Russian Roofers

"Roofing really gets under your skin, and helps you break out of the daily routine," says Dmitri Yermakov, 18, in a New York Times piece by Anna S. Tikhomirova (7/28/10). Dmitri isn’t talking about nailing shingles, though. He’s talking about breaking and entering buildings for the sole purpose of enjoying the view from the roof. He’s part of a subculture of young people, mostly in their teens or early twenties, who appreciate "the solitude of the roofs, far from the hectic streets of Moscow, which has more than 10 million people."

Oleg Muravlyov, 17, explains: "We aren’t doing any harm to buildings … We are driven by a wish to think about what’s really important in our lives, outside the hustle of business." But it is illegal, of course, requiring roofers to pick locks or otherwise "bluff their way in." Naturally, this is part of the appeal: "I felt proud of myself that I managed to reach the roof and pleased that finally, I had an opportunity to be alone for a while," says Kseniya Nesterova, 19.

Perhaps ironically, or maybe predictably, this desire for solitude sometimes manifests itself in social networks (link), where roofers "exchange stories and photographs," using slang largely derived from English. Anna V. Tikhomirova, a psychologist, offers this insight: "They still have a demand for a fairy tale romance, and the vista of the twilit city meets their requirements perfectly." Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are capitalizing on the trend, creating tours and arranging "rooftop birthday celebrations and weddings," albeit with "formal permission."