Giant Pumpkins, Giant Trash Piles, and Micro-Apartments

In this week's Odder News, the biggest pumpkins in Russia, the smallest apartments in Russia, and the year's most pricey wedding.

• Pumpkin displays are not only an American thing; right now in Moscow, a giant pumpkin show is on at the Apothecary Garden. The biggest one is 700 kilograms (1,543 pounds). The exhibit runs until November 7. After that, we imagine that all of Moscow will have pumpkin soup.
• Middle-class Muscovites can now buy apartments no bigger than nine square meters (97 square feet). A new complex in the Veshnyaki District on the east side of Moscow is being built to accommodate residents on a budget. The emergence of so-called "micro-apartments" is a global trend as apartments in cities around the world are getting smaller in the face of rising rents and costs. The sale price of these micros is not yet known, but a massive 12-square-meter (129-square-foot) apartment within Moscow's Ring Road is going for a cool 3.2 million rubles ($44,128). Russia has joined the list of the top 10 countries with increases in the growth of housing prices since the pandemic began. One article states that, for good health, every individual should have at least 33 square meters (355 square feet) to call their own. So, even if only one person shacks up in these micro-apartments... that's 24 square meters (258 square feet) too few. Is anyone else thinking about Raskolnikov's coffin of an apartment in Crime and Punishment right now?
• Every Russian, on average, throws out 440-450 kilograms (970-992 pounds) of trash every year. That's up from 250 kilograms (551 pounds) only 10 years ago. This brewing "environmental collapse" will hopefully be mitigated – ahem, by the next generation – via the Green School project operating in 3,000 schools in 40 regions across Russia.
• The year's most expensive wedding (in rubles anyway) was that of blogger Maria Solodar, held in Zambia, Africa, near Victoria Falls. The 300-million-ruble ($4.1 million) wedding was attended by 1990s boy band Ivanushki International, Artik & Asti, and the cast of musical Notre-Dame de Paris. The 30-year-old blogger married a 33-year-old French businessman. A team of about 200 Muscovites, plus about 70 guests, were flown to Africa on private planes for the wedding.
• Two Swedish women are looking for the Murmansk sailors who saved their lives 37 years ago. They were swept off to sea during a boat ride off of the Stockholm Archipelago in 1984. They were spotted by Soviet dry ship Dagestan of the Murmansk Shipping Company. One of the women is ready to make a documentary about their experience, which is why they are seeking the Russian sailors now. If you have any information... there is a number to call to get in contact with the rescued documentarian.