Fixing the Heating the Macedonian Way

I pick him up from the parking lot, the Macedonian man who is going to fix the leak in our radiator. We had to turn the heating off two evenings ago, after we found a swimming pool in our living room. I’m not looking forward to this whole business…

In most apartment buildings in Macedonia, as well as ours, the heating is regulated centrally. This means one day in October, you will wake up to find your apartment in a strangely warm state. This can be nice at times, but it can also frustrating, especially when you are not used to it. I remember my initiation last year; my first autumn in Macedonia.

I was cooking up something in our tiny, by then well-heated, kitchen when something went wrong. I was already well immersed in the cooking process and this stupid incident got me all annoyed. I remember myself being all hot, red and yelling: “Aarrghh #%&*@! and I can’t even decide for myself if I want to turn on the heating or not!”

In the course of one year, I got accustomed to this ‘easy-heating’. I like it when it’s nice and warm inside when I wake up to a dark, cold winter morning outside my window. In autumn, I have to set the environment-minding me aside and open the window when it starts to feel like Hawaii. There is no way for me to regulate the heating without a thermostat, it’s on or off, so opening the window is all I can do to keep sane.

But right now, off is the only option if I don’t want to have a waterfall under the window.

The name of the majstor is Lambe. He is a friend of the friend of the father of a friend. The way it usually goes. He assesses the damage with my mini mirror and leaves again – to pick up some parts, some tools and some friends. Before I know it, they are back. Our apartment feels even smaller with three handymen in it. I prepare coffee, they start to take the radiator off the wall.

An hour later, the hallway of the flat looks and sounds like a war zone.

Two hours later, I wonder how long it’s still going to take.

Three hours later, I’m placing a vow never to get a friend-of-a-friend to fix anything anymore.

Four hours later, the radiator is placed back in and it’s time for me to clean up the mess.

Now I can only hope they did a good job. I would like to wake up warm tomorrow morning, after all.