleaning in the bathroom. In your corner on top of the white cabinet was a black cockroach. (big). Action is required. Everything on the cabinet has to be put inside some kind of container (you can find lots of different little boxes in the stores). The surface of the cabinet has to be cleaned. Same with all the shelves. On the bottom shelf there is a pile of dirty laundry (which I tied up in a plastic bag) Also you have to move everything away from the walls to find the cockroach nest. Well, that should make it clear to you. Otherwise they see reverse will be crawling all over the bathroom. On the shelf over the sink I also saw some cockroaches. For now there are just a few here and there, but soon...! Sorry to bring up such a subject, but what else can I do. This is the last straw... cockroaches. They show up when it's dirty. If there were just one person living in this apartment, she would have taken care of this, but because there are several of us, nothing gets done... Well anyway, you get what I'm saying. You have to move everything out of the way and clean the whole corner.... Everybody else will do this in the other corners. [signature deleted by editor]
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