Good morning, Tashkent!
New bus-lane cameras, a plan to reduce greenhouse emissions, and a place to record a podcast for free. News from 13 October and five events for 14–15 October
Another warm afternoon
It’s Wednesday, 14 October
Uzhydromet forecasts partly cloudy skies with no rain: +22…+24°C during the day and +12…+14°C at night. An easterly wind will blow at 3–8 m/s
Now for what happened in the city on Tuesday
Cameras arrive on the bus lanes
Cameras have been installed in both directions along six kilometres of Fargona Yuli Street. They monitor the lanes marked “A”, which ordinary cars may not use between 06:00 and 23:00
When cars fill those lanes, buses get stuck in the same traffic as everyone else. The cameras are meant to help keep the way clear. Tashkent’s Traffic Management Centre says enforcement is gradually being introduced on other streets too
A plan to cut smoke from greenhouses
As autumn gets colder and the wind drops, emissions from greenhouses can linger over Tashkent. On 13 October, new proposals for greenhouses in the city and five neighbouring districts were presented to the president
Those burning solid fuel would have to switch by 1 December to gas, electricity, solar or geothermal energy, or recovered heat from power stations. An exception is proposed for farms meeting strict conditions, including automatic boilers, emissions treatment, enclosed fuel storage and safe ash collection
The plan also calls for continuous monitoring from 15 October to 15 March. Sensor and camera data would feed into the environmental authority’s system. Greenhouses using prohibited fuel or exceeding emissions limits could have their operations suspended
When your hot-water bill looks wrong
You haven’t sent a meter reading for a while, but the amount on your bill keeps growing. Veolia has explained how it recalculates the charges
Without a new reading, it bills you using average monthly consumption. Once you submit one, it works out how much water you used since the previous reading and adjusts the charges
Each corrected month is charged at the tariff that applied at the time. You can check your charges and payments in your Veolia online account
This can be useful after a long trip away: the estimate may differ quite a bit from the water you actually used
Where to record a podcast for free
The Republican Children’s Library has a studio for podcasts, interviews, audio stories and video voiceovers. Staff can help with recording and setting up the equipment
It’s for non-commercial educational and creative projects. Sessions last 50 minutes, with one project per month, for ages eight and up
Apply on the library’s website. A manager will contact you within ten working days to arrange a time, so this is something to plan ahead
You can also just go to the library to read. It’s open to children and adults every day, from 10:00 to 21:00
14 October: getting to know modern art
At CCA, Rohini Iyengar Vadapalli will explore how Western painting changed from Impressionism to Abstract Expressionism. The talk is in English, so it’s also a chance to practise the language
Time: 14 October, 18:00
Price: free, registration required
Location
14 October: Verdiana and The Carnival of the Animals
The Navoi Theatre pairs Alexey Shor’s Verdiana, inspired by Verdi’s operas, with Camille Saint-Saëns’s The Carnival of the Animals
Saint-Saëns’s menagerie includes a graceful swan, slow-moving tortoises and busy hens. The instruments bring their movements and sounds to life — see which animals you can recognise
Time: 14 October, 19:00
Price: from UZS 77,000, ages 12+
Location
15 October: an ikat festival at Human House
A reminder from our last edition: Human House hosts the Zero Waste Fashion Festival tomorrow. Designers will show ways to cut fabric that leave as little waste as possible
A craft market runs from 11:00 to 20:00. The Ikat Connection project presentation starts at 18:00, followed by a fashion show at 19:00. The participants will explain how they turned a length of ikat into their garments
Drop in during the day or head over for the show after work
Time: 15 October, 11:00–20:00; fashion show at 19:00
Price: free
Location
15 October: a chance to speak French
Alliance Française is holding a conversation club with Camille. All levels are welcome, whether you’re just starting out or looking for more practice
If you’ve only been using French in a phone app, this is a chance to try it in a conversation with other people
Time: 15 October, 18:30
Price: free admission
Location
15 October: Bach with a chamber orchestra
The Young Talents chamber orchestra brings BACH: New Vision to the conservatory. The programme includes orchestral arrangements of preludes and fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier and Bach’s F-minor concerto
There’s music by other Baroque composers too: Handel, Albinoni and Vivaldi. From Vivaldi, they’ve chosen Summer from The Four Seasons: it begins in the sweltering heat and ends in a summer thunderstorm
Time: 15 October, 19:00
Price: from UZS 66,000, ages 6+
Location
Your tazik is ready
That’s all for today. Claim your tazik and tell us what caught your eye: a concert, the art talk, the conversation club or the ikat festival?
Know a good place or an event we should cover? Leave it in the comments and we’ll take a look for a future edition
Have a good Wednesday, Tashkent!