"We bow before the fallen. but arm yourselves with patience." These consoling words were offered up by officials from the ArtsakhGas Company to Nina Arustumyan, the widow of Vladimir (Vladik), who was killed in the Karabakh war. This woman, a mother of four has a lot of patience, if nothing else. For two years now that she has patiently gazed at the gas pipeline that stops fifty meters from her house, as she pays for far more expensive fuel. Vladik began building this house in the town of Martuni in Nagorno Karabakh in 1989, after returning to Karabakh from Yerevan. Nina and her daughters had to finish the construction work, after Vladimir died a hero in May 1994 in Martakert - just three days before the cease-fire was signed. A Military Cross of the First Degree and a pair of binoculars are all that he left his youngest daughter, who he never lived to see.

Two years ago when the gas supply was restored to Arzumanyan Street in Martuni, it became clear that the last three houses on the street, including the widow's, were excluded from the project; the ArtsakhGas Company lacked the necessary fifty meters of pipe. Nina Arustamyan periodically went to Stepanakert and asked the company managers to connect the pipeline to her house; she even offered to supply some pipes herself. In response she got letters from ArtsakhGas assuring her that the memory of the fallen heroes was very dear to the company's managers. But their feelings towards the heroes don't keep Nina and her children warm during the winter. For that they have to buy fuel every year.

ArtsakhGas State CJSC has an office in Martuni, and the company's representative there has calculated that the laying the pipes will cost 60,000 drams. An additional 20,000 drams will be needed for the installation of a gas meter. Nina Arustamyan is willing to pay 20,000 drams, but she cannot and willnot pay the remaining 60,000, since no one else on Arzumanyan Street had to pay for laying the pipeline.

After the most recent meeting at the ArtsakhGas headquarters, Nina found out that the company's Martuni representative had exaggerated the volume of work necessary and concealed the fact that Nina has old pipe that can be used. Every time Nina comes back from Stepanakert, they send yet another gas man out to her house to take yet another measurement. And Nina starts saving up to buy fuel for the coming winter.