People have become boring
An interview with villager Anna Yegorovna
On a frigid January morning, village co-conspirator Ekaterina knocked on Anna Yegorovna’s door and asked for an impromptu interview.
Anna Yegorovna, who lives just up the road from the Edward Institute for Village Studies HQ, graciously agreed.
The resulting conversation was painstakingly translated by Ekaterina.
(Note: The interview has been broken up into three parts, where there were long awkward pauses. Also, the name of Edward’s village has been changed, as well as the names of surrounding villages.)
Part 1: “It was fun back then. And there were lots of people. Now people have become savage, anti-social.”
Ekaterina: How long have you lived in Kolobovo?
Anna: In Kolobovo? I’ve lived here for a long time.
E: About 50 years? When did you move here? From Glinki, right?
A: Yes, I’m from Glinki. Maybe not 50 years, less.
E: You were in your 20s?
A: Maybe 30 years ago.
E: So you got married and came here?
A: I got married while I was still in Glinki.
E: Oh and then you moved from there to Kolobovo.
A: Yes, we moved here.
E: Ah ok. And where did you live when you first came here? In what house?
A: Which house? That one over there that has fallen apart. The Isakov’s house. I lived in that house. Then that house began to fall apart. So then we moved to the house across from Babushka Olya. To the house where some old granny lived, I forget her name. But she died and I moved there. And my husband and I got divorced.
E: Ah
A: Yep
E: Can I ask why?
A: Why do you think? He drank wine, ran around, got other people pregnant…
E: Then what, he stayed in Kolobovo, or he went somewhere else…?
A: Yeah, then… My mother lived here, in this house. I moved in with her. I stayed with her after that. My mom was buried here, then I was here.
E: And when did your mom die?
A: Oh she’s been dead a long time. A long time ago. Probably more than 10 years ago. She was 80-something…
E: Oh she lived a long time too, like you…
A: Yeah I’m already 77!
E: What do you remember about Kolobovo, about life here before?
A: What do you mean?
E: When there were more people. Like, there used to be a canteen, right? Where was it?
A: Yeah before, there was a canteen. We would go there to socialize, celebrate holidays.
E: In the canteen?
A: Yes
E: Where was it?
A: It was right over there, behind that house there. It that house right there. The next one. That was the canteen.
E: And the old club? Did you go there to have fun too?
A: Oh yeah, we did. We did. [smiles]
E: Were there, like, performances?
A: Yeah, there were concerts, people would come from Davydkovo [the nearest town] and give concerts..
E: Oh like they sometimes do now.
A: Sometimes we would do it ourselves when we had had a bit to drink. Give the concerts ourselves [laughs]. We would make up our own program.
E: Do you sing, or play any instruments?
A: We would dance there too, in the club. Yeah we did. We did all those things.
[Above: Edward exploring the old club]
E: And when you were working… Where did you work again? At the farm up there? Milking?
A: I would clean up after the pigs, and after the cows, and after the calves. Then I got married. And then I went back to cleaning up after the cows and calves…
E: Was there a lot of livestock?
A: There were 2, no 3 barns in Glinki.
E: Oh in Glinki. What about here in Kolobovo? You also did the same kind of work here, right?
A: Yes, in those barns up over there.
E: The ones that are in ruins now?
A: Yes, yes. I would walk there from my grandmother’s, from my mom’s here.
E: Were there a lot of people working there? Almost everyone, I guess… Either worked in the school or there?
A: Yes I worked a lot, for a long time.
E: It was a sovkhoz [a state-owned farm in the Soviet Union], right?
A: First it was a kolkhoz [a collective farm in the Soviet Union], then a sovkhoz. I worked there for a very long time. And I retired at 55.
E: So at the normal age, right?
A: Yes. I could have gone earlier, but I didn’t.
E: At 55, so 22 years ago. So the sovkhoz was still operating then? It would have been 2003.
A: Yes, it was all still there.
E: Everything.
A: Yes, there was an office, and a medical station, and everything. And a club. We went to dances there.
E: What was the first thing to close? I suppose the store was the last thing to close, right?
A: Yes the store closed. And that was it. And now there’s nothing.
E: Yeah there’s not much left.
A: The medical station is closed. There’s practically no people left.
E: Do you go to see the doctors in the medical van that comes every week?
A: Yes, my knees hurt, my legs hurt.
E: Does it help?
A: My Lyuba [daughter] helps me. She brings me all the pills. They told me to take them, prescribed them for me. She puts all the pills for the week in the box. I take five pills every day. Five in the morning and five in the evening. My knees hurt, that’s all. My legs were frozen! You go every morning in the barns to give the pigs water in the cold, the water from the buckets gets all over you, you walk home in that cold, you’re frozen! And I had to walk all the way back here to my mom’s house. Such a long way, from the barns, in that cold! And my knees felt it.
E: Didn’t you have special clothing? Warm pants or something like that?
A: You’d spill water all over them! When you were giving them water. They’d freeze.
E: How long did you work with livestock?
A: First I was the one who did whatever needed to be done. Whenever there was a hole that needed to be filled they sent me there. And then I started working with the livestock.
E: Did you have any animals yourself?
A: Yes. I had a cow, and sheep, and everything.
E: So that means that every morning, when you worked there, you would wake up, feed your own livestock, then go to work and clean up after and feed the livestock there.
A: Yes, that’s how it was. We had a cow and everything else.
E: And four kids to boot.
A: Yes, four.
E: And you were by yourself?
A: The fifth one died. When he was very small. He died. I was working hard, and he died. The other ones were all normal, though. Lyuba, my Margaritka – you probably know them.
E: I do.
A: You know Margaritka, You know Lyuba, then there’s my son Kolka, who died…
E: And the other one is in Borovichi?
A: There’s also Masha. She’s in Novgorod.
E: Have you been there? Novgorod?
A: To Masha’s? No, I don’t go there. It’s too far. Masha comes here to visit me.
E: How many grandchildren do you have?
A: I’ve already lost count [laughs]. And all my grandkids have kids. And me, I have four, and the fifth didn’t make it. I was in labor for a very long time. He wasn’t coming out. He was normal size too, more than three kilograms, but it just took too long.
E: I see, something happened during labor…
A: Yes. And the work I was doing was very difficult. And maternity leave… you only had a little time off and then it was time to give birth. It’s only now that you can leave earlier.
E: Yes I wanted to ask you about that. Tell me about maternity leave. How long did it last? I was under the impression that it was longer, but you mentioned before that…
A: 56 days before you give birth and 56 days after.
E: 56 before and 56 after. Then you have to go back to work, yes?
A: And then back to work.
E: What did you do with the kids?
A: Where else? With their grandmother.
E: The kindergarten didn’t take children that young?
A: The bigger ones went to kindergarten of course. But my mom, who lived here, I would bring them to her. She sat right there at the door with a toy – there was a little more space here then – and she’d stay sitting there, on guard [laughs]. What are you gonna do?
E: Good thing that they had their granny.
A: Yes they had a granny. Now she’s dead, has been for a while. Now I’m the grandmother. She would tell me that all the time, “Annushka, when I die, you will live here.” And here I am. In her house.
E: It’s a nice house.
A: This house is old too. Its 80-something years old.
E: Really?
A: Of course. 80-something years old. Now it’s better, since we at least managed to raise it up [the foundation was sinking and the house was placed on a new one]. The house had already begun to slant. So that’s that.
E: Um, do you have any memories of, maybe, where you worked — or things you did outside of work, about the club, for example. Some vivid memory.
A: There were meetings in the club.
E: Can you tell us about one? Maybe a meeting, or when you were celebrating something, having fun…
A: Yes we celebrated holidays. Celebrated the peredoviki…
E: What?
A: The peredoviki. The ones who did the best work.
E: Oh, gave them awards, you mean.
A: Yes. I’ve got some medals. But I don’t know where they are.
E: For work.
A: Yes, medals for work.
E: Did you have any friends here?
A: What do you mean, what friends?
E: I mean, I know about your family, your kids, but how about your friends, your neighbors. Or was everyone friends?
A: Friends… everyone was friendly with one another before. It’s only now that that’s all gone. Back then everyone was friendly to one another.
E: So you were sort of friends with everyone?
A: Yes, when a holiday would come around… and before there were so many holidays, all kinds… and you would go from house to house, people would gather all together. And why not, it’s a holiday! People would come over to my house too. And you’re not going to kick them out, of course. It’s a holiday, after all! It was fun back then. And there were lots of people. Now people have become savage, anti-social. Either they’ve become rich or… I don’t know what. And they don’t want to associate with the poor people. And that’s how we live.
Part 2: “You have to go all the way over there to the river. Over the hill. And coming back with the water, that’s really hard.”
A: … While I still remember. My memory now… it’s not as good.
E: Yeah I know what you mean, even I have started forgetting things a bit.
A: I forget things. 77 years is nothing to sneeze at. I’d still like to live a little more though. But besides that I’m still pretty good. Except for my legs, they’ve failed me. My hands work fine. I can still do everything with them. But my legs… I walk with that crutch…
E: And your garden? You used to have a very large garden, right?
A: Before yes. I used to live where Babushka Olya lives now, in a small house. Then I lived in the Isakov’s house. Then he kicked me out and I lived in another house across from it, across from the old lady. There was an old house. Where an old woman lived. Then I lived in that house.
E: You mean further down that way?
A: No, here’s mine, and there is Baba Olya, and between them was a house.
E: Oh there was another house between you and Baba Olya?
A: Yes, and I had a garden and everything. And then I moved in with my mom. I began working and moved in with my mom. And after that I remained with her. He wanted me to come back to him, but I stayed at my mom’s. [sneezes]… You see. It’s true. [In Russia a sneeze is taken to mean that what was just said was true.] Well that’s just how it was. So, daughter, there you go. I had a garden, and my mom had a garden. But not anymore. Last year I planted a few things close to the house.
E: Yes I noticed, last year you were planting things still. Good for you.
A: Yes, I planted some potatoes, some flowers… I do what I can. And now, as for the wood, Lyuba brings some in, the worker brings some, the social worker…
E: Right the social worker. She comes twice a week, right?
A: Right.
E: She mainly helps around the house?
A: She brings in wood. Sometimes she comes with some men…
E: Men too?
A: Yes in their car, they bring in wood, and water, and that’s all the way over the hill…
E: By the way where do you get it from? The river?
A: From the river. Over the hill.
E: So before, you went… you don’t have running water here, correct?
A: No.
E: So you went all the way over there…
A: Yeah you have to go all the way over there to the river. Over the hill. And coming back with the water, that’s really hard.
E: Wow that’s… and you need a lot of water, I guess.
A: When we kept livestock, yes, of course. Now not so much. Just to do the wash, do things around the house. But still… you need about two buckets…
E: Two buckets a day? You use it very sparingly…
A: Well, just to wash things, wash clothes.
E: And drinking water? You boil the river water?
A: Yes, from the river. I just boil it in the kettle. For tea.
A: Right over there is some water that was brought from the river… You’re not freezing from that bucket right next to you there?
E: I’m not cold.
A: Lyuba brought it. Things are freezing over today. It’s cold.
E: Yes, definitely.
A: Usually it can just sit in the entryway but it would freeze up there today. And the bucket is plastic…
E: I almost fell twice walking up here. It’s pretty dangerous out there.
A: Oh how many times have I fallen! More than once I walked home from the farm and fell on my fu… [laughs, catches herself about to curse…]
E: It’s ok, it’s ok, you can curse, no problem.
A: …I fell down hard, many times. It’s slippery! I fell pretty bad.
E: They found you later, right?
A: Exactly.
E: How many animals… how many cats do you have now?
A: Three. This one, another female cat, and a tomcat, Senya. They’re running around somewhere. I have three.
E: Do you have a hole so that they can get out when they want?
A: No I just let them out. The hole to the basement is closed. I open it sometimes but now it’s closed. So that’s it, daughter, that’s how we live.
E: Hmm. Well I guess that’s it. I just have one more question. Of course you can talk as much as you want. The more the better…. What is important to you? Family?... Tell me about what you consider important? Family, your garden, animals and livestock, the country, what you wish for, what you believe, things you want to pass down to your kids? What do you consider important?
A: Well my kids are all grown now.
E: But I see you keep in touch with them still, right?
A: Yes they call all the time.
E: Do you have the internet?
A: What?
E: The internet, on this special kind of phone…
A: No they call on the phone.
E: You talk on the phone, right?
A: Yes Margaritka just called me today. Yes, they call. Lyuba is here. Kolya is dead, Masha’s in Novgorod too…
E: Not that far…
A: They all call, ask me how I am… When I had a little to drink maybe it was more lively. Mom’s allowed to thin her blood out a little [laughing]. But no more of that. My birthday was on the 15th…
E: 77 years.
A: Yes, 77. Some people came over. But I’m not allowed to drink wine anymore. Because I take those pills. Not allowed, that’s it. I was told – prohibition for you.
E: Yeah?
A: Yep. We ate, and that was it.
E: Yeah I guess it’s better if nobody drinks.
A: Yeah that’s what I said.
E: Yeah, there are a lot of people who drink here. And I guess there were before too.
A: Yeah sure, but… So what? I used to drink too
E: Well yeah I used to drink too.
A: Babka Panya, who used to live across the bridge…
E: Yes I’ve heard of her. The one who rode the motorcycle.
A: Yes. She would come over in the evenings and we would sit together… talk, drink. I was fine, but she would always pass out on the couch, sleep a little, then go home. We used to have lots of fun.
E: Evenings after work?
A: But now people have become… boring. We lived better before. People were friendlier. Not anymore. There aren’t even any people left.
E: Yeah nobody wants to live in the village. We’re different of course, but there aren’t very many of us.
A: Exactly. There are no people here anymore. You see for yourself. There used to be so many people. Every house was occupied.
E: How many people lived here? You say every house had people living in it?
A: Yes, every house.
E: And now more than half of them…
A: Now everything is empty.
E: Yes, almost all of them.
A: There’s these two houses in ruins on that side… The Fyodorov’s lived there. Auntie Ira Aleksandrovna lived over there… every house had people living in it. And now what? Now it’s just Lyuska and me on the hill. That’s it.
E: Lyusya, right.
A: Yep. And Zinka, too, over there. They moved there.
E: Zinka?
A: Yes. Zina. Vitka just died, her husband.
E: Ah, right, Zina, I know. She lives over there.
A: Yes she lives there, and Vitka [her brother] sometimes lives over there [in another house].
E: Yeah there were just puppies born there.
A: Right so there are no people left. They’ve all died. Lots of people have died.
E: Yes. Not only that they die, but their kids don’t stay. All their kids have gone.
A: Some people leave...
E: Because there’s no money here. There’s nothing here. There used to be some kind of infrastructure…
A: Yes. In the past it was much more interesting. When there was something on in the club there was a good amount of people that would come … And now what?
E: So before you lived normally here, you didn’t have to go into Davydkovo for anything.
A: We had everything. The post office was over there. And now…
E: The post office, right, that building covered in green stuff.
A: Yes now it’s closed. There were a lot of people who lived on the hill.
E: How many… Do you remember what the population was back in the 70’s, for example?
A: Oh, I don’t know. A lot. I’m telling you, there were a lot of people. And now it’s over. Everyone is leaving… [looks out the window] Oh, there go the fishermen. Catching their fish…
Part 3: “ When it was too cold for the piglets, we would put them in baskets, bring them home, and put them on top of our stoves.”
A: I worked in the kindergarten.
E: You did?
A: Yes, I helped take care of the little ones. In the kindergarten, yeah. And I forget the name of that little one that I would carry around all the time… Ah!, Vitka Pankeev’s … Vanya, I think. I would carry him around all the time and show him through the window, when I worked at the kindergarten as the cook. There was work everywhere.
E: How about the food that you made here, at the sovkhoz... Was most of it sent to other places? Did some of it stay in Kolobovo? Like, the milk for example. Did all the milk get sent to Borovichi, to Petersburg?
A: The milk was taken to the milk plant. In Mitino.
E: Up that way.
A: Yes, the milk was taken to the milk plant. I took it there on a horse. There was a long flat cart on which you could load milk canisters. You understand what they are? So you would take seven of these milk canisters and load them up, and the horse would take them there.
E: On a horse? You did this by yourself?
A: I took them from Glinki to Mitino. Well what else could you do? The cows were brought in from the fields in the evening, then they were milked, and then the milk had to be taken there while it was fresh.
E: Even in the evenings?
A: Yes.
E: And there was no kind of lighting on the roads of course..
A: Yes, we took it on horses. Going there was OK, but coming back was scary. And the road of course was bad.
E: I can imagine…
A: If the horse falls into a ditch or something how was I supposed to get it out? And with all the canisters. And that was the kind of work I did. And just try to move a full 40-liter milk canister. ‘
E: And they had a girl do that all by herself…
A: Yes. That was my work, wherever they needed me. What are you gonna do?
E: Yeah, so as soon as all the livestock left…
A: Yes, I worked mostly with the livestock.
E: And most people in Kolobovo too, right? Most worked with livestock?
A: Yes. I worked in Glinki with livestock, and here too.
E: OK, and here’s bit of a strange question: What kind of livestock did you prefer working with? Cows? Pigs? Which ones were your favorites?
A: Oh! When the sows would give birth in the winter, and it was too cold for the piglets, we would put them in baskets, bring them home, and put them on top of our stoves in the baskets.
E: The little piglets?
A: Yeah, they would dry off, then you would take them back to their mother to feed. Then the mother would lie down and they would suck. 10 of them.
E: Ten huh? That many?
A: Yes, that’s how many there would usually be. Sometimes 10, sometimes 12…
E: Were they pink? Black?
A: When they are born, they are reddish. Then their hair grows and they turn white. You’ve never seen them?
E: Me? No, just on the internet, on TV. I heard that Margarita got some pigs there in Novgorod, no?
A: No. Ah, wait. She did say something about… sheep I think.
E: Sheep?
A: Yes. Sheep. That’s what they have.
E: For meat I suppose.
A: Meat, of course. So there, daughter, there you go…. Retelling all of this is… [laughs]
E: Let’s do a second interview sometime…
A: Nah, that’s enough [laughs].
“It was fun back then. And there were lots of people. Now people have become savage, anti-social.” That can be said of village life in the part of England I come from. The fishing industry was closed down by the EU. The local economy died. Rich people from London moved in and killed the place completely, the houses are too expensive now. My aunt still lives there, and one cousin who looks after her. She says all of the shops that sold useful things have gone. The rich go elsewhere for their shopping. The fisherman's pubs are closed. One was converted into flats. The other is a shitty restaurant. I went there. The waiter complained about the terrible local people. I said I was born there, that my father had been a fisherman. We were saved by the manager after that.
More please. Thank you for what you’ve shared. I have a million questions, which I will presume to put down here, begging your pardon, not expecting that anyone has the time to read further: For starters, More about the child she lost, only if she wants to tell about it. More about all labors and deliveries and how you took care of your newborn babies and young children. What did you expect for them in life? How did they learn to wear coats when it is cold? Were young children ever picky eaters or was it unheard of? How many other young children were in the village? Did you have energy left to worry after working all day? Did all parents raise children alike or did families differ? also what did everyone eat throughout the day and throughout the year? How many cups did a household need or have? How many spoons? What constituted your bed? How often did you wash your bedclothes, and how long did it take? What kind of soap and tooth cleaning things did you use and where did you get them or how make? What were the bathrooms? How much did people drink (alcohol)? What kind? What were the social conventions? How did you know how to raise your children ? Did you do it the same as your parents and grandparents? How were children disciplined, what would have been behavior considered in need of correction in a child under seven years? Were children punished and if so, how? Was there refined sugar in any form? Did you play or have many musical instruments ? Was there a radio? Was it harder to relax and have fun or even just connect when sober , for a lot of people (I had many more good times when was I was drinking, and came by most of my good friends through drinking, and they remain good friends, which is good because I don’t care much for making new friends or having fun, now that I don’t really drink). What were the conventions around this? What were the age demographics? Was mold a thing indoors? How cold did it get and how did you stay warm?