russian joke

In the car on the way back from Hanmer. The only photo in which I managed to capture the lovely afternoon light, which is the only reason why I am including it on here!
'Bridge' painted on the road on my Sunday morning walk - part of a 'one' 'lane' 'bridge' warning.
Outside the house we rented for the weekend.

I've been researching for another Soviet history essay, this time on why the reforms of Gorbachev led to the fall of the Soviet Union. I found this joke in one of the books - even if you have no idea who each leader is, it's still pretty funny, I think.

The five major figures of Soviet history were on a train together when it suddenly halted in a remote region where the tracks had abruptly stopped. What to do? Lenin was the first to speak, and in his revolutionary enthusiasm he issued a call for a voluntary day of work for local folk to extend the tracks. Stalin objected and ordered the leaders of the railroad ministry shot and the train engineer exiled to Siberia. The always exuberant and impulsively reformist Khrushchev had yet another idea: tear up the tracks behind the train and lay them in front and thus proceed to their destination. Brezhnev's contribution was to order the shades drawn while all the travellers rocked back and forth, pretending to move ahead. Finally it was Gorbachev's turn. The architect of glasnost had the windows thrown wide open and asked everyone to stick their heads out of the train and shout loudly, "There are no tracks! There are no tracks!" :)

Photos above: of our small group trip to Hanmer Springs a few weekends ago.