Yesterday’s post showed me standing in the dark and the snow outside Derevyashka, a local bar facing Gorky Park (no, not that one). *
Derevyashka means ‘wood’, and as I described it in AN AUTUMN HUNTING, ‘Imagine a mad Siberian’s attempt at building a log cabin, designed under the influence of some particularly potent vodka laced with magic mushrooms.’
Later on in the book, a bomb does away with the bar, but now it looks as if a real-life explosion has hit Derevyashka – Covid19. It’s remained closed even when other bars opened, and I suspect it won’t reopen. There are other bars, but Derevyashka was wonderfully quirky.
- It is in fact, I’m informed, called Gorky Square, but I’m a writer and I’ll call it what I like.
