Lazy Fridays foster relationships

It’s a new Australian official advice not to call an office worker after 3 pm on a Friday. This relatively new trend is called Lazy Fridays and means that all staff moves from offices to the nearest entertainment point such as a pub, bar, garden umbrella, etc. Now people have a golden opportunity to gossip, chat, and share happy stories in a more relaxed atmosphere. Of course, on Thursday they are glad to stay and work a little bit later.

The movement to treat staff with a bit of respect is sure to be smart. Apparently, if you want to be smarter please don’t call your Aussie colleague at work after 3 pm on a Friday.

Mirror ceilings in pools

Thanks a lot to the first person who decided to install a mirror ceiling in the pool. It is so nice to swim on the back and still know what happens around you. It is a really great idea!

Eating sushi with hands

Moscow eats sushi with chopsticks, which is kind of difficult, because the rice part tends to fall apart the second you dip it into soy sauce, even if you do it right – the fish side down. The Japanese, by the way, prefer eating sushi with hands and strongly believe this is the best way to do it. We agree with them. Let’s eat sushi with hands!

Caffe sospeso

There is a tradition in Naples to order a caffe sospeso – a coffee for someone else. In this case you order one coffee for yourself and one more (or more) cups of coffee as caffe sospeso. These cups of coffees are meant for people who are unable to pay for coffee. So, later during the day a person can come and ask for a caffe sospeso, and get a coffee as an anonymous present from you. Theoretically any drink or food can be “sospeso”, but the coffee tradition is especially strong.

Road etiquette

On a narrow two-lane intercity road a truck driver may notice that a car behind cannot overtake his vehicle for a long time. In this situation the truck driver turns on his right signal light when it is safe to overtake, and left signal – to indicate danger ahead. It is also a good idea for the car driver to flash hazard warning lights two or three times to say thank you when he is ahead of the truck. This tradition is followed in Russia, and as we heard, in Europe too.

Door handles

To prefer a door lever handle to a traditional door knob if at least one person in the family has arthritis is a definite sign of intelligence.

Desert cooler

In late sixties Katya's father worked at a construction site in Iraq. And he told us about an incredible device that Iraqies invented to fight the heat. It was a large frame, size about 5 by 2 meters, about 30 cm thick, stuffed with dry seaweeds or grass. It was installed the way it could catch the wind, and then assigned people poured water on the device. The temperature in its shadow was a lot lower than the one in the sun. A similar device existed in Iran, basically it is the same concept of an evaporative cooler, but not portable: the windcatcher (Bâd gir).