LJUDI IZ KAMNJA

The countdown has begun: 52 minutes to go before the military parade begins on Red Square. Heavy aircraft laden with a special substance roll onto the runway and prepare to disperse any clouds in the skies outside Moscow by means of a potent mixture of liquid nitrogen, dry ice and cement type 440. This targeted deployment of chemicals keeps thunderstorms away from the city – an infallible recipe for good weather on national holidays.

In a village near Moscow, however, it’s raining cats and dogs. A television crew arrives to shoot a report about the mysterious quirks of nature...