After a month or so, it was time to spend another weekend with my Midsummer date. The plan was essentially the same as during our first encounter: drive around municipalities, photograph abandoned buildings, visit interesting attractions and talk endlessly.
As I had already toured the region she was living in, she travelled to the town of Mikkeli, where we met. And as I had some unfinished business in the town, we started with that.
This is the dairy processing plant I visited around a month earlier. I could only access this room, as I had too little time. But now I’m back and there’s a promising looking door ahead. My wish is, that I could find my way to other sections of the building through it.
The only entrance was the same one I used the previous time. Back then I didn’t notice that graffiti, which includes two spruce trees and the number 26.
I believe this to be a word play. Spruce is ‘kuusi’ in Finnish, so is number six. The best word play ever what I’ve heard of the word is the restaurant ‘Kuusi palaa’. Because written exactly this way it can mean:
‘The spruce returns’
‘The spruce is burning’
‘Your moon is burning’
‘Your moon is returning’
‘Six pieces’
‘Six are burning’
There we go. So much for the daily Finnish lesson.
I still wonder, what this area has been used for during the dairy plant days of the building.
Last time I found one pigeon. Now there’s two.
The yellow chair seems more than lost.
The pit seen from the other direction.
Behind the door was a narrow and messy lobby.
And another pit. This time there were stairs down.
So large rooms with lots of light, but they have clearly been a part of the production area, which is evident from the tiles.
The pit was a dead end. And it didn’t look very healthy.
There was also a storage room.
Which actually seems to have been the cleaning closet.
I wonder, what has been running through that pipe.
Those were all the spaces accessible. We went back to the yellow chair and did a small photo shoot. This time I was the model.
I knew I probably would never have the chance to return again and I was right. Demolition of the location started in the autumn of 2022 and was finished the following year.
But this was only the start of the weekend.