Your Slovakia Heat

I used to sit on the boat in Miami next to the arena where the Miami Heat played and listen to the announcer repeat for hours on end... "Yoooouuuur Miii-aaaa-mmmiiii Heeeeaaat" in that long, drawn out, sports commentator voice. Then the announcement would go on to what you couldn't bring into the arena, and the list seemed to include everything from backpacks to weapons of mass destruction.

So heat. In Miami it was hot, and you often dreamed of a cold shower, or to go swimming though you wouldn't dare touch that water. Slovakia, obviously, is the opposite, and luckily, they are as good at heating the country as Shaquille O' Neil is at playing basketball.

Somewhere down by Nitra, Slovakia, is a nuclear power plant that chugs away. The energy is piped into every apartment and store on the western half of Slovakia in the form of warm water. Radiators are attached to the wall with no thermostats, continuously heating, until your room becomes a sauna. If it’s too hot, you open the window, (they say it is cheaper then installing thermostats).

And the showers! Coming off the boat where you are lucky to get a shower once a week, and then very short and only mildly warm, Slovakia is a showerers’ paradise. The water is instantly hot and always available. The water pipes run through the bathroom and are warm to the touch, always. Sometimes, it’s such a treat I even shower twice.

By 2008 the EU will require the nuclear power plant to be shut down. This might be a good thing, given that Chernobyl isn’t too far away, and we all know what happened there. But then again, how will Slovakia heat the water and the buildings? How much money and planning will this require? Are they ready for the task?