I guess I am old fashion because I find one to one communication to be so much better than by electronic ways.
If you have ever traveled Russia by train you will experience hundreds and hundreds of kilometers that are electronic-less vacuums in space. You are in a cocoon that is sealed to the outside world and you must deal with who is inside or as in many cases not deal with who is trapped with you.
This particular trip to Ukraine, 7 guys gathered together out of protection as much as communication. For you see there was only 7 guys on this particular train car and the rest was packed to the brim with women. There are about 50 some places on this car and do the math and realize that us men were out numbered. So survival meant gather as a pack and protect each others backs. Seems strange that this was a natural thing to do by us men. The women did not like the seats near the toilet and we made a deal to allow us to sit there and talk about important guy things…
This was a social network in real time and not electronics. There was men from France, Spain, Britain, Ukraine, Italy and America. Two from Ukraine so that makes 7 guys trying to stay out of all the womens way.
So have be it, we all spoke English as a common language. Some of course spoke better English than others. But we all could communicate and that is what counted…
To not go into another story that I will write, I will say that we had a group of intellects that traveled allot so they understood the world better than many people. We covered a lot of territory both by train and by conversation. I will write another post about our conversation later in the next few days.
To end this story in a sad note:
One of the Ukraine guys named Yuri was a Freemason in Ukraine. I had gotten to know him the best of the group. He was born in Russia and was 56 years old. He moved to Ukraine when the Soviet Union collapsed. He offered me a drink of Scotch Whiskey. I turned him down like I turned down all the others. I explained that I have had 6 heart attacks and had to quit drinking and smoking. He thought a minute and said, “I proud of you. I could not tell her NO! You can.” Then I will remember these words very clearly. He said,”Scotch will probably be her who kill me. I wonder is there Scotch Whiskey in Heaven?”
One of the guys said a toast to Yuri’s words and I joined them with my fruit juice I was drinking. I sat in silence for a few minutes because I have an uncanny ability to feel when bad things are going to happen. It is what allowed me to survive several years in a war situation. Yuri got a strange look on his face and he asked me to go with him while he smoked. We talked a little more and Yuri said he does not feel good. I helped him back to his seat and went and got a steward. The next large town a group of medics came on board and I could tell that it was not good. Yuri was very blue in color…
They helped him walk off the train and as he passed me he stopped and grabbed my hand. He said, “See us in Heaven!” with a weak voice. I said in response, “I will!”
The train was very quiet after that and a few more minutes at the next stop. Almost all the women on the train had gotten off. They had been on a shopping trip to Moscow and were home. Us men went back to our correct seats and got ready for bed. At this stop the steward came back through and told us that Yuri had died, before he even was able to leave the previous station.
So Yuri, I will be looking for you when I arrive on my train trip to heaven. I wonder, is there Scotch Whiskey in heaven…
Windows to Russia!