The evening before in the high-capacity car, more than an hour late, but this time not on the Deutsche Bahn network, but in the lightning-fast TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) on the high-speed route between Paris and Strasbourg.

Even before departure, the train attendant sang a lament in three languages ​​through the loudspeaker: he was alone, and he was traveling with two trainsets, so we had to wait until SNCF, the French state-owned railway company, joined him at least one other colleague.

Yes, it is not good for man to be alone.

At some point it starts, but even two train attendants on a journey with two trains is not much.

Especially if one of them continues intoning his song of suffering and lovesickness according to the circumstances.

After all, what do you do as a conductor with professional ethics when, on a wintry evening, after hours of waiting in front of the platform, a crowd of cold and starving passengers stormed into the warm wagons, but the restaurant cars on both parts of the train cannot be operated due to a lack of staff?

one dreams

Not from a better job, but from a better employer.

Many French people are currently doing this, but the polyglot train conductor in the empty TGV (Train à Grande Vacuité) suffers not only with himself, but also with his customers.

He explains to her in three languages ​​that no more bars will be open on the TGV Train à Grande Volupté, which has been upgraded with culinary delights, but he recommends making yourself comfortable in your seat, selecting the SNCF's generous free WiFi offer, then the homepage at any bar - and now dream the rest of the journey yourself.

O compassionate muse

O Muse, you eke out your existence as a French conductor on the TGV (Train à Grande Vanité)!

Sing on to me of the sweet dream sleep in the late high-speed train to Stuttgart, which only goes as far as Strasbourg, where I will be handed over from your hands, o compassionate muse, to the Deutsche Bahn, which, after three changes to regional trains, night trains and S-Bahn trains, will be five hours late reached the destination around two in the morning without any announcement, homepage, app or e-mail raising a knowing, let alone comforting voice, to report changing connection delays, train cancellations or timetable changes for a trip booked months ago.

And certainly not a voice of rank and sonority that of the long-suffering French train attendant on the TGV (Train à Grand Vaudeville), who, depending on the idiom he uses, can let the biting sarcasm of his native language turn into wild insults to the public ("Fuck you on this train"). .

He tells us to have nightmares.

The last dream of train travel that remains.