Gray, heavy clouds densely covered the sky over the city. Cold rain drizzled lightly all day, covering houses, streets, cars, and buses with moisture. Strong gusts of wind tore faded leaves from tree branches, bent the umbrellas of passers-by, and sent curls of women's hair flying in all directions. Street lighting mixed with the cloudy daylight, giving a twilight atmosphere. This was typical weather for London in early November.

The main streets were already lined with Christmas lights, flashing blue, green and light blue in precise sequence. Near shops, entrances to the metro, in shop windows stood brightly decorated with garlands and multi-colored balloons. artificial Christmas trees. The beautiful melodies of Christmas songs could be heard from the speakers along the streets. It was an ordinary Saturday, and the city was beginning to prepare for the New Year holidays.

Despite the unbearable weather, the center was crowded. Through the large windows of cozy, warm cafes, one could see spacious rooms with tables. The visitors sat over a cup of hot tea or coffee and talked peacefully. No one paid attention to the passers-by on the street, to the wind and light rain, which gradually intensified.

A woman was walking along one central street in London. She did not stand out from the crowd in any way; one might even say that she blended in with the grayness of the cloudy day and the passers-by who were hiding under umbrellas from the rain. There was nothing special about her that could attract a prying eye. No one noticed this woman, and she also did not notice those who passed by.

She walked slowly, but with a confident gait, tightly clutching her right hand a large black leather bag with a wide, full-length zipper.

The woman was dressed in a dark green coat, with a thin transparent raincoat with a hood thrown over it, which protected her from the wind and rain. Her face expressed fatigue, her dark brown hair was pulled up and pinned tightly at the back of her head in a bun. From under the coat peeked out a straight, black skirt to the middle of the knee, which touched the shins of the black leather boots on a solid sole.

The woman's name was Katherine Ray. She was returning home from work from another rich house, where she daily washed luxurious showers in the bathrooms and luxurious custom-made kitchen units. I wiped dust from expensive dressing tables with mother-of-pearl finishes in the bedrooms of the lucky owners.

In her bag she carried her work supplies: detergents, dusting spray, various sponges and synthetic towels for cleaning. Katherine had worked in wealthy houses for many years and took her work seriously, with a hard work ethic, and therefore always received good recommendations.

She was quite young, she had recently turned thirty-one, but she looked a little older than her years. She looked to be about thirty-five.

As usual, having finished cleaning a luxurious apartment in central London, Catherine returned to her home on the outskirts of the city. She lived in a typical apartment in a working-class neighborhood, furnished with ordinary, no-frills furniture bought in large shopping centers.

Paradoxically, Katherine never had time to tidy up own house. She had all her energy left for work and on the road. She had to spend an hour every day to get to the city center and an hour to get back. Therefore, there was no energy, no time, no desire left to create comfort in my apartment.

Katherine was married to a former classmate named Martin. They studied in parallel classes at school, but knew each other since childhood. After prom they started dating and soon got married. Two years later they had a boy. The young couple named their first child Peter. The baby grew up very well and obedient child without causing any problems to your parents.

In the first years of their marriage, Katherine was happy and tried to be loving wife and a caring mother, devoting herself completely to family and household chores, but over time economic problems began to accumulate more and more often. Caring for the family began to gradually take away personal space, turning family life into everyday routine. A wall of misunderstanding gradually grew between the spouses and soon, Sundays often began to end in quarrels, tears and resentments. The feeling of happiness inside Katherine melted like spring snow and in the end, she realized that the only joy for her in life was her beloved son.

Katherine's husband was a simple person, he did not know how and did not like to express his feelings and show concern. His behavior was ordinary, even a little primitive, without any frills or pleasant surprises. We can say that he loved his wife in his own way. He was not an ambitious person and had no desire to achieve anything more. Having a wife, a child, a permanent job with an open-ended contract and an apartment with a thirty-year mortgage was the limit of his life goals for him. He was quite happy with his daily routine. Every day he went to work at a factory that produced metal doors, and he usually spent the evening watching TV, clicking the remote control on all channels and sipping beer from a can. Usually, on Friday after work, he always got together with a group of friends at a nearby bar where he spent the whole evening. Martin’s life flowed in such a familiar and measured direction, which completely satisfied him.

Every time Katherine returned home from work, she already knew that she would see the familiar picture that she looked at year after year. Martin sits in front of the TV with a can of beer or a bag of crispy corn sticks and watches all the channels in a row, loudly commenting on political programs or laughing loudly at some stupid cartoon. Despite the fact that he was the same age as his wife, Martin still loved watching cartoons and was childish.

All attempts on Katherine's part to change their married life for the better ended in scandals. Soon she got tired of fighting and gave up. Their marriage continued its descent into the swamp of everyday life and the same everyday routine.

Katherine gave up on her appearance, stopped wearing makeup and following fashion. In the wardrobe stylish clothes was replaced by practical and discreet ones, high-heeled shoes were put into boxes and sent to the mezzanine, and in their place appeared comfortable shoes with solid soles. She completely stopped paying attention to what she looked like. Katherine completely switched to raising her son and fantasized about his brilliant future. Katherine wanted to see Peter as a fulfilled and happy man with a good, well-paid job, who could afford to live in the same rich houses that she cleans every day. She wished with all her heart that her son could escape from the working outskirts and God forbid if he suffered the same fate as his father.

The boy was very diligent. At school, teachers often praised him for his good studies and exemplary behavior, and for this Katherine was very proud of her son.

Several years ago she dreamed of a daughter, she really wanted to give Peter a charming sister, but Martin was categorically against a second child. He absolutely did not want to go through the whole nightmare that he experienced at the birth of his son, so he was motivated by the fact that their economic means would not support the maintenance of a newborn. He did not want to become a father for the second time; having a son was enough for him. Catherine's desire to experience maternal happiness again was also sucked into the everyday quagmire of married life.

On this Saturday afternoon, she walked, as usual, towards the metro. Today she had to clean the huge carpet in the hall by hand. She stood on all fours for four hours with a rag in her hands, and this position gave her a terrible back pain. Katherine wanted to quickly get home and rest a little while lying on her bed before starting to prepare dinner for her loved ones.

From afar, a red circle began to be visible, cut in half by the inscription “Underground”.

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Sentences containing "clouded"

We found 51 sentences containing the word "clouded". Also look at the synonyms for "clouded".
Meaning of the word

• The terrified public ran out into the street, thick black clouds of smoke clouded the whole sky.
• Soon gloomy, blue-black clouds, driven by the wind, clouded the whole sky.
• Napoleon's lucky star peeked out from behind the clouds, which for a moment clouded her, and began to shine again.
• Sky clouded gray clouds, from which summer rain drizzled from time to time.
• The sky and the horizon of consciousness clouded clouds of loss of consciousness, I was petrified, cooling down along with the cooling body of my wife.
• On the night of August 24-25, when the young queen was writhing in labor pains, the sky over Moscow clouded black clouds.
• Stadium veiled There was black smoke and panic began.
• Sky clouded heavy, dirty gray clouds, as if it did not want to see a ruthless war at sea.
• Although it was early morning, it seemed that it was twilight: dust and fumes clouded our positions.
• The spring sky suddenly clear in the morning clouded black clouds, and a snowstorm broke out, literally paralyzing city transport.
• But when only a short distance remained to the shore, all the clouded thick clouds of fog.
• Thick gray clouds of smoke came from the stove, rose to the ceiling, fell to the floor, clouded the whole room in a dense fog.
• Gradually the sky clouded clouds and a light rain began to fall.
• But the sky is again clouded clouds, and Goering gave the order to return.
• The mountains are already veiled There was thick fog, and at that time there were no reliable navigation instruments.
• Moscow veiled There was smoke from peat fires near Moscow, and leaving the city was very opportune.
• Weather conditions and the road also contributed to the accident. veiled There was thick fog.
• I think it's this mushroom veiled fog of World War II for America.
• Neighborhood veiled It was filled with thick dust that darkened the air and shortened the horizon to half a mile.
• He exhaled such an abundance of smoke from both nostrils that the dugout veiled It was like a bluish cloud right there.
• Sky veiled There were clouds all around, there was light rain, and sometimes quite heavy rain.
• Everything is smoke veiled Well, the dust was still thick.
• It rained all night and that's it veiled surrounded by fog.
• But we were lucky, it started to rain, the sky veiled cloudy, bad weather.
• Polygon structures veiled la dirty yellow smoke cloud.
• Sky over Moscow veiled there were thunderclouds.
• The battle had barely begun when everyone around veiled filled with impenetrable clouds of gunpowder smoke.
• There was a deafening explosion, and everyone around veiled filled with acrid smoke.
• First everything veiled It was foggy for a week, and then it started to rain.
• The clothes stuck, I had to cut off my face and chest veiled lo frost.
• Sky veiled full of smoke, it was difficult to understand whose planes were burning.
• All the sky veiled There was black smoke, and from afar it looked like a huge tower.
• The sky suddenly veiled There were clouds, lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and the first drops of rain pattered on the windowsill.
• However, after a while everything veiled There were clouds of gunpowder smoke, and no one could tell where they were and where they were.
• Bulach Imadutdinovich did not have time to finish his story when suddenly a strong, gusty wind blew, immediately veiled The sky was filled with black clouds.
• Sky veiled There are clouds, and the drive is three miles.
• Sky veiled It was overcast and cloudy.
• But soon the heavens veiled la silver haze.
• The air became gray, as if from dust, and motionless, the sky veiled surrounded by swirling darkness.
• I veiled him into the bedroom, and we fought with him for two hours.
• An hour after leaving the village, the weather began to deteriorate, the sky veiled There were clouds and a fine, drizzling rain began to fall.
• Sky veiled There were thick clouds, the river was dull gray, sad.
• The box of films burst into flames in a second, the whole apartment veiled filled with choking smoke.
• Two fuel tankers burst into flames and black smoke instantly veiled the whole sky.
• And then the day came when the sky veiled surrounded by heavy black clouds.
• It's like the sky veiled There was smoke, and the dim sun was visible through the gray veil.
• I began to visit Olga again, as before, but my youthful romanticism veiled There was a gray cloud of some doubts and suspicions.
• I have time to look out the window, the sky veiled Lo, thin streams flow down the glass, the rain is fine and fine.
• But the most amazing thing is that by four o'clock the sky again veiled It was cloudy and the rain started to pour down in earnest.
• Sky veiled There were small but frequent clouds, due to which at times the golden crescent of the month appeared.
• Murmansk veiled There were multi-tiered clouds.

Source – introductory fragments of books from liters.

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Fantastic story “The Mystery of an Unusual Planet”

I sat at the table and looked blankly out the window. A slanting light rain had been drizzling since the morning. Gray clouds covered the sky. There was no sun. Both this grayness and this rain irritated me. There was no mood. Old neighbors are standing on the street under an umbrella. Why don’t they stay at home in such bad weather?

Today the class announced that at 3 o'clock there will be a cleanup day, we will plant the school area with shrub seedlings. He's always coming up with something. I decided: I won’t go to the cleanup, let those who need it come...

At home I didn’t know what to do with myself: I didn’t like to read, I don’t remember when I watched TV... but here’s the computer! I could sit at it for hours and not notice the time: I was playing. No one in the class could compare with me in computer games. I always came out victorious...

And suddenly I remembered: today Zhenya Ugolkov brought a disk to class, and we all called him Ugol. He always had new items and brought them to us. I couldn’t afford to have new items often, I didn’t have a father, my mother worked and earned extra money so that Varka (that’s my sister’s name, she’s 12, she studies at the same school as me) could somehow get by.

I rummaged in my backpack and found the disk.

Now I’ll play, although my mother told me to go to the store for milk and bread before she returns from work.

I glanced at my watch: half past three...I'll make it.

I installed the disk.

But what is it? This is not a game, some kind of nonsense.

I was about to turn off the computer when the title interested me. "The Secret of the Dead Planet."

There was nothing to do anyway. Again, probably monsters... But no, I saw the city on the screen. The trees seemed to be similar to ours, but somehow different. The cars are kind of wonderful, but the people, people! I looked at what was happening and couldn’t believe my eyes: could this really happen? Bright flowers in flower beds, smooth paths and roads.

We didn’t have this on Earth.

The trees were green only in the spring, and then they lost color and became yellow, but not like in the paintings of artists, but dirty yellow, you couldn’t breathe from the exhaust fumes of passing cars. The doctor said that there is little greenery in the city. Varka’s mother often took her to see a doctor; he advised her to move to the village. But there were no relatives there.

But here it was completely different. Clean water in fountains. Bright flowers in flower beds. It was so quiet that I thought I had gone deaf. No, it was the silence of the city. Cars were driving, you couldn't hear them. Here are elderly people sitting on a bench and talking quietly. A little boy came running with a toy in his hand. But what is it? I noticed how unusually people behaved. They talked and laughed, but their faces remained impenetrable. Cold eyes, I didn’t see warmth or participation in them. I didn't understand anything. One of the old ladies noticed me. I said hello and was surprised. I don't usually say hello. She tried to smile at me. She gave off a cold feeling and did not feel kindness or sympathy. Her appearance frightened me even more. Not tall. Face without age wrinkles. The eyes had some kind of elongated shape. No eyelids. She looked at me and didn't blink. My feet were rooted to the ground. I couldn't move. She also noticed that I was somehow different. I looked at her and thought with horror what would happen next. And then nothing happened. We just looked at each other. And suddenly she smiled, or maybe I imagined it? With a glance she invited me to sit next to her. She took something out of an unusual bag. She was holding a mirror in her hands, so I thought. But suddenly it lit up and I saw pictures. One replaced the other. At first the pictures were light and colorful.

I saw something familiar: people, rivers, fields, roads, houses. And although I didn’t recognize the area, I was pleased with what I saw. The fear has passed. I looked further. The color of the pictures changed. The image became darker and darker and became black in color. There was nothing familiar anymore. Trees, flowers, animals, birds gradually disappeared. The real, living thing has been replaced by the artificial. I suddenly realized: the old woman was holding an electronic photo album in her hands. It contained material from her family. He looked at the screen more carefully and attentively. Photos of a dead planet. Everything is artificial: plants, animals, birds and, worst of all, people. Suddenly a gray kitten approached.

Well, at least something alive! The hand reached out to stroke him…. She instantly pulled away from him: he, too, was not real.

I'm alone here! What to do?

Suddenly the front door slammed. I woke up. It's mom back from work! So what happened to me? It doesn't matter. It is important that I ran to the cleanup, thinking that let bugs and cockroaches, butterflies and grasshoppers, tigers and vipers live, let everyone live, because on a round planet there is a place for everyone in the world!

Tunisian events began with red flags and self-immolations

http://nikolaysolo.livejournal.com/634220.html

Two years ago. Gray clouds clouded the sky over Carthage

In connection with the second anniversary of the events that began on December 17, 2010 and went down in history as the “Arab Spring,” we bring to your attention an excerpt from N. Sologubovsky’s new book “ Fourteen days that shook Tunisia" Publishing house Klyuch-S.

He witnessed these events from the very first day...

Gray clouds clouded the sky over Carthage

Since December 17, 2010, Tunisia has been restless. The riots that began in the center of the country spread to other cities, including the capital. The police were forced to use weapons against the rioters. There are dead.

President Ben Ali addressed his first message to the people. A number of ministers, including the Minister of Internal Affairs, were removed from their posts.

On January 11, 2011, in the evening, President Ben Ali again addressed the people and announced on television that he was convening a National Conference to jointly develop a National Program for overcoming the crisis. He called on Tunisian citizens, all political parties and public organizations not to succumb to provocations, “to unite against violence, unrest, acts of destruction and to support the State in the face of an isolated minority that is looting and setting fire to public and private property.”

On January 12, troops were brought into the capital and a curfew was declared due to street riots.

But the demonstrations did not stop. There have been clashes again in different cities, there is destruction, looting and destruction of personal and public property. And the saddest thing: the demonstrations led to the death and suffering of both ordinary Tunisians and Tunisian police officers who were trying to contain the rioters.

What was the spark for the popular uprisings?

Suicide on December 17 of a 26-year-old unemployed teacher in the small town of Sidi Bouzid in the center of the country (265 km south of the capital). To feed his family, he sold greens and fruits. Driven to despair, he doused himself with gasoline and lit a torch on the square in front of the city hall. A few days later the whole country was on fire.

Why did a young man, educated, brought up in the spirit of Bourguiba’s ideas, decide to take such a step?

My Tunisian friend says: “He was unemployed. He sold greens without a license. The police approached him and told him not to trade. He objected: “How should I live? I have children. You have to earn something...” His pitiful goods were confiscated. And the policewoman hit him in the face. This is a terrible insult to a man. And out of desperation, he took a can of gasoline, doused himself and set it on fire... His name is Mohamed Bouazizi. At the end of December, this suicide was followed by several more suicides of unemployed people. Thousands of people took to the streets of Sidi Bouzid, and then other cities, to protest against living conditions. And then the pogroms began, the looting of stores, the burning of cars. The police were forced to use weapons to disperse the thieves.”

With each passing day in December, a wave of protests swept through one city after another. But there were no unrest in the tourist coastal areas, including Hammamet.

Problems of Tunisia

What are the reasons for the population's dissatisfaction? In the first place is unemployment, especially among young people who have received an education. Then - inflation, high cost of living, corruption and arbitrariness of officials. Tunisians condemn nepotism and excessive enrichment of some individuals, including members of the president's family, his wife and the Trabelsi clan. They also talk about infringements of democracy and freedom of speech.

As you can see, the problems that not only Tunisia faces are the same ones that can cause serious unrest in other countries. Problems that have been hushed up for a long time, driven into a corner, and not resolved. But sooner or later social problems make themselves known. And most often in the form of spontaneous street performances. And when people take to the streets, provocateurs always take advantage of it.

What happens when the police are forced to do nothing?

This is what happened at the Hammamet resort and what events I had to witness...

On the evening of January 12, the first clashes began on the central street of Hammamet. To disperse the crowd, the police used weapons. There were wounded and killed. The crowd dispersed.

On the morning of January 13, the forces of order were ordered to strictly guard the resort areas of Hammamet, and the city itself was left... without police. By mid-day the center was already in the hands of the rioters. Groups of young people acted in an organized manner; their actions showed good preparation: first the streets leading to the center were blocked with barricades, then the police station, the representative office of the ruling party, banks, the villa of one of the relatives of the president’s family, and the main stores were attacked. The security bars of boutiques and shops were broken into quickly, using trucks and chains. Everything was looted: boxes of canned food, alcohol, cigarettes, spaghetti, other products, as well as motorcycles, including four-wheeled Cads, were stolen. The raging “boys” also set fire to the analysis laboratory, equipped with the latest medical technology...

The attackers were armed with bottles of flammable liquid of the Molotov cocktail type: these bottles were prepared quickly, from plastic bottles, which were filled with diesel fuel, and then wicks were inserted. Looted stores were set on fire, and columns of black smoke rose into the sky.

Arriving military units opened fire in the air and used tear gas...

And even then, as it got dark, I saw from the roof of my house - and the roofs in Hammamet are flat, made like terraces - how the young men were rushing around the neighboring blocks in stolen "Kads", having fun and trying... even to sell stolen goods, including and alcohol... My friends also told me about this “trade”...

Pillars of doom continued to rise towards the darkening sky...

No tourists were injured...

In the evening, our friends reported that the tension had subsided after the television speech of President Ben Ali, the third in these days... He said what sensible Tunisians expected from him. And the measures proposed by the president, which he pledged to implement, were met with approval. As well as his phrase that “everything that happened these days in Tunisia is completely unusual for Tunisians.”

Tunisians, including young people, once again took to the night streets of the capital to express their support for the President of Tunisia.

Freedom? Equality? Dignity?

All these days, Western television channels continued to broadcast images of clashes between Tunisian youth and police and army units. With sympathy for the pogromists. Particularly interesting were the statements from the screen by angry young men that it was... “the police themselves” who “set fire” to cars, “robbed” stores, “threw stones at each other”... A lot of people shouted against the backdrop of burning buildings about human rights, freedoms and democracy. On January 13, Tunisian television, official and controlled by the authorities, broadcast remarks from Tunisians outraged by these pogroms: “Rights? Do they want the rights to destroy, set fire and steal? No, it won't work. Democracy? And who will now pay for all this destruction? People!"

These days one could often hear from those Tunisians who were eagerly shown on Western channels that they wanted “freedom, equality, dignity.” That they do not want to live “under the heel of a dictator”, in a “totalitarian state”.

Islamists?

In the Euronews reports about “police atrocities” in Tunisia and the condemnation by the “world community” of the “excessive” use of force by the Tunisian authorities, not a word was said that Al-Qaeda called on Tunisians for armed struggle until the overthrow of the democratic system and the establishment of power in Tunisia Islamists. My friend’s opinion on this matter: “No, these calls are not for us. Yes, there is great dissatisfaction. But the demands are simple: lower prices, provide jobs... And there is nothing in common between us and the Islamists.”

(to be continued)