Good things should not be lost! Soviet drunks were ready to lick vodka from the asphalt

Blogger Vyacheslav Kaporin published on the page "I don't like it in the USSR" a recollection on an extremely relevant topic in Soviet times: general drunkenness:

“An acquaintance worked as a driver at a motor depot. There were outfits every day, different loads were transported. He worked on a ZIL-130 truck. Today I drove the boards, tomorrow groceries ... Every day there is something new. And so, he had a flight to the winery! Come, loaded up. And there the local boss says - well, guys (the driver and the forwarder were paired), let's get a container, we'll pour you some wine!

And containers as luck would have it - no !!! Generally! No bottle, no canister, no bucket. Nothing at all. The situation is disastrous. Well, how can one not get hold of wine for free?

And then it dawned on my friend! Shouts to the forwarder - we drain the water from the motor! He immediately understood everything. In those days, there were no antifreezes, water was poured into the cooling system. They drained the water, and instead of it, they pumped in the wine. And this, by the way, ZIL will have 28 liters. And upon arrival at the base, they drained the wine from the cooling system and threw a feast for the whole team. How people lived - not like the current tribe! .. "

For readers who are not familiar with the alcoholic realities of Soviet times, an explanation should be made. This is, of course, not about dry wine, but about cheap fortified swill, which the drunks themselves called affectionately: "port bag" (it had nothing to do with port, except that it had nothing to do with it), "mumble" or "shmurdyak"...

This story has caused massive responses from readers. And this is not surprising: perhaps there is no such man who lived in the Soviet Union who would not personally observe or hear something like that from friends. The same Kaporin remembered another story that happened in his native Mytishchi, in the winter, around 1978-1979:

“At that time, interruptions with alcohol were already beginning: vodka, the one that was running - Stolichnaya, Pshenichnaya - was not on sale every day. And they gave it 5 bottles per hand ...

I watched this story with my own eyes. Having defended a considerable line in the cold, a wrinkled-looking little man wandered along the road from the store, popularly called "BAM". It was packed in full: two bottles in the outer pockets of the coat, two in the inner ones. He carries the fifth bottle in shaking hands.

However, it is slippery outside - winter! Slipping, a man with a helpless cry - "Ah, ... !!!" - falls. The bottle flies out of hand and breaks, and underfoot is a snowy mess. And what do I see ... The man, continuing to swear exquisitely, deftly throws aside the broken bottle... And begins to devour the dirty snow soaked in vodka with incredible speed. To say that I, an eighth-grader, was shocked - to say nothing ... "

And here are some more stories of this kind:

- There was a similar story. In his younger years (early 80s) he worked as a loader, unloaded wagons. Everyone drank then, but Vitya was a real pro in this. One day Vitya enters the dressing room satisfied with a bottle of vodka. And then he drops it, and half a liter breaks - the floor is tiled, hard. Eh, muddler !! General disapproval. Vitya immediately lies down on the floor, pushes the glass shards aside with his hand - and begins to lick off the spilled vodka. They all went nuts.

- In Zaporozhye, on a radio device for soldering top-secret boards, they gave out 200 grams of pure alcohol. But so that people would not use it, they were forced to immediately dissolve 3-5 grams of rosin in it. Everything seems to hurt, but one is drunk by the end of the shift! They thought they would bring it with them, but no, they spooked it - clean! On distribution he throws rosin into alcohol, and by the end he is drunk! Until someone checked his rosin ... It wasn’t hardened resin, it was CARAMEL! Stupidly he made candy out of sugar, threw it into alcohol and smoked it for health!