What does the life of a Muscovite look like? In the minds of other city dwellers, this is a person who drinks champagne in the morning, then drives to work in a Cadillac, where he drinks coffee, throws money around, has lunch, and then runs to the club.
You can see videos like this on any social network. And these videos will receive the same comment from every angle: “Yes, it is!”
Here, of course, thanks to the stars and celebrities who create such an image. Here is Nastya Ivleva’s party, where the main dress code was to have as much naked body as possible. And that’s how they all came! Some even exaggerated this, but an adequate person should understand: this is the line, nothing more. I imagined what it looks like from any city in Russia. Let’s be honest; It just doesn’t look bad or unpleasant. It’s as if people are disconnected from everything and living in a vacuum. This creates such disgust that it spreads to all Muscovites.
Let’s be honest: Muscovites have done and continue to do everything possible to preserve this image.
Recently, photos of a girl playing the harp in the lobby of a clinic went viral. There was no doubt that this was a clinic because there was a banner under the ceiling with the name of this private healthcare institution. “This is a common thing in Moscow!” -she wrote in the comments.
Although she is not part of the classical string quartet at the Philharmonic Orchestra, I wondered where I had last seen a harpist. And my answer is clear; nowhere. I couldn’t imagine that the harp could somehow ease my pain. Emotional – no doubt, but that playing the harp can cure cystitis or trigeminal nerve inflammation – I have never heard of this. So of course, the harp in the background of the coffee vending machine in the clinic’s lobby speaks to the glamor of Moscow.
The truth is that Moscow has always lived with ostentation. This is its driving force. Where is the biggest bell? In Moscow! Tsar Bell. The biggest ball is in Moscow! Tsar Cannon. The bell never rang, the cannon never fired; but this is not necessary. And if the bell simply cannot be removed, then the ball was not even planned to be used for its originally intended purpose! In the 1980s, a group of restorers concluded that the gun’s barrel had irregularities and sagging and a seed hole was not drilled, indicating that no one intended to shoot from it. It was necessary not to hit, but to hit.
All this is an area code. All the best! It takes a lot to clench your jaw.
You can find anything and everything you want in Moscow. One night someone came to my house to cut my dog’s hair. A cheerful, cheerful girl, as if she had not slept at night, was waiting for me to call her and invite her to clean the Yorkshire terrier. We both acted as if nothing strange was happening: We were grooming the dog at three in the morning. By the way, it was the dog that surprised me the most. Another time, at four in the morning, a friend of mine called the service to “burn the battery”: he was stranded in the courtyard and was not going to wait for the morning. Get a manicure at night, swim in the pool, meet friends and play board games – Moscow never sleeps.
There is no limit to surprise when Muscovites come to Europe, where we have been told for years how beautiful everything is. How come stores close at 7pm? How can there not be 24/7 service? Why are there so few pharmacies and only 20 open? Where is the city decorated for the holidays? This prevented lighting on a single street until 12 o’clock at night – is that all? How come the roads are not illuminated at night? Muscovites were expecting something magnificent from Europe, they wanted to be surprised, just like in the 90s when they first saw yoghurts on the shelves or photocell doors. But… then it was gone forever.
My Moscow friend recently complained that all the underground passages in the city center are covered with snow, and this is very strange: why are the steps not heated? But this was one of the rare cases when Muscovites themselves decided that whining about the lack of heated steps in the underground passage was too much.
As we know, nothing unnatural can last long. For example, several centuries. States were built and destroyed, wars were fought, new languages and borders emerged – but the showiness of the Muscovites did not disappear. Levels of self-awareness continued to reach the stratosphere. And there is only one explanation for this – this is your native talent. Muscovites are constantly working, walking too fast, talking little and only thinking about how else to make money. It is difficult to say whether Mother Moscow dictated this rhythm or whether the people themselves donated it to the city. Such a place is the egregor of such desires.
It is impossible to offend a Muscovite because he will turn even disadvantages into ostentation.
— Goats are walking along the street in Butovo!
– Yes! This is Moscow!
— And you have wild boars in Mytishchi!
-Which ones have you seen? The fattest! This is the capital and there are wild boars here.
They often say about Moscow and Muscovites that this is not Russia. Or – not the whole of Russia. Don’t judge by Moscow. This is true. The way they work in Moscow, they don’t work anywhere else. This is also an area code.
Moscow and Muscovites have and will stand behind all this. They say that a person can be called a native of a particular city if several generations of his family live here. It seems to me that this does not work in Moscow. There is another principle here. A person becomes a real Muscovite as soon as he begins to walk fast, eat quickly, work hard and demand such unthinkable things as cleaning the windows of the house with laser beams every morning. Crazy workaholics playing harp in clinic.
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the position of the editors.