Rivethnoexp. Part VI. Marx, Engels, Saratov, Kamyshin
August Two kinds of buoys exist in Russia: metal and wood. They even have different names. Almost no wood ones are left at this point, practically all the ones you see are metal. Buoys are a kind of sea mark, used mainly to delineate the edges of a channel (although there are also all sorts of special ones—"pass around the south side of this marker," for example). Their meaning is easy to remember. Buoys placed along the left-hand side of the channel going downstream are green or black or white. They’re cone-shaped, so they look like the letter Λ (or Λ or Λ)—the equivalent of L, for “left.” The ones on the right-hand side are red. They resemble a barrel, or the Russian letter П (the equivalent of P), which is the first letter of the word for “right” (praviy). This mnemonic only applies to Russian rivers—in Oceania, for example, everything is exactly the opposite. MarxMapImmediately clear. ![]() The most normal name. ![]() Volga River Bank Street The current street name is set in a modern typeface, the pre-revolutionary one in Fraktur type. ![]() Lenin Avenue (Stepnaya), (Waterfront) Communist Some of the buildings have rather tacky plaques with brief summaries of their history. ![]() This building was erected in the 19th century. The architectural style can be defined as eclecticism. Former mansion of the merchant Kerner A masterpiece of municipal creativity: plaques with the names of World War II veterans on the buildings where the veterans live. ![]() Vasiliy Leontyevich Myshlyaev, veteran of the Great Patriotic War, resides in this building Giant trash cans hang from the street posts. ![]() Traffic signs are mounted on poles so sturdy they could withstand a collision with a dump truck. ![]() In general, the city is very quiet, unremarkable and calm. There are many pleasant, almost rural streets and some occasional surprises, like this magnificent specimen of a gate which once belonged to a well-off farmer. ![]() EngelsMapNot immediately clear. ![]() Engels Not clear at all. The United Russia party symbol—a bear—has somehow been turned into a bull with a bowl of rice on its back. ![]() Together, we will win! Engels, Pokrovsk We’re open. Who are “we”? ![]() We’re open! Someone here can assist you in calling the police. ![]() Attention! If you are the victim of a crime, someone here can assist you in calling the police Bill payment kiosks are on every corner. ![]() Bill payments. 0% Commission The Avert Trouble Campaign takes place on the 17th of every month from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Please do not disturb on other days. ![]()
Save kids from drugs! The Avert Trouble Campaign takes place on the 17th of every month from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. We urge, you, to join our campaign. If you know where drugs are sold, if your child is in trouble, if you’re tortured by doubt and suspicion, call this number: Pixel art. ![]() Peace in outer space Engels is remarkably unremarkable. ![]() It’s great for loading and unloading scrap metal. But all normal life takes place on the other side of the Volga, in Saratov. ![]() SaratovMapSomeone decided that there weren’t quite as “many golden lights on the streets of Saratov” as the 1950s hit movie song claimed, so they put up some golden lampposts to fix that. ![]() Payphones. ![]() Almost all the trash cans in the city are two-tiered: cigarette butts go in the top, paper (or rather, everything else—where would one find so much paper?) in the bottom. ![]() Cigarettes, paper An old lightbox with the street’s name has miraculously survived on the wall. ![]() Kirov Avenue A real rarity—a 1980s Soyuzpechat (the USSR periodicals distribution agency) newsstand. The last time I saw one of these was in Yerevan. ![]() Newspapers. Soyuzpechat A street vendor selling drinks. ![]() Kvas, lemonade A cry from the heart. ![]() Baby, you’re going to be mine no matter what An unbelievably handsome logo. I’m sure that MPP Saratovgorelectrotrans has absolutely no idea what a rare beauty it owns. ![]() MPP Saratovgorelectrotrans The banks of the Volga in these parts are deserted and beautiful. ![]() Beautiful and deserted. ![]() KamyshinMapWe can see the kamysh (bulrush) growing in the foreground. What people usually call kamysh (long green stalks with a soft brown cylinder-shaped thing at the end) is actually rogoz, or cattail. ![]() Panel apartment buildings look slightly less depressing on the cliffs of the Volga. ![]() Kamyshin is a very pleasant place. No one’s taking care of it, of course. There obviously used to be wrought-iron gates here, not slab wood, but even so, the beauty of olden times shines through. ![]() Oh, to have been here a hundred years ago. ![]() Even as recently as the 1950s, people still found the time and energy to make beautiful things. How else could this wonderful logo have appeared on a street cabinet with phone wires? ![]() Ministry of Communications of the USSR. Factory No. 11. Then everything got worse: ![]() And today it’s just as bad as everywhere else: ![]() A mural calls for the preservation of Kamyshin’s traditions. ![]() Kamyshinians! Let us preserve the city’s traditions! So what are these traditions, exactly? Wooden outhouses on the main street? ![]() Trash dumpsters? ![]() The trash can? ![]() Fat little green men? ![]() Free Wi-Fi at the community cultural center? ![]()
Free Wi-Fi Internet access. June A special Kamyshin decorative technique, which looks like missing tiles, applied to some of the windows in Khrushchev apartment blocks? ![]() Spitting Distance brand sunflower seeds? ![]() Spitting Distance Roasted Sunflower Seeds, Spitting Distance Peanuts, Spitting Distance Roasted & Salted Pistachios An anti-drug bus display created by a designer who was clearly high? ![]() Municipal targeted program STOP DRUG. The youth of Kamyshin against drugs! A special taxi boarding area? ![]() Taxi boarding area All of the above are, of course, Kamyshin traditions. But there are even more important traditions here. And they’re the ones which should be preserved. The installation of multiple storm drain grates in one place. ![]() Surviving wooden additions to stone houses. ![]() A piece of paper with the name of the contracted security company in every shop window. ![]() Protected by Rosichi Private Security Company A staircase list of key stops on the side of buses and shuttles. ![]() 5th Residential Development, City Market, Train Station, Lenin St., Victory, Thermal Power Plant Still legible insurance plaques from Gosstrakh (the USSR state insurance agency). ![]() A lovingly restored Northern Insurance Company plaque. ![]() Northern Large blue boards with bus schedules. The times on them are hand-painted; outdated information is covered up with blue paint. A woman who came to remove a time from the schedule asked me to help her reach the top line. I’m proud to have lent a hand to one of the important Kamyshin traditions. ![]() * * * Test: on which side of the navigable channel is a buoy like this installed? ![]() By the way, every buoy has to have at least one seagull sitting on it. If you don’t see one, it’s only because it’s been scared away by an observer. Test: what kind of buoy did this seagull just forfeit? ![]() |
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july–august
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august 2011
Rivethnoexp. Part VI. Marx, Engels, Saratov, Kamyshin
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