For The Whole World To See

One of the things that I still am not used to here, and am still actually uncomfortable with, is how private stuff is everyone else's business. Like debt. Posted on the wall beside our entrance today are several advertisements plus a list. I stopped to see what it was. Every entrance has one. It is a list of debt.I quickly scanned it to make sure our flat number did not appear. I would have been shocked if it had because our landlord is so careful in paying their debts.

We paid our rent on Friday afternoon. We were expecting an increase, but they only raised it provisionally. ?? What does that mean? Well, boiled down it means that they will raise it in October if the price of gas goes up. Heating gas, cooking gas - not benzine, better known as gas for the automobile.

Gas for autos has already gone up a lot - up to 6 griven for the cheapest to well over 7 griven for the more expensive (I think it's the same as octane in the States). That translates into - lets see, I have to get out the chart and the calculator - hold on....

Ok, with slush math and help from Mel I came up with a really slushy figure - gas for the car is selling for around $5.80 - $6.00 per gallon. Cheaper than Great Britain, a lot more than in the States.

I have no idea how much gas gas (as opposed to liquid gas) is selling for, nor how much it might go up. In the States we would be talking about propane. I think it's propane, here, too. It smells like propane anyway!

Needless to say, this stuff is all way beyond me today. :):) However, I do know that if the price for propane gas goes up, so will our rent. We agreed to pay for all the utilities ourselves starting in October if it does go up. The choice was pay for the utilities or pay an extra $50 per month. We chose the utilities because we do use them, so it seems fair that we would pay for them. We already pay for electric and phone. Now we may be adding gas and water and sewer fees.

So, then it will be up to us to keep our landlord's name off this list, posted yearly just before autumn begins to peek around the corner. The list that tells everyone in your building which flats have not paid their heating bill over the past year. The list includes the flat number, the owners name and the amount owed.

I was saddened to see our young neighbor family on the list again. They owe almost 900 griven this year, about the same as what they owed last year at this time. Most of the other debts are from different entrances than ours. That is a good feeling. If we had an extra $150 and knew how to do it without them knowing it was us, I would pay our neighbors bill this one time. But, if everyone knew we had paid it - wow, what a mess that would make! Every year we'd have people coming and asking us to pay their bill. So, at this time, we just pray that God will provide the money for them.

This is important because the utility company (whoever they are - the city?) won't just turn off the flats who have not paid - they will turn off the whole building! Only a few people have private heat now. Our neighbor below us does - and we had to sign a paper last year saying we agreed to let her go private. If we had refused I don't know what would have happened - no heat for her maybe?

I think this is all part of the communal/communistic thought process. Shame some of the people and make others push them into paying their bills. Nothing is private. Your bills are my business, at least to know what they are!