A man in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don has been filmed riding through the streets on a custom built wooden platform equipped with a sofa, a small table and a floor lamp.
The unusual journey was captured on video and brought to public attention by a local news channel on the Telegram messaging app, Privet-Rostov.ru news of Rostov-on-Don.
The footage shows the rider dressed in a cowboy hat while comfortably seated on the sofa. The makeshift vehicle is constructed on a wheeled wooden base. In addition to the seating and the lamp, an object closely resembling a computer monitor or a small liquid crystal display television is mounted at the front of the platform, just ahead of the table.
Car manufacturer mocked
The person who originally recorded the footage joked that there was nothing unusual about the scene on the street, describing the rider's comfort level as being at its maximum. They added that AvtoVAZ, Russia's largest and most famous car manufacturer, would be in shock at the homemade invention.
AvtoVAZ is the state-owned company responsible for producing the Lada brand of vehicles, which have been a dominant staple of Russian motoring since the Soviet era. Rostov-on-Don, where the sofa ride took place, is a major administrative, cultural and transport hub located on the Don River with over one million residents.
The author of the Telegram post that shared the video remarked that the scene looked like the result of a highly successful life in retirement.
Similar incident in Moscow
Telegram operates as one of the most popular messaging and social media platforms in Russia. It is heavily used by local news outlets, bloggers and everyday residents to rapidly share videos of unusual incidents, road traffic events and daily life across the country.
The sighting in Rostov-on-Don follows a similar automotive incident that occurred in the Russian capital. Residents of Zhulebino, a sprawling residential district located in the southeastern suburbs of Moscow, were previously filmed staging a ride through their neighbourhood on a motorised sofa cart.
