Morning Commute Observations

Traffic. Pollution. People waiting for marshutkas. People following the rules of road. People breaking them. Black smoke clouds billow from an ancient bus that lumbers down the road tilted a little to the right. Fender-benders with drivers squaring off, screaming into mobiles and gesticulating at one another. Major accidents see photos here. I passed this scene en route to work last Tuesday morning -- though after the bodies were removed.

Many interesting customs, bordering on superstitions, pervade Ukrainian society (per my exposure to it). Don't shake hands across a door entrance way. Don't speak about a baby before it's born, etc. One thing that is NOT apparently taboo is showing dead bodies in the media: T.V., in press, and online.

It is very strange seeing dead crash victims during my commutes. I've seen at least a dozen during the last few years. The pedestrian that was crossing a highway, at night, dressed in black (and drunk?). The two teenagers thrown 10 meters from their moped. T-shirts, no helmets, and lots of blood. Corpses trapped in cars with dutiful men from raytivnycha sluzhba using massive hand tools, "jaws of life", to rip sheet metal and get access to them. There's this instant dissociation that occurs in my head. Like I'm on a movie set. It's not real. They're actors. But they are not actors. They are real dead people I pass on my commute.