Ustynivka (photos)

Over winter, spring and summer I took quite a few photos of the urban-type settlement of Ustynivka. I posted them on Panoramio, marking the coordinates of what was captured, and in spring the satellite imagery of the area finally got updated. Some of it can already be seen in Google Earth, some will appear with the next map update, and a small part, I think, will be confirmed and start showing up in a couple of months.

I picked the publication time on purpose — after all, seventeen years of independence and democracy, you can look back at how it was. Some of the photos make it pretty clear just what kind of years these were and what they brought, and that's only part of the village.

What follows in this entry is most of the posted photos, with descriptions and comments on them; the order at the start is roughly chronological, but after that all the shots follow the order in which they were taken, not counting the panorama at the end. Let's begin…

A forty-five-year-old linden, a younger chestnut in front of it; the photo also shows the gates and the wicket gate with characters from a couple of Disney cartoons.

Also a not-so-young pear tree in bloom; the photos were taken in early May.

The former pig farm; the buildings have stood empty for several years now and there are no watchmen around. No pigs, no rats either — it was fun when, on entering a building, they would run around and hide. The new building was never even put into operation, though it was fully fitted out with equipment. Right now it's sealed up, but I doubt anything would be found there if it were opened.

The former butter-and-cheese dairy plant. All the metal and equipment was hauled out and sold off. Only the walls remain, which are gradually crumbling and being carried away piece by piece. Locals now sell their milk to buyers who come in from other towns.

I shot it from a long distance with optical zoom, so the quality isn't great.

An old building, one that as recently as ten years ago was a primary school (grades one through three). It's a sad thing to look at — I studied in it for three years and got an excellent basic education, the kind that, as it turned out later, the town schools didn't always give. Even the windows of my classroom are bricked up now, so you can't see what's inside (ground floor, on the right).

The brand-new, handsome building of the District Employment Center, built next to the park of the half-ruined former primary school — it makes a fine contrast.

The local "White House," the administration building; on the roof stands an antenna of one of the mobile operators — I wonder, is it like that everywhere?

A tank monument. "Erected in honor of the military units of the Third Ukrainian Front that liberated the Ustynivka district from the German-fascist invaders. March 1944."

The cinema, again just the building. No, nothing blew up in it — it's simply falling apart with the passage of time, since no one looks after it. And yet, back when I was still in kindergarten, our group was taken to it to watch cartoons…

The House of Culture. Which, besides the assembly hall, houses a library, a museum, and a clothing store. It's an important building for the district — celebrations are held in it or next to it.

The department store. The building stands and is partly still in use.

The new bakery; the building also holds a shop where you can buy fresh "Armenian" bread.

Part of the post office building, and there's some shop in here too…

The outpatient clinic of the central district hospital. The doctors who work here grow fewer with each passing year — some retire, others move away, young doctors appear rarely and don't stay long… And some have worked here for almost 50 years and keep on working, having already been on a pension for 17 years, treating people for a pittance and a kind word, which isn't always said; there are those who show their gratitude materially too, in the form of sweets or other groceries, but it doesn't come even close to what doctors in the cities get from their patients.

Secondary School No. 1. The building is relatively new; I was in it only briefly, just when we were moved there to study a couple of times over the winter because there was no heating in the old building. The only thing I remember is a classroom, as I recall, with constellations on the ceiling.

The school sports ground. Still fairly well preserved, not handed over for scrap metal. Only the shooting range, it seems, is no longer there, though it didn't make it into the shot.

A shop. At one time it still sold auto parts, but that section has long been closed. As it is, it's the nearest place where you can buy beer or ice cream.

The football field. It looks like no one's played on it in a while, judging by the crossbar of the nearest goal. They usually hold various celebrations next to it in the summer, and there can be football matches too. I think by August 24th they got it into proper shape.

The southern entrance to Ustynivka, and right here too there's a stop for the buses passing through that don't pull into the bus station.

The sign at the entrance. It was replaced recently, a standard factory-made marker was put up, but the old one, made by hand, looked good too.

Two water towers. Among the few new things to have appeared in recent years.

The former airfield. And yet I still remember how the crop dusters used to fly over the yard in the evenings — the runway is barely over a kilometer away. And low-flying helicopters were occasionally seen too.

In the foreground a shelterbelt, which hasn't been fully cut down for firewood yet. In the distance you can see the Kryvyi Rih Mining and Processing Plant for oxidized ores near Dolynska, which was almost built but never finished — independence arrived. If it's ever started up, there'll be no unemployment in the nearest districts — and no clean environment left either…

I shot it from the remains of the Ustynivka airfield.

The runway, or rather, its remains. I didn't find it on the first try — I had to go back to the road embankment and look from there for the point where the surfacing begins.

There was once an asphalt plant here. Only the embankment and pits remain, one of which holds a bit of tar that cows get stuck in if the herdsmen don't do their job.

There used to be the district council and the district children's library here; I was signed up at the library, borrowed books and went to the reading room after school, ehh…

The recently rebuilt main bridge over the river, yet another of the things that have gotten better in recent years.

The radio tower of the District Power Networks. They say it's leaning, though it's not particularly noticeable.

The feed mill. I don't know what it's properly called after going into private ownership.

Finally, a circular panorama from beyond the vegetable gardens; I made it automatically with the bundled software, so in places the stitching is a bit crooked.