Kholsmk in Winter

In port this time around, us four advisors decided that it was time to investigate the town of Kholmsk, to have a walk around during the day and to breathe in the atmosphere and ambiance found outside of the ports perimeter fence. Naturally we dressed up warmly, to cope with the estimated minus ten degrees suggested, and so with our company used coats on (with Prisco Swire Offshore vividly stamped on the back) and our fur-lined work boots we trudged to the gate on our adventure. We were debating a ten Roubles (20 pence) bus journey to Lenin Square (this gets you a one way trip into town on a minibus that belches black smoke) when Victor the ships First Engineer pulled up in his car (also belching black smoke). He offered to give us a lift; he was on his way to the hospital to sort out his son who had that day just broken his hand from an unfortunate slip on the ice.

Kholmsk used to be a fish town, a place where the boats came in and departed; loaded to the gunwales with recently caught wares! It's a little place, an extended village or small town that has all the necessary ingredients to be self-sufficient but only one of each as to make it extremely boring for those who want more in life! To look at this town in another way, it is basically the last point of civilization and the first defense against Japan, not to mention the fact that it is as far away as one can possibly want to get from Eastern Russia, the money and the civilized life of Russia!

This is an ex-fishing town that barely ticks over in the summer and that comes to a grinding halt in winter. A one-street thoroughfare that has little changed since Lenin first became possible statue material and the building of look-a-like Glaswegian council estates became the standard for all skylines for all Russians. The main road basically runs from the top of the hill and Lenin Square to the supply base at the bottom! A nautical college sits on top of the hill, next door to some state secrets that snuggle securely behind reams of offensive barbed wire and watchful towers, and the train goods yard at the bottom which is the only real exit to the wilderness and the angry bears beyond!

Walking around this one-horse town I wandered how I would describe it on paper and came to the conclusion that "a large open cast coal pit under week old snow" would be most apt. The roads are filthy, the snow having gained some distinctive black coloring either from the belching chimneys of the factories on the hills above or the decrepit ladas that chug and groan their way around town.

Derilict Buildings in Lenin Square
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

Lenin Square, the centre piece of Kholmsk looks very drab through winter. Two large, imposing and derelict buildings with unframed windows and bare concrete tend to give the large metal statue of Lenin a subtle hint - "time to look to the future, not the past mate"! A couple of smallish shops give edge to the other side of the square up; hard to tell what is inside them, but a heavy-handed push of the white-washed door creaked me inwards. Nice and warm inside, compared to the minus degrees outside. The shop was quite large and three or four extremely well dressed biddies were sitting by a small table amongst lots of tea-cups in various states of emptiness! Nobody jumped, nobody stirred and once I had seen that the whole shop revolved around fur hats, minks, soles and beaver animal based head and body wear I decided that it I would move on! The shop next door also gave no indication as to what was to be had within; the black exterior and the bars on the windows did not suggest that prams or perambulators of all shapes and sizes would be available for purchase (not the all singing, all dancing ones of Europe, but prehistoric ones with large wheels and one function; to navigate anything from liquor to babies through and over the potholes of kholmsk).

Lenin Square in Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

And that's Lenin Square, all downhill from there!

Generally shops are very hard to find in Kholmsk! Partly due to the weather, partly due to the fact that homes serve as shops and allot due to the fact that security is an issue (shops tend not to advertise their wares heavily)! Many shops are simple holes in the wall! Little hatches being used to reduce the space of contact to the cold outside; certainly they provide excellent security against the needy and desperate but for foreigner's window shopping is not on the agenda! Shops that have splashed out on a door have done so not for their customers happiness, it is simply impossible to fit such items like large perambulators through 10cm square serving hatch in one piece!

The Sole Shopping Mall in Kholsmk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

Further down the hill and towards the port area a shopping mall has just been built! Now, don't get excited, this is not quite the glitzy paradises that spring to mind, this is a simple two-story construction that houses nothing more than the basic necessities of life. On the ground floor there is one mobile phone shop, one pharmacist with some very dodgy looking and Victorian styled medicines, a toy-shop that has nothing more than one of a few of some very expensive imported toys, some clothes shops and a electronic store that leaves no choice of purchase (take it or leave it). Upstairs is the domain of the clothes shops; empty of customers and where the individual shopkeepers once again seemed to huddle around the tea-cups with no serious interest in make a sell! There was also one ornament shop on the top floor, another tribute to Queen Victoria and the porcelain that she may have drunk from, certainly nothing that I would have in my house but then owning this stuff gives nobility and class to those who can afford it. For 2000 Roubles, 87 us dollars or 45 UK pounds, one teacup and saucer can be bought, new, blue and with large swans on them! A mini-roulette table inside a world globe on a stand for 95,000 Roubles (3,500 Pounds) - I think not little miss dolled up lady!

Everything in Kholmsk is expensive except for the alcohol. A bottle of three-bear beer costs 47 Roubles (1 pound), a bottle of Vodka 200 (7 Pounds for a good quality one). Food is on the up and up with oil-drilling induced inflation causing prices to double yearly!

Once upon-a-time I was in a queue at this nightclub on the quayside in Newcastle, England. I had on my jeans, a pair of padded boots, about three T-shirts, a jumper and a large coat. I was standing amongst local girls with nothing more to wear than some extremely short miniskirts and tops that left nothing for the imagination. In Kholmsk and away from the "girls who do not shiver" I somehow expected that fashion would not play a leading role when sub-zero temperatures existed. For me the idea of wrapping up in multiple layers of any description downplayed the importance of looking good, but it seems that the citizens of Kholmsk would disagree with me view! Everybody dresses well, even the grandmothers in their best furs who are just out for a loaf of bread, the mate off the vessel Alex in his best suit with the distinctive badge of a Deep Sea Captain clearly displayed and he was just off for another bottle of vodka! To dress well is to show all around that one has class!

I have been told that inside the grey and drab houses were one room serves the whole family, life is not so good. What is important is how one is seen and what happens behind closed doors is of no import to life. People thus spend money on looks, on make-up and on clothes and come rain or shine they are going to look their best for all to see despite the fact that there is no bread on the table. Woman in high heels, long sharp points that give a good six inches to their height, clip smartly along iced-up and snowed over roads that will show no mercy should the wrong step be taken! Thin polyester ass-hugging excuses for a pair of trousers lead up to polka dot tops that have no insulation against the weather and finally to fur hats that are often left hanging, which is after all today's trend! The woman show class and they certainly have looks to be proud of, although their must be a queue at the sole hospital, frostbite here, broken ankles there!

Fruit and Veg Van in Kholmsk
Photo Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 2007

Looking around there is not much else to take note of. Two banks exist, both hidden behind non-descript doors and with cash machines inside that are non-accessible once the banks close their grayed steel barriers at 5pm. I'm positive that there must be hundreds of cobblers dotted around, to cope with the amazing number of high-heeled shoes that must get damaged, although I didn't see any. There must also be a few car-washes around as once white cars try to be black ones, maybe even a few shoe-washes as the seemingly favored white boots trudge home with black watermarks half-way up the leather. A few Russian looking vans, heated internally by wood-burning fires, serve customers fruits and vegetables through the customary little hatches, desperados wander the streets selling cigarettes from wooden trays and some lone entrepreneurs sell warm drinks and little bites from self-made fires but these are few and far between as the cold takes its toll!

Victor, the ships first engineer passed us as we were trudging back down the hill. He honked his horn and offered to take us the rest of the way. A welcome break from the slipping and sliding, the black stained boots and the dangers of road hogs who like to speed up when they see somebody crossing the road. His son is okay! This is not the first time that he has broken his wrist or some bone of his body and it won't be the last. In a town that has seen no change since Lenin first made his mark, where roadwork's and new buildings are a things of the past and with potholes and uneven surfaces cleverly hidden under inches of snow and ice, broken bones are an accepted annoyance of daily life!

Ieuan Dolby
Author and Webmaster of SeaDolby.com
Copyright © Ieuan Dolby, 18th January 2007