Serendipity and More Russian Names

I finished reading "Midnight in Chernobyl" last night, and immediately dove into "Chernobyl Notebook" by Grigoriy Medvedev. I adored the first book and decided to add one more to my virtual collection and knowledge base. I hadn't thought about the politics in the USSR at the time of the meltdown, but it seems that an argument could be made for Chernobyl to be a linchpin in the vast political changes that took place near the end of Gorbechov and beginning of Yeltsin's "reign". (I know it's not really a reign, they're not monarchs, but they're also not elected by the populace and their term of office is until they are killed or kicked out. If you know the appropriate term, please tell me.) So, onward to another bout with Russian names, all of which sound beautiful in my head but that I can't pronounce orally at all.

This is one of the first photos to be made of Reactor No 4 at Chernobyl
after the accident. The type of reactor that was used had an underlying
instability that wasn't acknowledged, and the "fix" didn't work. It was
one of the worst nuclear disasters. 

Sometimes things happen because of serendipity. On Thursday, DH went shopping and found some really wonderful heavy plastic turquoise bowls for the shop that were quite inexpensive. He purchased them for us and dropped them by. Chickie loved them and took a photo, putting the picture on her Facebook page where it was seen by her friends. One of those friends looked past the turquoise plastic bowls and saw our case of Pueblo pottery. Texting Chickie, she asked to see photos of the pottery.

After finally managing to clear the area enough, the government
erected what was called the "Sarcophagus" over Reactor No 4.
Because of deadly radiation levels, most of the construction
was done from afar, but almost 4000 workers put their lives at
risk to construct this multilayered covering. 

By the end of the day, with a couple of hours of multiple photos and back and forth texting, she decided on three pots she wanted to purchase and have shipped to her in California. I'll be finalizing the sale today and DH will come in to double-pack the items for shipping. Meanwhile, I'll be finalizing shipping information and charges and arranging for them to be picked up for shipment. It's a really nice sale and I'm super appreciative. She's getting a great deal because I haven't raised my pottery prices since the mid-1990's, and I'm getting the opportunity to sell something beautiful to someone who will love them. Win/win all the way.

In 2010, because the Sarcophagus was beginning to crumble and
self-destruct, the world's nations got together and funded a huge
project - the "New Safe Confinement" shield that should last 100 years.
This shield was assembled in sections. It's HUGE. It's tall enough
for the Statue of Liberty and three times larger than the Vatican.
Each section was moved into place along rails, then assembled using
explosive bolts. Of course, welders couldn't be used, the radiation
is too great. More than 40 countries donated to the NSC. 

On a final note, sorry about the double post yesterday. Dreamwidth has been having issues with cross-posting, and even though I waited a bit to make sure the cross-post had a chance to work or not, I guess I didn't wait quite long enough. My bad, and I'll consider their issue resolved for the time being. So, have an excellent Friday. Tomorrow will be the end of our first week back in business and in a lot of ways, it's been nice to be back on a schedule and interact with customers. As always, stay safe and I'll be back tomorrow.