A line in which there are dozens or even hundreds of people, an atmosphere heated to the limit … Now this can be seen only on the first day of the sale of a new iPhone model. And our parents had to stand for hours in the rain, in the cold, in the heat, just to buy toilet paper. “Scarcity” – now no one remembers such a word. Fortunately.
Disassembling the mezzanine in my grandmother’s apartment the other day, I came across a whole line of dark blue boxes with inscriptions in Turkish. Washing powder … How long did it lie there? Not less than 25 years, or even all 30. I remembered how the three of us – me, my mother and my friend – stood in line at a hardware store. The powder was given by hand. How many times have we stood in that line in a circle …
It was considered a great success to catch a product when it was “thrown” on the counter, akin to winning the lottery. Whenever you want to complain about life, remember what joy the most ordinary things brought to Soviet people – for us they have long become everyday life.
An ordinary day in the Soviet Union
Today, even in the worst nightmares, it will not be dreamed that there is a newspaper neatly cut into pieces … in the bathroom! And this is not in a village outhouse, but in a well-equipped apartment, by the standards of those years, of course. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, this was commonplace and did not surprise anyone.
But sometimes in stores they also “threw away” real toilet paper of such quality that you can’t look at without tears: gray, with holes. Or, conversely, thick and stiff, like corrugated cardboard. Still, it was better than a newspaper. That is why they were stocking up on paper for the future: when they would be thrown out again. Then on the streets one could meet a blissfully smiling man, from whose neck “beads” of gray rolls strung on a string hung down to the ground. “Where do they give?” – Passersby asked and rushed in that direction.
“Economic”, “Children’s”, “Coniferous”, “Velvety”, “Strawberry” … This was the name of the most popular soap in the Soviet Union. Lovers of nostalgia can still find this in supermarkets, it is inexpensive and not so bad quality. It just happens to be better.
But even then capricious “gourmets” hunted for imported – Bulgarian, Polish, Czechoslovak, Finnish. When he was “thrown” on the counter, queues lined up, like for a sausage. There were even collectors who collected strategic reserves for years.
Shampoo is also a separate story. For a sensitive scalp? For oily or dry hair? Forget it. I managed to buy one, for everything at once, so rejoice.
The first McDonald’s opened in Moscow in the 90th year
Soviet motherhood is not a story for the faint of heart. A rag diaper, a thin diaper, a warm diaper – up to 40 rags were collected per day, which had to be washed, dried and ironed. This was done very often by hand. Washed with laundry soap, rinsed, then again …
When suddenly unprecedented diapers began to appear in the country, they, however, were also washed and dried. Firstly, you just can’t go and buy, and secondly, it’s expensive.
By the way, there were also Soviet diapers. But it was difficult to get them either. Women preferred to use them as spacers. Because they weren’t there either. And homemade – it’s just brrr.
Bananas are now cheaper than apples. Of course, they are in every store. And 30 years ago, before perestroika, huge queues lined up for the outlandish fruit even in Moscow. They took several kilograms each so that the children could eat from the heart. When else is the next time so lucky.
The assortment in the stores was, to put it mildly, not rich
Remember your favorite childhood treat? For many, it was a roll with jam or bread and butter, sprinkled with sugar. But there were problems with chocolate and sweets. In Moscow and Leningrad, chocolate was still available, but in smaller cities …
Parents could pamper their child with sweet tiles. A strange aftertaste remained in her mouth – they made such a soy-based “chocolate”. Many parents bought a bag of caramels, and it was happiness. But sometimes there were interruptions with lollipops.
This is how everyday life looked only on glossy pages
What could be more ordinary than tea? In the Soviet Union, they sold mainly Georgian. But the Indian “with an elephant” was more appreciated. It was possible to come to visit, and the owners proudly opened the doors of the hinged kitchen cabinet and showed dozens of packs that they had managed to accumulate during the months of “hunting”. Nobody knew how life would go on, maybe it will be even worse? The stock does not hold a pocket.
Black nasty coffee, coffee with milk from a bucket – such a simple choice of drinks was a Soviet person. And where to go, they drank like dear ones, they did not know anything else. And whoever knew and even had, for example, from grocery sets for the New Year or from business trips of one of the family members abroad, that shore the cherished jar of real good coffee like the apple of his eye. Even the guests were not always treated to them, only the dearest ones. And in almost every home you could see a jar of chicory instead of coffee: cheap and cheerful.
In Leningrad in the 1980s, it suddenly became very fashionable to walk with large plastic bags decorated with bright pictures: horses, dogs, portraits of foreign celebrities, flowers. And since they were not released at home, enterprising citizens brought them in dozens from Finland and sold them to friends at work for 5 rubles apiece.
The packages were sold like hot cakes, despite the price – for that kind of money you could buy 2,5 kilos of doctor’s sausage. It was not a shame even to present such a package for a birthday. However, there is a similar business now. True, they sell branded packages. From TSUM or DLT, for example.
There were no jeans, but punks were
It’s already commonplace to complain that there were no jeans in the “scoop”. But there were none. But I really wanted to.
Therefore, enterprising people illegally brought them from abroad and resold them for big money. Traded from under the floor, often in public toilets. Many citizens, who are quite respected today, in their youth made a fortune on the sale of jeans, chewing gum and other goods that were not produced in the USSR.
Demand creates supply, and local craftsmen began to sew fake jeans. Sometimes they were almost indistinguishable from the real ones, and they cost less. But attempts to sew official Soviet jeans failed – ugly and uncomfortable. They also tried to “cook” ordinary pants. It turned out “dumplings”. True, not always and not for everyone.
If someone had a tape recorder, the lucky one immediately became the most popular in the area. After all, not everyone could afford such a thing. Not to mention the players. Cassette, and then, much later, disc – this is the ultimate dream of any teenager and an inaccessible luxury.
And if a guy or a girl brought the tape recorder to the beach, to a party with friends, or just to take a walk down the street with music, the army of their fans multiplied like mushrooms after a rain. Only those who took a guitar with them and performed rockers’ songs could compete with them in popularity. Foreign ones, of course.
An ordinary cafe. Remember that?
There were some toys, of course, only they were painfully scary to look at. And some were not at all.
Cubes were brought to Vladivostok from Moscow. It was simply impossible to buy them in the Far East. A luxury for a Soviet girl was a doll that opened and closed her eyes and made a meowing sound when tilted. A bobblehead in lacy diapers, who knew how to suck on a pacifier and write (emphasis on the first syllable), was out of reach, like a star in the sky. After all, it could only be brought from abroad. The designers were a pitiful semblance of modern Lego, but the children rejoiced in them from the heart.
In the 1990s, fake Chinese Barbies appeared in the stalls, which seemed beautiful only to the unspoiled children of the past Soviet Union.
No, tights were produced in the USSR, only they had to be reluctantly put on: thick, ugly, with rough weaving. They hung in hideous wrinkles like elephant skin. More often it was even stockings that reached a maximum of mid-thigh. Further – the garters, rough, like a clothesline with clothespins.
But sometimes it was possible to “grab” foreign ones – as thin as a spider’s web, transparent. One trouble, puffs appeared quickly. Then, with a thin needle, they neatly picked up the loop, which turned out to be in the risk zone, and fastened it so imperceptibly, as a seamstress could not do. This is what a woman’s desire to be beautiful means!
Children’s tights were also a problem. When they were “thrown out”, a queue instantly formed: they took all sizes, they will not suit their children – they will be useful to the neighbors.
Pierre Cardin’s visit to Russia was an incredibly high-profile event
“Red Moscow”, “Persian lilac”, “Silver lily of the valley”, “Red poppy”, “Gayane”, colognes “Chypre”, “Sasha” and “Natasha” … satisfied.
But it was especially chic to buy something abroad: Signature, Sonnet, Sha Noir (Bulgaria), Pani Walevska, Perhaps (Poland), Riga Lilac (Latvia). The very squeak is perfumes from France: Fiji, Clima, Black Magic, Opium, Poison, Paloma Picasso and, of course, Chanel No. 5. The trouble is that a bottle of decent money cost – half the salary, or even the whole. So most women could only dream.
Now wherever you come to visit – as you got to your home: everywhere familiar furniture from IKEA. And in Soviet times, polished headsets and walls were such typical ones.
And everyone had the same dream: to furnish the apartment with imported furniture from the GDR, Hungary or Czechoslovakia. She had to save money for it, sign up in a queue and wait a long time. Overseas furniture featured more whimsical designs and fittings.
But such wardrobes and walls were very durable. Many grandparents still have similar monsters in their apartments.
The fashion of Soviet times dictated: in each apartment there should be a sideboard with sets and crystal and a bookcase with subscription editions in the same covers.
Books were published in the USSR, but mostly by authors loyal to the Soviet regime or time-tested Russians and foreign ones, for example, Balzac, Merimee, Zweig.
Collected works were bought by subscription or, a little later, by coupons for the waste paper handed over. Twenty kilos of old newspapers – one coupon – one book.
People collected waste paper with enthusiasm, not a single piece of paper was lost. Dumas, Jules Verne, Fenimore Cooper, Gianni Rodari and Exupery, the saga of Maurice Druon about the French kings and the series about the medieval adventurer Angelica – for the sake of these treasures, the works of Lenin and Gorky were handed over. Each house had approximately the same set of literature.
But “The Master and Margarita”, poems by Mandelstam and Akhmatova were sold under the counter and at exorbitant prices. A good book cost as much as a kilo of sausage, and a book was often chosen.