A typical Russian stairwell

Disclaimer.

I have been studying English for almost 2 years and I don’t know all the rules of English grammar and correct spelling yet, so there are probably mistakes in my text. Forgive me for them, but without working on my English writing skills I will not be able to learn to speak this wonderful language.

I’d be glad if you could find a minute to point out my mistakes.

Thanks for understanding!

Let me tell you about my typical Russian stairwell.
The stairwell in Russia is not just some public place when there are apartment’s doors, that is also a meeting place, a place for talking, celebrating place and place for drawing on the wall. Sometimes it is a latrine. For the locals.
I will write about what is usually done in the stairwell in the next episode.
Today I’m gonna tell you what I see every single day with my own eyes.
In the morning going out of my apartment at a typical Moscow district ( outside of Moscow it is even worse), what can I see?
I see a dirty smoked stairwell with unwashed windows, walls and floor.

A smell from dirty garbage chute.

A dirty elevator with filled up and spat walls.

What is in mind of people doing this?

Thanks for an unbroken mirror in the elevator.
And this elevator is just three years old!
Sometimes somebody smokes in the elevator, most of all old alcoholics. And an absolutely useless thing to make comments about it, you are being gotten just aggression and stupid self-justification like «I live here, so what».

Flacking walls and windowsills at the time as we had repair just three years ago, but materials were the cheapest, so a layer of paint is like a piece of paper and part of it has been already fallen down.

Torn boxes with wires, hastily taped.
If it weren’t my complains the wires would be hanging.

A bunch of stuff that «adequate» neighbours leave on the common area with the explanation as «I live here, it doesn’t bother anyone».

Someone constructs boxes for saving stuff on the common area.

Or, generally, puts the doors for fencing some common part for his using.

Of course, this is an illegal thing.
A quickly washed (thanks God) ground floor and at the same time opened entrance door (it was winter) because our janitor likes to do her job so.

You suppose I didn’t come to the landlord?
So did I!
I was offended, I was screamed and I’m told that was ok.

It is kind of tradition in Russia, I mean, for your own money you will get humiliation and phrases that you are a provocateur.

And it’s not so bad because quite often stairwells start to clean just after appearing bunches of trash crunching under your feet.
Of course, there are cleaning rules where statued when, what and how the landlord have to do.
But in Russia the managing of houses is a monopoly, so nobody cares about quality.
A monopoly doesn’t care about people and the majority of people keep being silent.
The majority is used to pretend that the stairwell doesn’t belong to them.
I have a question: why the same people at a grocery shop, for instance, don’t leave their money just so?
Here it’s mine thing and what about there, the stairwell?
Stupidity.

What do you think how many people care about those things that I described and strives to restore an order trying to stimulate the landlord to work?
Very few of millions.

Why it is so?
It’s complicated to explain.
Destroyed sense of civil dignity and responsibility for own property because there ain’t private property in Russia by ages and what is public property, that’s not kind of mine.
Incivility because of bad education. In Russia, they like to tell of the best Russian education ever, but that’s the deal, we can’t reeducate the majority not to shit in their stairwells and teach them to be responsible for their closest environment.
Laziness in its basic meaning because the landlord is a governmental one and there is a tradition in Russia to be afraid of the government.
Basically, the majority blames anyone, but not themselves, for mud around: the government, neighbors, weather, etc.
If you try to make a comment to a neighbour because of his, for instance, smoking in the stairwell, you will highly likely hear something like that:
⁃ what’s a problem, man?
⁃ where can I smoke else?
⁃ I live here and I can do what I want!
⁃ who are you? Get off!
⁃ do you want more than others? Are you kind of the smartest?
⁃ is there nothing to do? Find the job!
⁃ F..k you, as…le!

Some guys can start a fight, there is not a tradition in Russia to respect a person.
A smoking guy doesn’t care that he spoils other people by the smoke of his cheap cigarets.
How come that adult man doesn’t understand so elementary things?
It’s really easy, ’cause we’ve already known the majority have no sense of civic dignity, they have bad education and manners.
That’s like you require from the computer to obey your command that wasn’t installed there.
How to help ignorant majority to become civilized?
To be honest?
I don’t already know.