While I was preparing to post this picture, some more trees lost their leaves so this view looks a bit different now. But it's not a subject of my today's post.

As you might know, buildings in Russia are warmed by central heating system. It means that there is a 'boiling station' that heats water, then issued hot steam is distributed in the neighbourhood. There is a set of radiators in every building (as a rule, one radiator in each room) which is communicated to the boiling station.
On the one hand, such system is very convenient for residents and saves significant amount of city money. On the other hand, 'end users' don't have any control over heating: the can not turn it On/Off, nor regulate the temperature.
'Heating season' officially starts on October, 15th (or when average day temperature is below +8C for 5 days in a row), and once heating is ON it keeps working till spring. Likewise, in early May (or when day temperature is over certain value for 5 days) the heating get turned off till autumn.
As a result we often freeze when September or May are unususlly cold, and suffer of heat when October or April are surprisingly warm, save cases when radiator overheat a room or don't provide sufficient warmth. That is why those who can afford it install air-conditioning units capable of both heating and cooling, most recently built office buildings are equiped with such systems.
As for living accomodations, we had few extremely uncomfortable weeks back in September, but thankfully the heating was turned on last Friday.