Today’s post in on a completely different topic.

There is only thing that makes me understand that winter has ended. No, it’s not pancakes. It’s not even the extra hours of sunlight or the trees becoming green. It’s actually radiators. As soon as the radiators get turned off I know it must be summer soon.

I know this is not true, but I imagine one man sitting in an empty office somewhere in Minsk with his finger next to a big red button waiting for a phone call from Batka!

Having lived in England for most of my life, the idea of a city-wide centralised heating system is a novel one. I’m sure there are plenty of pensioners in the UK who would love a low-cost centralised heating system. Contrary to popular belief, there are many elderly people in the UK with little money. Often, the attitude is that it is better to find an extra blanket than to put the heating on!

Of course, it is not only pensioners that enjoy lower heating bills, everyone does. But, the question I have is: do we really enjoy lower heating bills here in Belarus. Firstly, many homes have no control whatsoever of their heating and, at this time of year, when it is hot outside, it would be nice to have the power to switch off the heating. It seems ridiculous to be wearing t-shirts and shorts with windows wide open as energy is being wasted hour after hour.

The other thing to mention is that this energy still has to be paid for somehow. Perhaps the Government are too afraid to rise the prices and they raise the money for this through some other tax. If they didn’t waste so much money and energy of unnecessary heating maybe they would have had more money to help people during this tough time. One minute it is Rio de Shabeneiro and the next minute it is bloody freezing again because the man with the big red button has switched the heating off.

I didn’t want to complain in this post, but it’s just so annoying to feel all this waste and inefficiency. I’m sure there’ll be something more positive to write about tomorrow…