10% of the weight of dirty pillows is dead skin, as well as mites. It is also known that young mothers (women under 25 years old) neglect washing. Housewives, whose age does not exceed 55, wash the bedding approximately three times a month.

Londoners have become champions of uncleanliness. The second place is occupied by residents of northeastern and southwestern Britain. Dirty bedding is a breeding ground for disease. The study involved about a thousand men and women in the UK.

The average Briton spends 49 hours a week in his bed in the winter. The bed is not only the most frequently used piece of furniture, but also the most expensive. A resident of the UK can purchase a bed for 1,000 pounds. But he does not care about the cleanliness of the bed at all. Bed linen should be washed once every two weeks.

Englishman's house

Maybe to someone, what is described below will seem strange, not fitting into the normal modern universal concepts. But trust me, it's true. However, all this can be tried on yourself, having settled in an English house, say, a maid.

No Englishman wants (if he has the choice) to live in an apartment. Give him a separate house. With a garden. This is quite understandable if you live outside the city. But no, an Englishman needs to live in his own house in the city. And let it be small and cramped, squeezed with difficulty between the same small and cramped houses. But the house. Separate. And that's where the Englishman will be fine. In cramped quarters, as they say, but not in an apartment.

In appearance, the British are almost indistinguishable from ordinary people. In the office and in the cinema, in the restaurant and on the skating rink, at the airport and the swimming pool, they often behave like everyone else, and sometimes, even with the closest observation, you may not find anything strange in their habits. (Except, of course, for that little detail that they drive on the left side of the road, and not on the right, like all normal people!)

Another thing is at home. At home, the Englishman finally becomes himself. Here he gives himself free rein, here he reveals himself completely, here he lovingly cultivates his oddities, here he cherishes his notorious eccentricity. Therefore, you can really get to know the English only by visiting them. But when you are going to visit the British, you should at least know in general terms what awaits you there.

Central heating

It is, frankly, not easy for a normal person to survive in an English house. Mainly because of the cold.

It's amazing, but everything we were told at school about how the British go to bed in cold bedrooms, and their unfortunate kids in boarding schools wash themselves with ice water, is the absolute truth. So that's all it really is. And today, in the 21st century, about a third of English homes do not have central heating, in order to save money. To make the house at least a little warmer, they use gas heaters - frightening-looking units on wheels, which not only exude a disgusting smell, but are also extremely fire hazardous.

And in those cases when there is still central heating, the British also use it not in a stingy way: they set a special mode when the boiler works only a few hours a day - only in the morning, for example, and in the evening. And at night, he, be sure, turns off. Because it’s already warm in a bed under a feather bed, and why heat the room in vain when everyone is sleeping anyway?

Warmer

All progressive mankind uses a heating pad exclusively for illnesses. Therefore, they are sold in pharmacies. In England, a heating pad is a familiar everyday item (in winter time), each house has a special locker where they are stored, each family member has his own, and a few more in reserve for guests. Everyone takes a heating pad with them when they go to bed, because getting into an icy bed without a heating pad is really impossible, even if you are wearing two pairs of woolen socks!

Thermostat

And everything would be fine, but in addition to the timer for central heating, there is also a thermostat. And although most thermostats rise to twenty-five degrees Celsius (and sometimes I have met optimistic thirty!), You are unlikely to find an English house where the set temperature exceeds seventeen degrees above zero. This is considered normal temperature. And if you happen to, let's say, live visiting the British and you try to keep warm in their absence by setting the thermostat to the usual twenty degrees, then be sure that, as soon as you enter the door, your hosts will first freeze, as if listening to something, and then rush to switch the thermostat back, exclaiming: "Twenty degrees!" with a note of horror in his voice. It is noteworthy that none of the English have anything against this temperature on a good spring day or a cool summer evening. But twenty degrees of heat in the middle of winter seems to them a perversion: “It should be cold in winter, because it is winter. Winter means you need to wear a warm sweater, two warm sweaters are better, go to bed in socks. And what kind of nonsense is this, why do you suddenly do you want to walk around the house in a light shirt or, God forbid, barefoot? What kind of strange fantasy do you have? There is a summer for this! "

There are, of course (very rarely!), in England such houses where it is warm in winter. Where you can go to bed without woolen socks, where no steam comes out of your mouth and the water in the bath does not cool down after five minutes. But on closer examination it will certainly turn out that one of the household members is half Russian, or half Uzbek, or Chinese, or Moor; or that great-grandfather was an envoy in India, and therefore grandmother was used to a different temperature regime, or something else in the same vein - some kind of catch, so that it still cannot honestly be considered a real, classic English house.

Here is another proof of the wild stinginess of the British, these are double frames, or rather, their absence. Of course, in England there are no bitter frosts, in general the temperature rarely drops below zero, the winter in England is mild and warm. And yet. After all, heat must not only be produced, it must be stored. And when it's five or ten degrees outside, double window frames make a big difference. But the stinginess of the British, to spend money on double frames, does its job.

Of course, installing double glazing throughout the house is an expensive undertaking, who argues. But once done, it will save a lot of money on heating! Year after year, winter after winter, five years after five years, you will save and save! However, this simple calculation does not convince the stingy English. And they, for the most part, continue to pay ruinous heating bills and sit in the cold all winter. They will never understand that a miser pays twice.

And in the design of windows, the British are also original. The so-called "English window" is arranged differently than usual. This, by the way, is the most common blunder in our domestic films about English life. No matter how you shoot Sherlock Holmes in Riga, it is clear to everyone that this is not England at all. Because in England the windows do not swing open on hinges, but rise vertically, sliding on such special wheels according to the guillotine principle. (Insanity, and only). That is, it would be more correct to say that this guillotine works on the principle of English windows. Because, most likely, the infamous Dr. Guyotin invented his monstrous car after a visit to England, where he leaned out the window, and the frame suddenly fell off and hit him on the neck.

Fireplaces

The British simply adore fireplaces and enthusiastically burn thick, damp logs in them (and it happens that artificial coal is piled up instead of firewood in an unconvincing pile, but it actually burns gas-burner). They make you sit by that fireplace with a drink and enjoy life, but it's pretty hard to enjoy life to the fullest when the fireplace roasts you on one side and your other side gets stiff (literally - stiff) from the icy draft!

And here's what's even more amazing! The notorious fireplace and, accordingly, the chimney are ALWAYS located in the OUTSIDE WALL of the house! It looks, of course, beautiful, but after all, from a fireplace, I dare to notice, besides beauty, there must be some benefit! It is also designed to somehow warm the room! But it is quite clear that the purpose of the chimney is not only to free the room from combustion products, but also to accumulate heat, heating up from the smoke, and, cooling down, give it away gradually, thereby ensuring normal air temperature for a long time. time.

What is the point of making a chimney in the outer wall, good people? And how could it happen that such a progressive nation, the heir to such a glorious and rich history, which gave grateful humanity football, penicillin, Dickens and Stilton cheese, suffers from such obvious, such blatant engineering idiocy?

This riddle so agitated me at one time that I began to ask all my English acquaintances what they themselves thought about it. The British thought, shrugged their shoulders, shrugged, grunted and agreed that yes, it’s stupid of course!

stairs

Imagine - every time, to relieve, excuse me, the need, you have to climb two flights of stairs (if not four), to put the kettle on - go down two flights, and then you remember that you forgot the book in the bedroom and go up again and immediately you go down to make tea, and then the phone that is upstairs rings, and you go up, but you can’t find a pen near the phone to write down a message, so you go down again, only to go up a minute later, and then go down again, and so the whole day: down-up, down-up, and at the end of the day you have the feeling that you have been working on a plantation for three days.

And young children who are just learning to walk, don't they run the risk of breaking their necks on the damn stairs every day? It turns out they don't risk it. Because for such cases special gates are sold in English stores. These gates are installed at the bottom of the stairs and at the top. So kids don't fall down stairs. But you have to first unlock the gate, then lock the gate, go up the stairs, unlock the top gate, lock the top gate, do your thing, unlock the gate, lock the gate, go downstairs.

Cranes

But if ladders, heating pads, and rabbit chimneys can be finally reconciled with, there is something in the English way that you will never be reconciled to.

His name is separate taps.

The English hate flowing water, considering it a great waste, and in every possible way avoid it. If such a strange feature originated among the Tuvans, say, among the Kirghiz or among some other people living in the steppe or desert area, this would be quite justified and understandable. But how and why such a phobia developed in a nation living on an island and surrounded on all sides by water and never lacking in it is inaccessible to human understanding.

This, however, is a sad fact. The British, because of the economy of water, do not wash under running water. To wash your hands, you are invited to plug the sink with a cork, fill it with water and wash your hands with soap and water in this water. And the whole family, in the morning, washes in the same water, and brushes their teeth in the same. Then they dry off with a towel. Not rinsing! The English never rinse anything. They do not rinse the dishes - they wash them in a sink plugged with a cork and put them on the dryer as they are - in shreds of melting foam. They do not rinse themselves - they just get out of the soapy bath and wrap themselves in a towel. And they wash their hair in the same water, sitting in the bath, and also do not rinse.

That's why they don't have mixers. Both the bathtub and the sink, and even the kitchen sink will be equipped with two taps, separately hot and cold. And get out as you know. It is impossible to wash your hands normally, because boiling water flows from one tap, and ice water from another. But even if you are ready to wash your hands with cold water, it is still impossible - the faucets are located so close to the edge of the sink that you can’t shove your hand under them. Especially a leg or a cup. How to be? Fill sink, wash hands, flush, refill sink, rinse hands, flush, repeat as needed. Washing hands thus takes about eight times as long as in civilian life. And if you suddenly have a whim to rinse your shampoo-washed hair, then a uniform ballet begins - kneeling near the bath, fill a cup for rinsing your teeth with hot and cold water in the right proportions and pour it on your head until you wash off all the shampoo. (Repeat about twenty times, depending on the hardness of the water.) If you can get a saucepan or flower vase into the bathroom without arousing suspicion, it will speed things up considerably. True, recently some of the most progressive houses have a shower!

For tourists

Of course, it is impossible for a normal person to wash in a washbasin with separate taps. But, there is one way that I saw in the old Khrushchev hostel, where, once upon a time, there were also separate taps. Here he is. Use it upon arrival in England to wash yourself like a human being.

On June 29, 2015, in the “Monitor” program of the “VM” network broadcast, under the heading “From Moscow with Love”, the presenters discussed with experts whether there is a problem of insect invasion in their cities or, on the contrary, they bring some benefit; how they deal with insects in the city; and whether they fight at all.

The following experts took part in the program:

Christina ANGEL - life coach (London, England),Ekaterina TSARANOK- Executive Director of "EduCouncil", political communication expert (Brussels, BELGIUM), Alexander KARGALTSEV- artist (New York, USA), Vladimir SNEGIREV – own correspondent of the newspaper "Vechernyaya Moskva" for the countries of Central and of Eastern Europe (Prague, Czech Republic), Mikhail MOZZHECHKOV- President of the Russian Club in Tokyo ( Tokyo, Japan), Anatoly Ostrometsky- co-founder of the Slovak-Russian club "ARBAT", member of the Slovak-Russian society (Bratislava, Slovakia), Ruslan Vorobyov- entrepreneur ( Paris, France), Anna CHISTOVA- Chief Editor of SmartTrip.ru ( Bangkok, Thailand), Ekaterina IVANOVA- guide and interpreter tour operator Mexico Experts Travel (Mexico City, Mexico)

Studio: How are insects in the capitals of the world. Mikhail Mozzhechkov, President of the Russian Club in Tokyo, is in touch with us. Michael, what about cockroaches in Japan, are there many of them?

Mikhail Mozzhechkov, Tokyo: We have subtropics, our cockroaches Korney Chukovsky never dreamed of. They are 3-4 cm in size, like two guitar picks. They fly, they jump.

Studio: Can they attack a person?

Mikhail Mozzhechkov, Tokyo: They are afraid of us, run away. But they really fly.

Studio: What other insects please the Japanese?

Mikhail Mozzhechkov, Tokyo: Killer bees have caused a big stir in southern Japan. They fly and bite, which makes many people feel bad.

Studio: Do women scream at the sight of insects?

Mikhail Mozzhechkov, Tokyo: They really dislike insects.

Studio: Let's get back to cockroaches. If they started up at a neighbor's, and then spread throughout the house, can the neighbor be punished for this?

Mikhail Mozzhechkov, Tokyo: I have never heard of anyone being accused of cockroaches. But if they appear, then, indeed, they spread throughout the house. Japan is a fairly clean country, in which it somewhat resembles Germany. However, there are not very clean places in Japan next to a cluster of restaurants.

Studio: Thanks a lot Michael. With us was the president of the Russian Club in Tokyo. Let's immediately move to England, where Christina Angel, life coach, is waiting for us. Christina, tell me, are there insects in London, do they annoy?

Christina Angel, London: As for apartments in England, insects are rarely found there. If we talk about houses, then there are spiders there, but they are usually not poisonous. Today in England there is a lot of attention from scientific community given to ants. Scientists have a special fondness for them. They install sensors on them and monitor them, conduct experiments.

Studio: We have a ladybug in the apartment - a good sign. Is there something similar in England?

Christina Angel, London: There is no such thing. But here everyone admires butterflies very much. Everyone is watching them. There are very few of them. There is even monitoring: they are searched for, their population is monitored.

Studio: Where else can you find insects in England?

Christina Angel, London: There are a lot of botanical gardens in England, I think you can find insects there too. Recently, a poisonous black widow spider appeared in England, everyone is afraid of it.

Studio: Last question. If suddenly in a cafe in a plate in some London cafe they notice a cockroach?

Christina Angel, London: It all depends on how the chef treats you. He can compliment and take the plate.

Studio: Thanks, see you in a week. Christina Angel, a life coach from London, was with us. And now we will go to Slovakia to Anatoly Ostrometsky, co-founder of the Slovak-Russian club "Arbat", a member of the Slovak-Russian society. Anatoly, it seems to us that insects in Slovakia are rich.

Good evening! There are absolutely the same number of them here as in Moscow. I want to say that our attitude towards them is quite wary. We have in May a large number of mosquitoes that have a habit of gathering in the bushes. If this happens, then special services come. Which pollinate these bushes with a special mixture. But if this does not help, then they raise the aircraft and pollinate it like that.

Studio: Anatoly, tell me, in order for this spraying to begin, are some complaints from the residents needed? And isn't it bad for health?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: No, it's not harmful. This pollination is the responsibility of the city, no complaints are required from anyone, they are simply destroyed annually. We still have ticks.

Studio: And what, in the city, too, can you pick up a tick?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: There are many parks in our city. There you can.

Studio: Is there any tension in society associated with the tick?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: No, information centers work very well. They notify residents how to get it. It is recommended to use certain sprays. As for the insects in the house, the utilities respond quickly to this, arrive within 12 hours and treat the place with chemistry.

Studio: That is, a cockroach and a bedbug cannot be bred, since a chemical war will immediately begin?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: Yes, right away.

Studio: Does this team work for a fee or does the city provide it?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: The city provides.

Studio: Great. Maybe you have a problem with bees?

Anatoly Ostrometsky, Bratislava: No, not with bees, mostly with mosquitoes. We have more and more immigrants. We are afraid that these mosquitoes can provoke an epidemic, since they bite both us and them, and they may be unhealthy.

Studio: Thanks a lot. Anatoly Ostrometsky, co-founder of the Slovak-Russian club "Arbat" was with us. Meanwhile, we are going to the very heart of bureaucratic, no, tolerant Europe, to Belgium. Are they ready to endure everything, including insects? Ekaterina Tsaranok, executive director of "EduCouncil", an expert in political communication, will tell us about this. Katya, hello, you know, there is such an impression about Belgium that it is generally a sterile country, and insects with cockroaches have also been wiped and washed there.

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: In fact, Belgium is very tolerant. According to 2013 information, Belgium is the only country that has introduced a rule: eat insects. It is the only country in the world that eats insects.

Studio: Ekaterina, in more detail, whom do you eat?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: After the UN report that insects are a great source of protein that can replace traditional sources, the Belgians decided why not give it a try? Experts identified 12 types of insects that can be eaten: moth, beetle, African locust, etc.

Studio: Moth, she is small, you are tormented by butchering. Here's a birthday cake for you. Why cake? Roast! Kat, don't listen to us, tell us, it's very interesting. Can you just go to the store, buy it and fry it yourself?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: These are insects that are specially grown. Specialty stores sell tomato paste and carrot paste with insects and worms. Worms are not visible there, but it is written that the banks contain up to 6 percent of worms.

Studio: What is cheaper to buy: steak, organic potatoes or these funny cockroaches?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: The presence of insects does not affect the price of the product, it affects its nutritional value and protein content.

Studio: Tried?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: Not yet, but I read a report from a university that says that, in principle, it is not at all scary to eat insects. But there are people, like me, for example, who have myophobia - the fear of new food products. Until I can get over my fear.

Studio: Well, don't get over it. Eat oysters and champagne and you'll be fine. Are there insects that have not yet been eaten in the houses or is everything clean and sterile there?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: Although Brussels is old City, and there are buildings here of the 18-19th centuries, there are very few insects here. In all my time in Brussels, I've only had fruit bugs once, but they evaporated when it got a little colder. For example, I have never seen cockroaches. Belgium is a small country, people here are modest, they don't stick out, but they like to be at the forefront of everything. The Belgians are good entrepreneurs. First Railway in Europe it appeared in Belgium, few people know about it. Why don't they start eating insects first?

Studio: Let's consider a hypothetical situation: if they did appear in the house, then where do you turn to, take them to a restaurant?

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: There are a huge number of private companies that deal with the elimination of crawling, patching, and gnawing insects.

Studio: But the state does not include this in its public services.

Ekaterina Tsaranok, Brussels: Yes, if this is your property, then for your money.

Studio: He set up the pigsty himself, and clean it up yourself. Thank you Ekaterina, Belgium appeared before us in a completely different face thanks to you. With us was Ekaterina Tsaranok, executive director of "EduCouncil", an expert in political communication. The Belgians were the most bloodthirsty. How to deal with your little competitors? Eat them. They didn't hesitate. Did you eat my coat? I'll eat you too. But there is a country where fur coats are no longer needed. This is Thailand, Anna Chistova, editor-in-chief of SmartTrip.ru. Anna, what about insects in Thailand, how do you get along with them? What's going on in the houses?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: If you don't keep an eye on the ant population, they can multiply to an infinite number. There may be several types in the same area. My favorites are sparrows with a sweet tooth. If you leave a box of cookies or a box of sugar, they quickly fly in and start eating it. When they have all eaten, they leave.

Studio: Do you have the same as in Japan, cockroaches the size of a palm?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: Yes, we have them. They fly freely. They are eaten. My cat loves to bring cockroaches home and play with them. You can always buy silkworm pupae from a merchant in the market. They are tasty enough. If one of the listeners tried dried shrimp, then they are a little like them.

Studio: Are they crunchy or spicy?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: They are crispy. I first tried them in Phuket in 2007, for me it was a kind of shock. Then I tried locust. But Thailand, in defiance of the UN convention of 2013, which called for the use of all mykomyaso, argues that not all insects are equally useful. For example, people with high cholesterol are not recommended to consume a lot of silkworm. Thailand plan to sell insects on an industrial scale, wanted to expose Belgium. On average, today the country harvests 7,500 tons of insects annually.

Studio: don't you think it's cruel to kill grasshoppers, mosquitoes?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: No, they are only cute in fairy tales. For example, in real life In Thailand, mosquitoes can transmit dengue fever. The treatment is quite difficult. You need to stay at home or in the hospital, and there are no vaccinations against it.

Studio: Anna, are there any other unpleasant insects, poisonous spiders, for example, scalapendra, who can run into the house and cause trouble?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: It's all there. IN southern provinces There are, for example, scorpions. They just need to be swept away and thrown away.

Studio: Are you used to dealing with this problem on your own?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: No, usually the owner or manager of the house calls a service that destroys them. Large red ants bite quite painfully.

Studio: Do Thais eat insects raw?

Anna Chistova, Bangkok: They eat, but it's more like a treat. Don't put everything in your mouth.

Studio: Thank you very much, Anna Chistova, editor-in-chief of SmartTrip.ru, from Bangkok was with us. And we're going to New York. Alexander Kargaltsev, an artist from New York, is in touch with us. You, as a person with a developed aesthetic taste, how do you feel about insects?

You get used, of course, to insects. In the old apartment where I lived, there were cockroaches, and, which is very unpleasant, of all types and sizes. It is useless to call any services. Which are sprayed, as this does not bother cockroaches.

Studio: How many types of cockroaches did you see in New York?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: The most aesthetically beautiful are marble American white cockroaches. They have pearlescent wings. They have huge mustaches, but they themselves are small. I remember when I lived in Russia, some cockroaches fought with each other. Here they all live together.

Studio: Does anyone else live in apartments: bed bugs, spiders, wood lice?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: Woodlice, of course, were, but the biggest problem is bad bags. They live in bed, in clothes, it is very difficult to get rid of them. There were cases when, because of them, a whole house was evicted and it was processed.

Studio: Are there any other insects?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: There are mosquitoes, so you should close the window from them.

Studio: And when you are at a picnic in Central Park, do they interfere with you there?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: More likely, birds will fly to you or squirrels will come, but I did not meet insects there.

Studio: Are the city authorities making efforts to free residents from cockroaches or only at their own expense?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: The city helps management company but there is always a queue.

Studio: In America, too, they introduce all sorts of innovations: organic food rich in protein. No cockroach food at all?

Alexander Kargaltsev, New York: No, this cannot be found. I tried to try National dishes different countries, but they all strictly comply with US standards.

Studio: Thanks a lot. Alexander Kargaltsev, an artist from New York, was with us. We have a country bordering the United States, where it should be even better with cockroaches. This is Mexico. Ekaterina Ivanova, guide and interpreter of tour operator Mexico Experts Travel, is in touch with us. Do cockroaches live in apartments?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: They are influxes. Especially a lot of them before the rainy season. There may also be many ants before the rainy season. Usually before the humidity sets in. Cockroaches do not live in houses. They can enter through water runoff.

Studio: Do they do any harm when they get into the house?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: When there are a lot of ants, then, of course, you need to hide everything from them, otherwise they will understand that the road has been beaten here. They usually come in April-May. But the rest of the year they are not visible. There are still mosquitoes. If we take a little further south, then in this part of the country there are also dengue, which cause such a dangerous disease in which the blood does not clot.

Studio: What is the probability of getting such a bite? Is this a rare occurrence?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: Rare, but I had a few friends. It's scary, of course.

Studio: How do they deal with it?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: There, closer to Cancun, they spray it there.

Studio: Who is doing this?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: If we are talking about the period when dengue is activated, then the state. The rest is up to each individual.

Studio: Are there poisonous spiders in Mexico?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: There are poisonous spiders, and there are tarantulas, in the zoo they even let you hold them in your hands. There are scorpions, in a special heat they can go into the house.

Studio: What size are these insects?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: Spiders are the size of palms, cockroaches are the size of a finger, a little smaller. I want to add that insects are eaten here. Before the arrival of the Spaniards, there were no ungulates here: no cows, no horses, no sheep. The main source of protein was fish, which was still needed from the coast, or turkey, which was quickly shot. Therefore, to compensate for the lack of protein, they began to eat everything that moves. Now you can buy crickets in the store. The first impression is a bit dry, but then you get used to it. I will not say that I am a fan and I will eat them every day.

Studio: Crunchy?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: Yes, when they are fried, all the moisture from them leaves. Goes great with beer.

Studio: How long did it take to get used to?

Ekaterina Ivanova, Mexico City: Not immediately, but when I tried ant eggs, I became a fan. We also have tree bugs, but they are eaten alive. They spread over the cake. They also have a characteristic smell. Also caterpillars, which are eaten by whites with black heads, laying them on a flatbread and pouring sauce over them.

Studio: Thanks a lot. With us was Ekaterina Ivanova, guide and interpreter for tour operator Mexico Experts Travel. Let's go to Paris. Ruslan Vorobyov is waiting for us here.

Ruslan Vorobyov, Paris: I advised a large pharmaceutical company headquartered in Belgium on their 2020 strategy, and I explained to them that in the future they would not occupy the most advanced niche without insects. Right now they don't eat insects in France, but the company plans to work with restaurants to attract customers to insects. With the help of the media, people can be involved in anything. If you start to say that in 110 countries of the world the consumption of insects occurs on a regular basis, then in a few years some Michelin star chef will start cooking something out of them. This does not come from a good life. To grow a kilogram of meat, you need to grow 40-50 kilograms of wheat. A kilogram of grasshoppers is obtained from 1-2 kilograms of grass, which is not particularly necessary to grow.

Studio: If a cockroach appears in Paris, how big of a problem will it be?

Ruslan Vorobyov, Paris: Every year we have a sanitary and epidemiological station for preventive maintenance. The director of the sanitary and epidemiological station bypasses everything and preventive measures are taken before his visit.

Studio: Thank you very much, Ruslan Vorobyov, an entrepreneur from Paris, was with us. France, like the UN, does not eat itself, but advises everyone. Our last stop will be the Czech Republic. Vladimir Snegirev, Vecherki special correspondent, is in touch with us.

Vladimir Snegirev, Prague: The only problem here is only with ticks. Not only in the forests, but also in the forests, they can be picked up. In Europe, there is generally a lot of grass where they sit. A large percentage of them are encephalitic.

Studio: In the Czech Republic, just like in Slovakia, they are instructing how to pull it out?

Vladimir Snegirev, Prague: The Czechs are very afraid of him, they write everywhere in the newspapers. They write how to pull out, how to wash the wound.

Studio: Do they eat insects?

Vladimir Snegirev, Prague: The Czechs have their favorite drinks, dishes that have not changed for centuries. It is unlikely that Belgium will have such an impact.

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That the London Underground has a pest problem is no surprise: it is, after all, a network of warm, dark tunnels under one of the most crowded cities in the world. However, apart from the rats and bats that inhabit this vast maze, there is another threat - Culex pipiens f. molestus, or common mosquito f. molestus, also known as the London Underground mosquito.

The first mention of this species appeared in 1999 in the research work of geneticists Kate Byrne and Richard Nichols. The paper was titled "The Common Mosquito on the London Underground: Differentiating between Surface and underground species". It says that this species mosquito is unique: it is found only in the London Underground and nowhere else in the world - its body has adapted to survive and thrive in the harsh underworld.

To lay their eggs, mosquitoes need puddles of stagnant water - there are many such puddles in the tunnels. Thanks to the millions of people who use the subway every day, these puddles are rich in organic nutrients, such as discarded sandwiches or human skin cells. Generation after generation of mosquitoes laid their eggs in this water, and each generation became more and more viable. Females don't even need to drink nutrient-rich blood before laying their eggs.

Despite the fact that London Underground mosquitoes were officially recognized as a separate species only in 1999, there is evidence that they have inhabited these places since the beginning of the 19th century - their ancestors settled there during the construction of the first tunnel, which marked the beginning of the development of the underground transport.

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All fans of old Europe will be pleased to know Interesting Facts about the London Underground. After all, some details may seriously surprise you. In general, it is always pleasant to read about, in which there are many unique features. So let's go!

1. The London Underground, opened on January 10, 1863, is the oldest in the world. At first, steam locomotives served as the driving force, so the tunnels were heavily smoky. The last steam locomotive was taken off the line in 1961, but the air quality in the underground still remains poor.
2. Studies in 2002 showed that it is 70 times more polluted than on the surface, and a 20-minute trip is equal to a cigarette smoked.
3. In 1906, the first spiral escalator was installed at Holloway Road station. Proved unreliable, it was never opened to the public. The launch of the current escalator took place in 1911 at Earl's Court. It was notable for entering the platform at the top not at right angles, but diagonally. When lifting, the right foot touched the platform before the left. It was said that by the opening day, the owner company hired a disabled person with one leg, designed to convince distrustful citizens of the safety of the novelty by his own example. All he had to do was take the escalator from time to time.
4. In total, the system has 270 stations and 11 lines total length 402 km, of which 45% is underground.

Underground map in London

1. More than 3 million passengers a day use the subway, which is the third largest in Europe after the Moscow and Paris subways.
2. An interesting fact is that the longest direct trip has a length of 54.9 kilometers from West Ruislip to Epping. This journey lasts 1 hour 28 minutes.
3. During the Second World War, part of the lines was closed, placing workshops, control points and warehouses in them, and at Piccadilly - a repository of exhibits from the British Museum. A 3-kilometer section of the Central line was turned into an aircraft factory, the existence of which was declassified only in the 1980s.
4. In 1940, with the beginning of air raids on, thousands of citizens took refuge in the subway day and night. Until the end of the war, a special train ran here, delivering 7 tons of food and 11,000 liters of tea and cocoa daily to those who spent the night on the subway.

1. During the existence of the London Underground, three cases of birth of children were officially registered in it: in 1924 and 2008 - girls, and in 2009 - a boy. It is not known how many babies were born underground during both world wars - no one kept a record of them. It is claimed that one of these children was the current British actor and TV presenter Jerry Springer.
2. About 50 people take their own lives on the London Underground every year, and more often this happens around 11 am. The subway has its own psychological assistance service, which works with train drivers, under the wheels of which there are suicides.
3. There are many rumors about ghosts appearing in the tunnels. The most famous of these is the Screaming Ghost, the spirit of the hatter Anne Naylor, who was murdered in 1758. According to legend, he lives at Farringdon station, where passengers have heard the chilling screams that accompany the departure of the last night train more than once. The ghost of actor William Terris, who died near the station in 1897, has been spotted in Covent Garden.
4. Eldgate underground station was built on the site of a major burial site from the Great Plague of London in 1665, where the bodies of almost 1,000 died of the disease were buried.
5. Every day, 75 million liters of water are pumped out of the metro. This is enough to fill a standard 10 x 25 meter swimming pool every 15 minutes.
6. The first reigning monarch in the world to travel on the London Underground was Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. She was an honorary passenger on a train launched on the reopened Victoria Line in March 1969.

1. The 14 London Underground stations are so close to one another that the average journey between them takes less than a minute. The record belongs to the segment from Leicester Square to Covent Garden - only 260 meters, which the train travels in 20 seconds. It is a popular tourist attraction that attracts many passengers.
2. There are 426 escalators in the system, and together they cover a distance comparable to two trips around the world in a week.
3. They live in the London Underground, which are not found anywhere else in the world. It is believed that they could get into the subway from Heathrow Airport, where they arrived on one of the planes, and over time this isolated group formed a separate species.
4. Smoking in the subway was banned only in 1987, and the use of alcoholic beverages - in 2008.

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The London riots, which have been going on in the city for three consecutive nights, have already disrupted vacations for several hundred people - British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Interior Minister Theresa May, London Mayor Boris Johnson and another 646 members of the British Parliament.

All of them were forced or will interrupt their vacation and hastily return to London to develop a plan of action to prevent new unrest, which last night went far beyond the British capital. It is reported that an additional 16,000 police officers from all over the Kingdom are being deployed to London.

Whether the measures taken at the emergency meeting of the authorities on Tuesday will work, the upcoming night will show.

Russian tour operators operating on the British route say the situation in London is "certainly straining Russian tourists". "The turmoil cannot play into the hands of London as a tourist destination," she said. EUROMAG Victoria Kizimova, General Director of the tour operator Megapolyus Tours. However, she assured that "there has not yet been a single cancellation of previously purchased tours." “But people are definitely nervous,” she added.

“Cancellation of a previously purchased tour is definitely not about Russian tourists. Although I personally would not go there now, ”admitted EUROMAG manager for Britain and Ireland of the Russian Express tour operator Olga Zhdanova.

However, no one is going to dissuade Russians from traveling to Britain. “We cannot dissuade anyone from the trip, but we without fail warn that in this moment takes place in the British capital. Although customers already know the situation,” she added.

Tour operators add that it is now playing into the hands of London long term visa processing. “A British visa is issued in a month, or even two. Therefore, people who come to buy tours now will go only in September-October. I am sure that by that time everyone will have forgotten about the riots,” says Victoria Kizimova. But, she warns, if the pogroms continue, Russian tourists may choose other European destinations to travel to.

“Although it will be difficult to say whether these events or the collapses in the stock markets have affected the decline in the tourist flow to London. After all, due to what is happening in the economy now, some tourists can also postpone the trip or refuse it,” she added.

As for the tourists who bought the tour in June and who have to go now, the cancellation of the trip can cost a lot of losses. “If a person is so afraid to go, then by refusing in three or four days, you can save some part of the money paid. The airline will return about half of the cost, the hotel will keep an amount equal to three or four days of accommodation,” Kizimova explained.

However, now main question for tourists, how long will the riots last? Tour operators are confident that the London police will be able to deal with this problem as quickly as possible. Although, if we recall similar pogroms in Paris that occurred at the end of 2005, they lasted about three weeks.

“Then it affected the flow of tourists to France, because Russian television relished those events very much,” recalls Olga Volkova, head of the outbound tourism department of the BSI Group tour operator, but assures that “everything on TV was scarier than it really is.”

“I was in Paris at that time, but in the city center, where tourists mostly live and walk, it was not felt. We wondered where the channels find such footage,” she admitted.

A similar situation, according to Volkova, was with last year's flood in Budapest: “They showed on TV how people swim in boats around Budapest. And when we arrived there three days later, the consequences of the flood could be seen only outside the city during the tour.”

Victoria Kizimova from Megapolyus Tours assures that the London riots practically do not pose a danger to tourists, if you follow the elementary rules of behavior, namely, do not go to troubled areas, especially in the evening.

“For group tourists in London, the danger is no greater than in Moscow, because a tour is always a certain route, a guide who definitely won’t be lucky where he shouldn’t. And individuals can be advised not to walk at night and comply with all the requirements of the police,” she explained.

By the way, the Russian Embassy in the UK has already recommended that Russian citizens refrain from visiting the outskirts of London - Tottenham, Enfield and Brixton. Diplomats assure that among the injured and detainees Russian citizens No.