A kilo of trousers please

Near my office is a small shop called Stock. It is one of many Second Hand shops. Shops which acquire second hand clothes from somewhere in Europe and resell them.

Every Monday there is a biq queue outside this shop so it was time to investigate further. The shop it appears is re-stocked every Monday with ‘new’ second hand clothes. I saw sweaters from M&S and jackets from the rubbish bin. Hence the rush every Monday to find the best stuff, or shall I say wearable stuff.

But the best bit is the pricing. The clothes are sold by the kilo. This of course demands me to buy silk and other light clothes. I remarked to my devushka that as she is quite small and tends to buy XS sizes this store is perfect for her as her clothes will weigh less and be cheaper

But that is not all ! On the Monday the clothes are 100UAH a kilo, which drops each day by 10UAH, so 90 on Tuesday down to 40UAH a kilo on Saturday. If only coffee was sold this way …

Walk like a Kharkovian

I have finally decided it is time to attempt my live like a local month. I do not mean eating pickled vegetables and a litre of mayonnaise a day, but to live on a wage approaching local levels. Ok, so maybe $1000 is not an atypical local wage but I know some people here who earn that and they do not have either my cafe addiction or, on the whole, rent to pay. A lot of people here either own their flat outright from socialist days or live with their parents, so along with an ultra cheap transportation network leaves the wage for eating and going to Misto or Bolero.

So I craftily pick February, the shortest month. Till I realise it’s a leap year. So I start with $1000. Rent is $550, internet access $40, bills will be maybe $30. This leaves $480, or $120 a week. Hmm, 600 gryvnia a week. No sitting in the rude cafe with a cognac or two watching the girls go past (100 gryvnia – (for the cognacs)). No nights at Turbion night club ($20 entrance). Well maybe if I budget (!!!) carefully. I will mentally prepare these next two weeks. It is a good thing I like going to the food markets. I have been practising my numbers so I don’t confuse 12 with 20 anymore.

Internet in Kharkov

The last 3 months have seen some big improvements in net access here in Kharkov. A double whammy of real 3G launching and home broadband speeds rocketing have made youtube much more enjoyable. I never quite understood the 3G approach here. The government gave the european type 3G licence to UKRTelecom, the state owned company, who proceeded to not do very much with it. In the meantime a company called PeopleNet (who have a lovely shop on Sumskaya which I for months thought was a recruitment agency) launched 3G on the funny american system. A system which Nokia make no phones for which points to its usefullness. But their broadband access is pretty cheap when you get a compatible phone; but of the few phones they sell they are expensive and are cutting edge in stonehenge terms. I enquired anyway, and asked about phone calls and roaming. Well, they have a network built in the big urban areas like Kiev and Kharkov. Go outside of that and umm, well the phone stops working. It’s not the GSM standard so cannot switch nets. Really a company that cannot survive.
Kharkov is also at the forefront of Wimax; all the areas in the city and 40 or so km around is wimax enabled. But this is priced at the high end of the market (this from a foreigner) so  only useful if you wish to retire to a country estate near Kharkov.

So along comes U-Tel, which is the 3G brand from UKRTelecom. Not the best marketed product it must be said. In fact, I had to ask multiple people if it really existed and it took me 2 attempts to find the office where I could buy a SIM. And when I did find the office, the staff had all gone to lunch. At least it was easy to buy when they returned, must have been a good mayonnaise that day. Contract data rates are much cheaper than pay as you go. The latter costs $20 for a SIM with connection and $10 credit – they took my old Nokia N70 and set it up for me enjoying the english menus. Data costs about $0.05 per MB and it is pretty reliable and fastish (I got about 380kbit/s connection speed). You are meant to be able to buy top-up credit all over the place from the street vendors but I failed; had to return to the shop. 3 contract rates are available, for $15, $30 and $60 giving 1,3 or 15 GB of data included and with rates above that amount at 4, 3 and 2 cents a MB. When asking, contract is the same word in russian but the pay as you go is some bizarre toungue twister so the phrase ‘tri G nyet contract’ works pretty well.

UKRTelecom in a burst of actually doing something then also upgraded home internet (the OGO! brand) and lowered the prices. Now they have ADSL up to 4MBit/s unlimited whereas previously anything over 512 was metered. Now 512 costs $20 a month, up to $50 for the 4MBit/s. ADSL requires a friendly (and present) landlord to sign the forms.

There is growing wi-fi availability across the centre too. Some cafes like Pushka, Fidele, KoKava and 22 on Petrosgova provide free wi-fi, you just have to ask for the password (parol in russian). These places make good temporary offices. Other cafes have paid for wi-fi where you have to buy a prepaid card (not from the cafe itself of course). UKRTelecom also have a network of paid for wi-fi hotspots but not very intensive in Kharkov. . Plus of course plenty of unsecured wi-fi spots are around as everywhere such as the hotel Chichikov.

And last but not least there are a number of internet cafes dotted around; the one in Hotel Kharkov popular with foreigners. Beware of some of the gaming internet cafes; I have never seen so many viruses on a PC in my life..

My god this is a boring post. Give me a correctly spelt cappuccino !

The hopeful conclusion of The Flat and I

So I was going to rent this flat in Mironskaya for a bargain $700. I make a date to meet the agent and the owner’s mother at the flat. We meet as always on the street. We go up. I start asking my questions. How does the heating work, I want to test it. I am told it is the general heating, not the individual flat heating as they had promised before. Sigh, here it starts. Ok, so why is it not on? The heating never goes off in winter (except for Lugansk).  It is probably just being repaired they say.  Now i know a ukrainian will say anything to make a quick buck, so I say I will not sign anything until i see it working. Oh yes, the contract. The owner insists on a contract. I think I am hallucinating. Next they will be paying tax ! Ah, the suggestion is for 2 contracts. One with the real rent of $700, and an official contract that states I am a friend and stay there free. For this they need to find a notarius, so both hit the mobiles to locate one.

So I wander round the flat and wonder. Why is the bathroom so cold? Where is the washing machine. Where is the phone ? Answers. Bathrooms do not have heating anywhere in Ukraine. Hmmm. They will buy a washing machine when I sign. Hmmm. No phone, you can use Peoplenet 3G to get the internet. Hmmmmmm.

I hear lots of noise, from the stairs and from the flat above. The owner finds out the next door flat is installing new radiators and hence the heating is off today. Like last time I visaited 2 days previously.

Finally a contract is produced and they tell me to get it translated and to reconvene the following week. I escape thoughtfully.

I go and visit my official translator . It is no problem to translate the contract, but then tells me about his sister’s flat, only $300 and brand new, though a bit out of town at Sportivna. I say sounds good. He tells me more. New building, new flat, 120 sq metres, right by the metro, 2 stops from the centre. Sounds too good to be true …. One small problem, the lift is not working yet. Which floor? 9th. Oh my. I am fit. I cycle and go the gym now and then. So I decide to view.

I go with Svetlana who works with the translator. She is the wife of the translator’s brother, whose sister owns the flat. I think. She lives in Moscow.

So I go. 9 floors is quite a few. I reason I go to the flat maybe once or twice  a day on average so not too big a deal. The flat is nice. I am amazed. Big, new and shiny but in a reserved manner. I must be in a dream sequence ! I want it !

So I tell the translator as long as I can get the internet connected I will take it. Next day the brother has had UKRtelecom round and they re-routed his phone line to my flat and connected the net. Wow. Now all we need to do is get the price sorted. I am told the 300 was wrong. $400 before the lift works then $500 after. Sounds good. I agree. The next day I go back to confirm. Hmm, suddenly it is 450 and 600! I squeal. This is outrageous. I feel like a fleeced foreigner. I have learned from the year. I say no way jose.

The next day the rent is back to the 400/550 including the heating. I have to move in 2 days. I agree. Finally a flat.

I shift my stuff up the 9 floors with a driver and the brother. That hurt. The next day I go to England for christmas.  Will my flat still be there when I return ?? Will the metro be my new home ??

At the airport I meet my german friend. He lives opposite me in Sportivna. Small world.

Может быть

I think I have this finding a flat in Kharkov thing worked out at last. There are some nice flats here at a reasonable price. I found a matching flat to mine in the same road for $300 less than mine. In fact I think it is bigger; it has 2 balconies, a more traditional ukrainian nouveau-riche big bathroom (complete with my second sighting of a bidet; which I have had to explain to ukrainians which amuses them; hmm, along with the phrase ‘going to spend a penny’), 2 double bedrooms and a funny bendy corridor to the kitchen which may or may not be in a different building.

So I walk twice round the flat remembering my past mistakes and the mantra that something has to be missing. It has a boiler with control of the central heating (bliss), a bathroom, beds, 2 TVs (small), a fridge etc. Amazing. I’m with the agent who speaks fluent english as she informs me in her curt tone using pretty good english it must be said. The owner is in fact the owner’s mum; her daughter owns it who lives in Italy. Hmm, my doubts start. Mysterious foreign dwelling owners has never worked out so far. Well, I say I will take it and tomorrow must meet again for ‘contracts’. I did ask if the owner wished to paid in cash and received a derisive laugh from the agent. I just want to use my local bank account but fail miserably all the time.

So later I tell all about the flat and am asked if there was an oven. Hmm, good question. Must admit I did not notice it. Lok at the pictures. Damn, how could I have missed something so obvious.  Sigh. What do I do when I want to make my oven roasted herbal vegetables dripping in olive oil !!!