Brigid of Laughter in the Dark posts a wonderful vignette about Tamara Ivanovna, an elderly Russian woman she met at a cafe in Krasnodar: “‘Tell me,’ she inquired, ‘how much did you just pay for that teensy little salad?’ ‘100 rubles.’ ‘And your coffee?’ ‘Eighty.’ ‘My, my, my! I can go home right now and make that same measly salad for 15 rubles!’ ‘A lot has changed here, hasn’t it?’ ‘I couldn’t begin to tell you how much!’ she said without any trace of bitterness.”