This was part of the Horlivka-Yenakiyevo agglomeration where our train arrived to. The train station:
I came here to physically support a poet in getting to her readings in cold and slippery winter Horlivka.
This was part of the Horlivka-Yenakiyevo agglomeration where our train arrived to. The train station:
A statue of Lenin was silver at the time, but it had sported other colors during its existence:
A classic LAZ bus was sporting as many as two logos of The Rolling Stones, but no music was playing inside:
I did not notice any separation between Mykytivka and Horlivka. Maybe the agglomeration members have already grown together completely.
— What is there to see in Horlivka? It is the industrial area and the living blocks where people sleep. Olexiy.
They weren't removing the snow from the roads in Horlivka these days, which had led to a complex micro-relief created by the tires and the warmth of the cars' underbellies. These cones of dirty ice were rather strong — I tried to break at least one with my boots but did not succeed, because the boots were definitely going to break first in this duel.
There were lots of LAZ buses (of LAZ-695 and ЛАЗ-695Н models). This bus is known for having an engine that was making it hot inside by the post-soviet horde. Hot engine was good, because the winter was a frosty one. Apart from these LAZes, there were PAZes of two models, usual trolleybuses and trams with unusual sliding one-piece doors. Ah, yes, I forgot about marshrutka buses of various sizes and forms.
We had to change buses on the way to our friend: from LAZ to PAZ. The PAZ bus got us inside the district of the living houses called (officially) the Sonyachny micro-district and (colloquially) «kvartal». «Sonyachny» means «sunny», and «kvartal» means «a block (of houses)». They were pronouncing it as «KVUH-rtal», stressing the first syllable. The Kvartal had parts: new and old. Newer and older houses, simple.
The Old kvartal had somewhat unusual buildings, and creating a nice impression. They were dark-gray with some slight tints of green or blue, having from two to nine stories. They were standing at a distance bigger than usual, and their walls had surfaces nicely seasoned by the elements. The colors combined well with the white of a nice, dry winter around us.
Cosmonaut Volkov street.
We've been blessed to witness the very edge of Kvartal. Malynycha street to the left and to the right, and the Cosmonaut Volkov street continues straight ahead into nowhere.
The Kvartal was big and consisted of only living houses and the space between them. It had named streets that were hard to distinguish from service lanes between the houses. It was often that I walked on a narrow empty access road and suddenly a bus appeared from behind a corner because it was actually a street.
One of my best photos comes from Kvartal. It may look abstract, but it was a completely real snow-covered tree near a yellow wall of a convenience shop.
The center of Horlivka unexpectedly for me had interesting buildings.
The doors of the teacher's house.
And inside that house: an old library index of cards was standing near the entrance, probably not used anymore.
Poets were reading poems, while I was just waiting here because it was noticeably cold outside.
I noticed swallow nests under some balcony near the teacher's house.
The days were short, and it was already dark when we came to the central square. The buildings here were having three or four stories. Unusually low. The two small towers visible on the photo were being called «the Athens» by the locals. Notice the PAZ bus making a turn to its left, having just one headlight.
There was a big screen standing on the square. The screen polluted the air with the advertisements and silly anecdotes to imitate that someone cared about anything else except the advertisement money.
Some of our friends were teaching in the Institute of foreign languages here in Horlivka. They smuggled us inside this educational institution that has a slightly non-trivial past: it has been moved here from Bila Tserkva in the 1950-ies. P.S. from the war-torn 2023: who effing knew that it would have to be moved from here yet again? It was under renovation and saving electricity to the max. We saw the English department looking as expected — pieces of linoleum torn off the floor, a twisted electrical wiring that required three people to turn a light-bulb on due to it losing the contact often, no hangers for clothes not belonging to the teachers, a heap of Samsung boomboxes, an old electric kettle near an old 13-inch CRT monitor. And some posters for the visual learners, of course, with this one being our favorite:
Let me show you the insides of one of buildings of a micro-district with the official name meaning «Sunny». Dear Cypress Hill, look how far in the world did your music reach (thank piracy). «Onyx → garbage». «This sun is shany brighty». Four basketballs and one NBA abbreviation in a place where NBA does not even exist.
It would be nice to visit again ang scout more. Preferably, when it is less cold.