Jim O’Brien: How getting my free travel card made me feel like War and Peace nobility
I will arise and go with Charlie’s card in my back pocket
‘The freedom of the road is one of the few perks that comes with onset of venerability — a real consolation when everything else is being dragged to a sag by the force of gravity’ . Image: Getty
As a teenager I read War and Peace. One of the things I remember about the lives of the Russian nobility as portrayed in Tolstoy’s classic novel is the importance placed on the celebration of ‘name days’.
Like in Ireland, Russian children were called after the saints, and one’s name day coincided with the feast day of the saint whose name you carried. It was far more important than your birthday.
