Two guys knocked on our door a few days ago, during one of the blackouts, and introduced themselves to my mama as the Segodnya newspaper. Turned out they were looking for our elderly neighbor who lives one floor up: he had called the paper and complained about the situation with electricity.

On Friday, Segodnya ran a very emotional piece (in Russian), and our building, due to its central location, was featured prominently in it. There was even a picture of our neighbor standing next to his empty - and immaculate - freezer: we all had to move most of the stuff from our fridges to our balconies. Two other neighbors were mentioned, one an 83-year-old woman who had to spend half an hour in the freezing cold, waiting for someone to help her walk up to the sixth floor: the elevator didn't work.

The reporter and the headline writer obviously couldn't agree on whether we didn't have electricity for the fourth or the fifth day, but otherwise they did well. Both the pensioners and a ZhEK woman were quoted criticising Kyivenergo, and Kyivenergo was given a chance to explain that, according to the rules, they were allowed not to restore power in residential buildings for up to two days.

The happiest about this publicity was Masha, the slightly crazy woman who cleans our building - she was running back and forth that day, waving the paper excitedly, announcing the good news about our neighbor to everyone who walked by: "He's in a newspaper! Look, he's in a newspaper!"

***

That same Friday, another neighbor went to complain to the president's representative responsible for our district.

It's been three days without the blackouts, three wonderful - well-lit and warm - days. (Tfu-tfu-tfu.)