Speaking with Sergiy

Summer is here and What’s On has crawled out of the metro to give you a taste of what people are like above ground. Young and old, happy and gloomy, but all are feeling the heat of summer. What was it like and who have we met..?

Bored of the Sun

While strolling through the busy streets of Kyiv, you can’t help but wonder how beautiful it might be a bit further from the centre. And not far from Rayduzhne Lake, I come across a couple of gentlemen. They typically start the with a chitchat with 160 years of shared life experience behind them. One of them agrees to talk to me. Meet Sergiy – a funny, reverent, and calm sort of chap.

Where are you headed right now?
(laughs) After having a chat with you and sitting here, to the cemetery, I hope! (laughs again)

What do you do for living?
Sit at home and wait for my pension to arrive. Before this, I was an auto mechanic and worked in Germany for a time. It was very different – the people and the general atmosphere.

What is the most important thing in your life at this moment?
I think now I just want you, the young ones, to live happily, live bravely, without any sorrow or poverty… I don’t feel like I have anything else to be worried about now.

What was the last song you listened to?
(laughs) I don’t even know how to reply to this. I don’t usually listen to music purposefully, if I have listened to something, I’ve already forgotten!

If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
Huh, you know that’s the hardest question so far, young lady! How could I pick a power when I don’t believe in miracles anymore?

What bothers you about our politicians?
Ukraine is a very rich country, if not the richest. It really bothers me that people would rather steal than help. I am scared of what will come if they don’t stop.

What’s your favorite venue in Kyiv?
I don’t go out much, but a slow stroll through the district while going to get some water from the pump is the best, especially when you got company. Look around you, you don’t need venues when you have such green and beautiful nature around you.

What colour socks are you wearing?
Black – the old man’s classic. I say – when you lose one sock, you just take another out of the drawer and voilà! You have an infinite number of socks.

Where are you from/in what part of Kyiv do you live?
I live in the Dniprovskyi district.

What is something you’d recommend to the younger generation?
Try and go abroad, to live, to work, for the sake of trying. If you don’t like it – come back.