Chernobyl, Ukraine.
The same size as Luxembourg and including 800 towns and villages, the exclusion zone created to contain the Chernobyl reaction explosion is vast, to say the least. I visited this huge site in June 2019 on the search for hand dryers before the looming deadline for my book was staring me down. I figured there might be relics from bathrooms in the swimming pool or in the football stadium. The problem with these tours is you have zero time to mooch. You are whisked from place to place, often with the suggestion of trespass which must surely be a ruse to heighten the excitement, as if any more were needed while you’re zooming across the largest disaster in human history. I tried in vain to run into every bathroom but they were just husks with scars of cubicles on the walls. The swimming pool had unexpectantly filled with lockers, which presumable had fallen like dominoes at some point and blocked the entrance. Imagine the sound of that if you’d been near that when it happened, surely they were pushed. The only hand dryer I successfully found was in the canteen, a perfectly symmetrical building with ladies and gents in identical positions but on opposite sides of the building. I did however manage to find a phone booth. It was tucked into the corner of the supermarket, a supermarket which was the very first in the Soviet Union. Quite a claim isn’t it? Alas, the tour did not stop so I couldn’t secure the target but I’ve emailed the tour company since and they have told me they know of 4 phone booths in the exclusion zone and are happy to help me find more. A journey I am very happy to take.
The same size as Luxembourg and including 800 towns and villages, the exclusion zone created to contain the Chernobyl reaction explosion is vast, to say the least. I visited this huge site in June 2019 on the search for hand dryers before the looming deadline for my book was staring me down. I figured there might be relics from bathrooms in the swimming pool or in the football stadium. The problem with these tours is you have zero time to mooch. You are whisked from place to place, often with the suggestion of trespass which must surely be a ruse to heighten the excitement, as if any more were needed while you’re zooming across the largest disaster in human history. I tried in vain to run into every bathroom but they were just husks with scars of cubicles on the walls. The swimming pool had unexpectantly filled with lockers, which presumable had fallen like dominoes at some point and blocked the entrance. Imagine the sound of that if you’d been near that when it happened, surely they were pushed. The only hand dryer I successfully found was in the canteen, a perfectly symmetrical building with ladies and gents in identical positions but on opposite sides of the building. I did however manage to find a phone booth. It was tucked into the corner of the supermarket, a supermarket which was the very first in the Soviet Union. Quite a claim isn’t it? Alas, the tour did not stop so I couldn’t secure the target but I’ve emailed the tour company since and they have told me they know of 4 phone booths in the exclusion zone and are happy to help me find more. A journey I am very happy to take.