Dubious Wave of Nostalgia for 1970s Balaton Power Station

Although some things probably were better under Communism (politicians were less corrupt, for instance), this dewy-eyed Reuters piece, about life in an underground power plant near Lake Balaton, goes a couple of shovel-loads of coal too far. Check out this lead for a start:

Unlike most vacationing Hungarians, Bela Szigeti best remembers Lake Balaton for a steep descent into a smoldering abyss.

How quaint. And there's more:

Despite all the hardships, the noise, the extreme heat and the constant draught in the hangar-sized concrete halls of the two-storey power plant, out of operation since 1972, Szigeti said working there had a very intimate atmosphere to it.

"With colleagues, we were almost like family. Unfortunately, there are very few of us left," Szigeti said.

"We liked coming here so much that if the shift started at 6, we were all down here already at half past 5 ... chatting about the events of the past days."

We can only imagine that by "chatting about the events of the past days", he means "downing a couple of early-morning shots of pálinka."