Good afternoon!
In September, she met a military family during her service. Both the husband and wife are officers, transferred to the reserve after reaching the age limit for service. Behind him are several business trips to «hot spots». Valery is from the city of Ivanovo, Tamara is from the Krasnodar Territory. They moved to us in Altai from the Krasnodar Territory.
Naturally, both I and my colleagues were surprised, because the opposite trend is now in our country: everyone, as agreed, goes either to the Krasnodar Territory or (new fashion!) To Kaliningrad! Well, I’m not talking about Moscow and St. Petersburg …
The military answered us: “We lived in the Krasnodar Territory for a year and a half — and fled. The heat is unbearable for more than half a year. Housing prices are inexplicably high! Everything is expensive! People, again, were not very friendly in the village. Like, you go here and go, there is no work yourself! And for us, work is unnecessary — although we are young, we are pensioners! In a word, I didn’t like it. Well, yes, from our village it was 100 km to the sea in total — at least every weekend drive. But the soul did not lie. And then a colleague from the Altai Territory invited me to go fishing in the summer. We’ve arrived and that’s it! We realized that this is the place that was created just for us!”
In general, the family bought for itself for 1,700,000 rubles. in the foothills, in Altai is a very decent house. With a large area. They say that for this money in the Krasnodar Territory you can only buy some kind of wreck. The man, talking about his current life, simply glowed with delight: “What kind of fishing is here! And nature, and mushrooms! The other day we went to the mountains — I couldn’t breathe!
The nature there is really magnificent. We recently rested at the recreation center near the village. Altai. You can read about it here. And see a lot of beautiful photos.
At that time, I cooled his ardor, they say, it’s good for you to talk while it’s summer, but the beginning of autumn! Let’s see how you sing in winter! And they answered: “And we just want to live in such a place that summer is like summer, with heat and watermelons, winter is like winter, with frost, snow, skiing …”
Altai village. Photo from Yandex Pictures Altaiskoe village. Photo from Yandex Pictures
Recently I met this couple in the store. We just got colder, windy, the snow flew. I ask if you want to go back to the heat? No, they answer, and we don’t keep it in our thoughts. And Valery again about his own: “I went hunting with a neighbor 2 weeks ago, I brought 7 ducks home!”. The wife chuckles … She says, a beard with gray hair, a chest in orders — and a kid is a kid!
Nature in the vicinity of the village of Altai. Photo from personal archive. Nature in the vicinity of the village of Altai. Photo from personal archive.
In general, people are happy with everything. We bought skis, they say, we will learn to ski in our old age. The neighbors were wonderful — they help a lot with advice in terms of gardening and caring for livestock, they will call you to the bathhouse, or taste fresh moonshine.
Contrary to popular belief that there is no work in the village, my friends were offered a job. Tamara — in the district hospital (she is a military doctor), and Valery — the position of an engineer at one of the agricultural enterprises. But they do not plan to work yet.
They really settled in a wonderful place. Like Siberia — but, again, southern. The village is located in a hollow between the mountains, there are almost no winds, the frosts in winter are also weaker than even in the neighboring villages. In summer, the trees in the orchards burst with apples and pears, watermelons and grapes ripen. Literally beyond the outskirts — fish ponds and a river, forests.
And the village is also large, more than 18,000 people, with a well-developed infrastructure.
Valery and Tamara say this: “Now we know where paradise is on Earth — it is in the Altai foothills!” There is not a drop of regret that they moved from the Krasnodar Territory!
But still I want to see them six months later: how will they spend the winter? Will they pack their suitcases and go to warmer climes?
