I have to say that this is just too cool for words. I’m posting this from an internet cafe in Bratislava. Let me pause a moment and let that sink in.
I’m posting this from and internet cafe in Bratislava.
I can’t help but remember when I first moved to Bratislava, in the summer of 1994. Mr. Punky, aka The World’s Cutest Computer Geek, had outfitted me with the latest in laptops, (weighing in at only 500 pounds) and all the necessary hardware and cordage to guarantee us a fast, cheap way of keeping in touch. All I had to do was find the wires that would plug into the phone system and the wall. I had a technical print out of the specs; how hard could it be?
Picture me, jetlagged and confused, not yet speaking a word of Slovak, wandering around the city. There were no obvious computer stores, no obvious phone stores. None of the people I approached for help spoke any English. Mr. Punky ended up going onto usenet and finding a physics student at the university who took pity on me. The relevant stores were at the end of bus lines, hidden in basements which were in turn hidden in mazes of identical grey communist apartment buildings. The components were exotic and expensive, and I had to pay the physics student, in dollars, to perform major surgery on the phone system in the apartment where I was living. He and the lady who owned it had a long and acrimonious discussion. I don’t think she ever understood what I was doing. She did tell me that she had stood in line for that telephone for hours, after waiting years to get to the top of the list, and if it didn’t work any more she was going to have my head.
Fast forward to the present. I am sitting in a clean, well-lit, modern internet cafe. The machines all have fast connections. Tea and mineral water are free, other refreshments are available. The charge is nominal: 2 crowns a minute (at 47 crowns/dollar). I found the cafe because there were large signs outside, advertising the 24 hour availability of internet hookups. As soon as I start talking, the friendly, cheerful clerk picks up on my accent and starts speaking fluent, idiomatic English. In minutes, I’m checking up on the latest doings on the boards.
I am a happy camper.