Beautiful Sunday at the fountain

There is one almost mathematical law that I constantly observe in the life around me. It can be formulated roughly as follows: the desire to be active is inversely proportional to the temperature outside. Indeed, as soon as the thermometer crosses the wide line marking 30°C, any desire to go, walk or move almost disappears - unless, of course, we are talking about moving to the nearest body of water.

The ideal, of course, is to move to the shore of the sea or lake. But when there is a need to stay in the city on hot days, you can move to the fountain. If you bring a laptop or a book and a bottle of lemonade, you can settle down for a long time near the fountain. In recent years, many fountains have been repaired in the city, and there are more places for a pleasant summer relaxation.

The fountain in the Alexeevsky Garden is located opposite the garden facade of the palace of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich. The huge granite bowl of the fountain appeared in the garden simultaneously with the construction of the palace, in 1885. According to the memories of contemporaries, the new romantic style garden and the fountain opposite the terrace made a strong impression. But for a long time there was no way to verify this claim. One hundred years was a serious age for the fountain, at the end of the 20th century the fountain was not working - only the bowl was preserved, the water system was destroyed.

The fountain was restored ten years ago. First, a fence appeared around the granite bowl, noise was heard from behind the fence, dust flew... and then one morning the fence evaporated and we could see the fountain working. Since then, this is one of the favorite places to relax in hot weather for the residents of the district.

The fountain on English Avenue, on the other hand, is quite young. I remember the whole history of its appearance. At first there were no fountains in this small garden. It was an ordinary public garden with a playground and benches for rest. For the first time the fountain in the center of the square appeared in 2003 - but it was an improvement, made hastily, from short-lived materials. The fountain did not work for long, maybe two or three years. After another breakdown it was not restored and for some time it decorated the public garden and entertained tourists as an unidentified art object.

Last year, during one of the hottest times of the summer, repairs were made in this public garden and the fountain was restored. I won't vouch for the accuracy of the diagnosis, but the old fountain bowl seemed to be made of plastic. By the time the repair work began, it looked frankly pathetic and needed to be replaced. Restoration of the fountain required complete replacement of all parts - both visible and hidden. The new granite bowl looks much more beautiful and reliable.