This alley separates buildings like those in the photo above. The attached wooden structures serve to keep the winter winds from chilling the living spaces.

Note the laundry. Very few people, if any, have washing machines and certainly none have driers. The dirty clothes are "boiled" in a wash tub, scrubbed over a corrugated wash board, wrung by hand, then dried on a line outside (weather permitting). The soap is lye based and often homemade. It is guaranteed to burn the hands.