Looking around.
I note a well-dressed Russian middle-aged man with a well-groomed beard, apparently on a business trip with some colleagues.
From his trendy backpack dangles a reflex in the form of the Moomin role.
To me, he suddenly appears as a representative of a generation of Russians who have become accustomed to traveling freely and embracing the free world.
Who, like the entire post-Soviet population, has a relationship with the word war, but who probably gratefully considered himself to be spared.
He reminds me of my friends in Moscow.
They all love the Moomin role and Tove Jansson.
They have traveled a lot in recent years, eaten and drank well and their children have grown up without hardships with great freedom of choice.
Many people try to avoid news
Before I left, I tried to plant plans to be seen somewhere this summer, but my friends they looked at me silently.
In the end, someone said what everyone thinks: “It is not certain that we will be able to travel abroad for that long, Elin.
We might be locked in here.
You may continue to keep our borders closed to us and we may not be released from here. "
And I remember hearing people joking about exit visas, or how some have started whispering about using opportunities to obtain other citizenships, most of them in Israel.
Someone has succeeded in giving their child a second citizenship thanks to one parent having roots in another country.
My friends have not watched the state-controlled propaganda TV channels for many years.
Many people try to avoid news at all as much as possible.
Many have or are striving to leave the city and move outside the country.
A couple has taken their children out of school, they do not want their children to receive a "patriotic" upbringing, instead they teach them at home.
Compare Putin with Voldemort
My friends no longer believe that actions can change anything.
Elections are manipulated, demonstrations and protests (including one-man variants) are punishable by imprisonment.
A like or a comment on social media can result in jail.
They feel fear, helplessness and anger, but the emotions are too shaky to let go, too great to put into words in an everyday conversation.
And no one mentions Putin by name anymore.
Earlier, people joked and compared him to Voldemort, the ruler of darkness in Harry Potter.
Nowadays, most people say "he that one", or you are quiet, point upwards and roll your eyes a little.
When darkness descends and there is no Harry Potter nearby, a small moomin role is a welcome reminder of a safer world where there is room for completely different kinds of worries and thoughts about life.