Closed pulp mill, Uusimaa, Finland (Part 2)

Exploring this pulp mill was a bit more exciting than usually since it was around midnight when we arrived there. Examining endless corridors and rooms of the factory took hours and made possible an extremely beautiful sight: watching the rising sun to swallow dusk and light up the whole pulp mill from its huge skylight windows. Just before the sun rose I looked out from the top floor window and saw a group of bats flying over the rooftops. It made everything feel even more unreal.
   In the storeroom a calendar told us it was Monday, 18th October in the year 1982. Somebody had spilled coffee on the joker playing card and eaten Diplomat sill straight from the can. Some of the wooden stairs were half-collapsed and climbing them felt like a gamble with gravity. Crunching of pidgeon bones under our feet echoed from the walls when we walked around the upper floors.
   One of the weardest things in the pulp mill was an ornamental safe. It was firmly locked, rusty and unbelievably heavy and somehow it didn't fit in. Usually there's not that elegant items in factories. I'm still curious what it hides inside and hate the fact that I'll probably never know. But on the other hand, it gives a chance to come up with the most imaginative stories.

Closed pulp mill (Part 1) & unoccupied houses en route, Uusimaa, Finland

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This factory produced pulp in 1893-1975 with a sulphite pulping process. Over the years the process got outdated and the pulp mill was closed in the year 1975. It was replaced by a sawmill which worked in 1976-2009.

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In the middle of last summer we had an one-day road trip to a freezing underground cave and this deteriorated pulp mill inhabited by pidgeons and bats. On our way we also visited quickly two warm-colored houses which gave me immediately a cosy feeling.
   First one (photos 1 & 2) was a small cottage embraced by great old spruces. There was a faded guardian angel painting inside still protecting the house even though its residents had left a long time ago. Daylight sifting through the curtains discolored slowly a teddybear which was lying on a windowsill.
   A stunned baking oven welcomed us to the second house. There was only a few things left in the house but those things had a lot of stories to tell. Time was one to twelve when the last play with a children's blackboard ended. Somebody had chewed wooden beads from the abacus - black ones were clearly his or her favorites. The painting pallette told us that most of the artworks painted in the house were full of hues of red, yellow and green. It's a pity we were in a hurry and I didn't take any outside photos of this beauty. Imagine a yellow wooden house standing with all its dignity even though years have drawn marks to it and you'll get pretty close.

More about the factory in the next post.