Payeer

Huge Unknown World
Articles about notable places, phenomena, events, adventures, meetings, activities, travels
№2


How to ride a train and learn a lot about life at the same time



Электричка  Электричка у перрона

Drivingidea.ru LogoArrow If you live in Moscow, but never use commuter trains, then a whole world full of thrills is passing you by.

The most democratic form of transport

Indeed, one only has to travel from Kazansky railway station to Sovkhoz station or at least from Ostankino platform to Levoberezhnaya, and life will become much more interesting, and you will immediately feel the romance of long journeys. Traveling without tickets seems especially tempting, which seems to be a completely real option.

In №1 I already wrote about a summer trip by commuter train, but I did not mention the kind inspectors who allowed me to travel from Trofimovo station to Bronnitsy for free. In response to the words that in "this remote village of Trofimovo there is not even a ticket office on the platform," a mustachioed man in a uniform shirt asked briefly: "Where are you going?" "To Bronnitsy," I answered. "You'll get there today," he said, already heading for the doors to the vestibule.

The fickle fortune of a fare dodger

If the controller you are unlucky enough to meet does not look kind, but on the contrary, looks intently into the eyes, knowing full well what you are about to say to him, then do not waste time on conversations, but brazenly walk past him into the vestibule. There you will be harder to catch, and they may not even ask you about the reasons for your modest solitude or being in a huge crowd of the same inveterate hares. Another way to escape from the "contra" is to move in the same direction as it, about a car ahead.

In winter, this is not very easy to do, because the trains are shortened, and the road may soon end. In this case, there will be nothing left except for bold oncoming traffic with a terribly busy look, shouts about the hard life without controllers, and even evacuation from the "dangerous" train. It happens that a policeman goes with the controller, who sometimes understands other people's financial problems, and sometimes - according to rumors - not so much. It is advisable not to tempt fate and get off this train, if such an opportunity still remains.

The real danger of ending up behind bars

Using a rather unobtrusive ticket checking system, many of my college friends would go for a walk on weekends and holidays to St. Petersburg, Vladimir and other volosts, the names of which awaken a craving for distant travels. At the same time, poor students, according to them, managed to cover hundreds of kilometers without paying a single kopeck. Of course, this is profitable and tempting, but quite troublesome. For example, at some transfer station on the way to St. Petersburg you have to sit waiting for a train from ten to three o'clock.

In addition, according to such lovers of free romantic voyages, the police in the provinces are not as lenient and democratic as in the Moscow region, as a result of which one "pilgrim" spent a day in prison, returning to the southern capital from the northern one. By the way, electric trains are often called "dogs", and so you shouldn't be surprised to hear that someone is going to Kursk on "dogs".

Mobile winter shelter for the homeless

The charm of these "sled dogs" is their immediate proximity to the broad masses of people. Electric trains are probably the most "public" form of transport in the world. You can see a bank employee saving money for a car and a seasoned homeless person there. By the way, where do they come from in such numbers? It's simply amazing: in almost every carriage, especially on evening trains, you can meet not only a lone homeless person, but also a whole group of vagabonds who are all going somewhere and going somewhere - I was even surprised at their businesslike manner. Then, of course, it became clear that they all simply live in commuter trains, because it is warmer there than in the January frost.

Sometimes, by the way, you come across some rather interesting individuals who go out into the vestibule to talk to people or start broadcasting right from their seats. So, one shorty, not yet old, who, however, looked eighty years old from his life, somehow even very sensibly reasoned about life, joked, asked for a cigarette. Then, when he approached the people and heard the demand to keep his distance, he replied that he had nowhere to go except to the cemetery. In confirmation of his words, he coughed wildly, and a long mucus jumped out of his throat.

Not at all Gorky's "Bottom"

Strangely enough, homeless people, especially in their own companies, are practically never discouraged and, if they don't sleep the whole way, they often do something. For example, they carefully look for bottles or celebrate their free life by drinking vodka. Yes, almost all of these people consume alcohol in huge quantities. This is the real bottom of society, completely different from what Gorky described in the play, which was thoroughly read at school. I remember that at one time I had to write an essay on the topic "Is humanism useful in Luka's understanding?" four times.

The first version was rejected by the literature teacher, the second was lost on the desk of the class teacher, who also later angrily exposed my mistakes. The third was rejected by relatives who interfered with the process of academic creativity, and the fourth, written with their active participation, was successfully passed with 5/4 for content and literacy, respectively.

Actors of the free theater

The main attraction of the green "dogs" are the ubiquitous merchants, who are sometimes ready to praise their goods for half an hour in a half-empty carriage. Even seeing complete inattention to their person, these people stubbornly continue to tell and show, taking out of their bags more and more lighters, books, shampoos, and some kind of useless scrapers with a super-strong handle.

For just one active speech, sometimes lasting up to five minutes, you want to give the air sellers a ruble or two. It is especially interesting to watch how they wait for a competitor who is half a step ahead of them to speak, and prepare to surprise the "esteemed passengers" with the next achievement of the shadow economy. Drivingidea.ru LogoArrow

Electric train  Electric trainRailroad


Driving Idea
Go to the list of numbers  Go to the main page

Volet PromoBanner



In "Huge Unknown World" newspaper you can also read the following articles:

How I Rented an...
Gas, Internet and MTV
"Hitchhiking is when you go out..."
Chastity in Korean, or How...
Sect
Don't trust the psychic
The rich woman and the poor woman
How I looked for a job
Punks in Piccadilly Circus
Ask, or we are not from here
A poet in Russia is more than a poet...
Are the red balls in the night sky patrol probes...
Silver Ponds (or Filthy Swamps)


Privacy Policy (notification of users about cookies)

Check icon-1   Thanks for the background picture to Алексей Чижов from Pixabay   Check icon-2