The story of the ferryman Gediminas: I did a good job, but I lost two screws and I appeared here Life

The Padaliai-Čiobiškis ferry is the only electrically powered cable car in Lithuania, which does not have motors or oars; It is supported by a strong steel rope and the current of the River Neris carries it to the other shore.

By the way, Gediminas himself is a “product” of the national heritage; this is how it is written in the national heritage product certificate.

“Around 2011, a craftsman took the ferry. He tells me: after all, you are also a craftsman. And he offered to fill out a form to obtain a certificate of national heritage. It turns out that it is not so simple, because I have to show that the activity – in 100 years, many documents were needed.

I remember filling out the form in the evening and the next morning at eight o’clock the phone rang. Ministry calls. And do people still say that officials work poorly? The boatman laughed.

G. Dzeventauskas presented the documents, but the certificate template did not contain a sentence about the service provider, but only about the product: “I don’t know how it is now, but then there was no traditional service provider, only producers – baking, weave, sound. The Ministry was very pleased that I had become the sole provider. And in the place of the certificate where the product is named, the ferry was entered. ‘

The load was pulled by horses and had to be pushed by hand.

The history of the ferry is special and is told in the documentary “Ferry”.

It began in 1935, and until then the two banks of the river were connected by a bridge: “It was built during the year of the tsar. In the beginning, a road was being built and people were digging by hand because there was no equipment. They made a ruble a day, and that was fantastic money. When the bridge began to be built, the First World War broke out. The Germans completed the construction of one side of the bridge.

I don’t know when the bridge was demolished, but it is said that President Smetona came here with the engineers and it was a great event. The bridge began to be demolished because it was in a state of emergency ”.

But people were used to traveling from one shore to another. Then, Gediminas’ grandfather and a friend, asking for a loan of three thousand litas, came up with an adventure: to make a transfer.

The first ferry was made in Jonava, because nowhere could you find a carpenter, not all carpenters could build boats of this size.

“Its dimensions were quite large: 10 meters long, 3 meters wide. The closest place was Jonava, where a man had a ferry and carpentry workshops,” says G. Dzeventauskas in the film.

Once the ferry was done, another challenge awaited him: bring it in. The decision was made to transport it both by water and by land. The load was drawn by horses and had to be pushed by hand. The ferry was also used during the First World War, in the interwar period. Later it was “loaned” by the collective farm.

On the other shore – most beautiful girls

“There has always been a need for a ferry as a means of transportation. And he did that role for many years. In the past, a lot of people lived here, so the communication issue was relevant, ”said the ferry.

The ferry was also used by young people of that time, because, laughs Gediminas, there were more beautiful girls on the other shore. And you also had to catch a ferry to go to the dances.

While most people come here now for entertainment, there are people for whom this ferry is a reminder of their youth.

By the way, a mirror of a rotating circle of life: now the ferry moves most people and cars on a special day: November 1.

While most people come here now for entertainment, there are people for whom this ferry is a reminder of their youth. They then tell Gediminas stories of how in the morning, returning from dancing, they took the ferry without telling anyone.

“Did it look like another ferry? Everything in Kaunas went well “

We speak to Gediminas on the ferry itself, floating peacefully on the river. “We will be in customs immediately, do not fear. Tikrins. There the district of Širvintos, here Kaišiadorys”, – smiles the ferry in the middle of the river, which is the connection between the two districts.

– Gediminas, how did you become a boatman and why do you continue the traditions of your grandfather and your father?

– I lost two screws and showed up here. After all, a normal person cannot appear here. He had a high paying job in Kaunas, he worked in the entertainment business. We built a house, my wife worked as a teacher. Did it look like another ferry? Everything went well in Kaunas.

And suddenly it’s time … You know, sometimes we get the wrong idea. It seems that man will live forever. Hurt someone? It will pass and the mirror will lie. Nobody expects a sudden change.

But in our family, that change took place and it took place. My father suffered a stroke. He supervised the ferry, and had an employee like him already in the century.

Then I hit everything and got to town. My wife and I had a little conflict. In fact, can a normal person do it? Most likely, a couple of stray lightning bolts exploded somewhere. Well, that’s how I stayed here the whole time.

– And the wife?

– Then the wife came. He also quit his job. And now we have no other idea.

– When did the fullness and the feeling that this is your place come into your life?

– Later, when the wife arrived. One is sad here. When we settled in here, we realized that we had done the right thing.

– But naturally and the income fell after leaving the job?

– Yes. But the needs have also decreased. We realized that we didn’t need that much. We live here from March to November, then we return to Kaunas.

– Your business here – just a ferry?

– No, there is still kayak rental, camping, jacuzzi. By the way, looking at the shore, where is the barn? That’s right, those boards are next to the bridge built by the tsar. Grandpa bought them and built a barn.

And we settle here little by little, little by little. Now that the children have grown up, there is not much need. Not only are the few euros that people pay for the ferry important, but more importantly, they leave a good feeling. And their surprise when they first come … There are about 60 percent of first-time visitors.

Things are here. When we arrive in March, preparations begin. You have to paint the ferry, tidy it up, and then push it into the water. After that, the piers are built, a rope must be stretched across the river. Only then does the navigation begin, the first customers arrive.

At the beginning of the season you are full of illusion, longed for. Fantastic. And at the end of the summer, the batteries are running low. Sometimes it’s psychologically depressing that you can’t get anywhere. It happens that children change for a short time.

When you see people’s emotions, you realize: after all, this is the last ferry of its kind left.

When people ask how the ferry works at the end of the summer, I think to myself: Man, you have no idea how many times I’ve said this in the summer. For everyone.

Although there is a description, that is why people come, to hear something live. Can’t drive, see movie. But that experience, the conversation is important. That’s why I say it.

When you see people’s emotions, you realize: after all, this is the last ferry of its kind left. If I don’t want to, no one will force me to push it into the water if I think that’s it, there will be no ferry.

But emotions keep me moving. You get the moral satisfaction you need.

– How much has the ferry changed since it was?

– Completely renovated. The boards, when you see the need, need to be replaced, and the metal shuttle itself was renovated in 2010. All new bottom is weldable, neat. It was once sanded, black, and now painted with modern classical paint; there is a difference.

How without motor? How does it fly sideways?

– Gediminas, it would seem strange. The ferry is simple and without any intricate stuff. Why does that simplicity leave so much emotion, why does it surprise people?

– You know, I raised a historian. He said this technology is over 3,000 years old. This method was discovered in the time of the pharaohs. That was later confirmed to me by another historian, so maybe it’s true.

People are used to having telephones, electric cars, cameras, applications on their phone. Nobody delves into how it works. Because it’s interesting because everything is in the thousands. And here it comes, and there is nothing. Absolutely nothing. A rope and a floating ferry How without motor? How does it fly sideways? This is the most intriguing.

The simpler a thing is, the more it is forgotten, the greater the miracle.

– When did you learn to drive or operate a ferry yourself?

– When we bought back from the collective farm at an auction. He was an enthusiast then, going to the ministries looking for ways to get it back. It was as if a moral right of first refusal existed, but it no longer existed because the collective farm had held a closed auction.

I bought the ferry anyway, my dad and I restored it. It was abandoned, rusted, without swimming for two seasons. We started sailing around 1991, my father from Monday to Friday and I on the weekends. And in 2010 he suffered a stroke.

– And this place – also your childhood?

– Here, with my grandparents, it was only episodic in the summers. When my grandfather died, I was 10 years old.

Without seeing the water you will miss it

– What is life on the riverbank and how does the river affect people?

– My wife and I often have coffee, sit on the river bank or on the ferry. Let us accompany the sun. We look at the water and we say to ourselves: what will we see here again?

But you look at the water that is alive. The river has a certain appeal. There are Eastern philosophies that the river takes away all the evil, it cleanses you from within, that in the cities the river flows to cleanse the city. There are all kinds of theories.

A river is quite different from a lake. Here is the eternal movement. It can certainly be said that it is alive. It carries sand, processes develop, the water falls and rises again, the fish migrate, salmon of impressive size jump out of the water. Unreal.

Once I was sailing from the other shore, my wife and dog went for a walk. I swim and see his facial expression change. As the eyes grow. It was night, the sun was setting and she was pointing her finger at me. Says: ar matei? The fish’s back began to slide out of the water and did not end there. Salmon, in the language of the fishermen, made the exit. Beautifull.

When we return to Kaunas, we also take a walk through the Nemunas. The river sticks, and not just me. Without seeing the water you miss it.