As we were walking by one of the local government offices, he pointed out to me that it was surrounded by evergreen trees (spruce, I think), a kind of tree that's not very common in this area.
He also told me that if I cared to look, the local police station, the boarder gaurd's office and all the other government building in town were the same (including the library, shown at right). They all have an unusually large ratio of evergreens to deciduous trees.
It's easy to see why, I thought to myself. Government bureaucrats are paperpushers who spend too much time in the office. If I were in their position, I'd want to look out at a but of fake forrest, too.
I was curious to see if my theory held up, so I asked.
It doesn't.
All of these trees were planted during the early years of the Soviet era as a form of keeping the people from causing too many problems. The way my friend tells it, all of these trees were brought from Siberia. They are there to remind people of where they go if they start to make trouble.
Seriously, hint taken.
And from the placement of the trees outside the library, I'm assuming "causing trouble" includes returning your library books late. So all of you who complain about that 10 cents/day fee you have to pay, you should feel lucky.
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