Some villages out here in Slovakia are still like the 1900's now.

When we bought this place there was a little old lady in her late 80's who lived here.
Her husband died of hard work/industrial accident before he could finish building the house so the top floor was never finished and was full of asbestos tiles.

The house had some electricity that worked some of the time although running more than a light bulb in one room would trip the ghetto communist fuse box and that would be the end of it until someone would turn up to bodge it back to life again.
She had no heating except for an old wood fired oven that kept one room hot & she would hang her clothes she washed in a bucket over the oven.
Toilet was blocked and clearly hadnt been fixed in years, was literally years of granny hair & Kapustnica turds had to be scooped out by hand.

She clearly had a proper hard lonely life & I cant help but think of the times she must of sat huddled over the oven at 11pm at night the weather outside a bone chilling -30c and her only light bulb dies and thats it, shes sat in the dark until someone might come and visit her in the morning if shes lucky.

tbh I lived that life here for a year, honestly never been so happy for spring to arrive and it not be so cold that you have ice form on the inside of your windows/walls

The mountains are calling & I must go.

Where I live In Thailand Cambodian borders asbestos is still being sold even today, until 3 years ago French and Canadian governments was allowing asbestos to be made maybe still making, it is still sold in Asia, I have in my home here which I will take out soon, there are companies still making asbestos here in Asia.

Lugging home a can of paraffin in the snow was a miserable experience. I’m pretty sure it was Esso Blue but could have been pink. Smoky too when the wick hadn’t been trimmed (!).

I use to deliver paraffin as a kid to homes in a tanker, I can't remember if it was blue or pink, always in the evening we delivered as people was home then, after finishing shift Bath wash clothes as they stunk.

There was an advert with a Northern bloke in it which went
Boom Boom Boom Boom Esso Blue
and he’d say
Shall I take m’can?

I think you're mixing it up with the new Top Gear.

Red and Blue Army!