We just got back from London. Unexpected trip it was. I don’t really want to get sympathy from anyone, but my old Gran died. She was 86.Most people think that Grans are nicer than Mums. Not in my case, Gran always thought I was undisciplined and spoilt, every visit as a child was always a lecture about modern living and of course the usual favourite for old Londoners, Yes, you’ve guessed it …. THE BLITZ!!!!!!!!!!
I think everyone in Great Britain knows about how London fared during the Blitz. Same old clichés. Plucky firemen, Winston Churchill visiting ruined houses and fighting with Germans on the beaches, the Queen Mother singing songs to locals in her big fur coat, my gran making pots of tea for old ladies in the Tube stations, kids wearing big labels waiting to be evacuated and going to live with mysterious writers in big rambling country houses with ghosts. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don’t want to be cycnical or anything , but there’s a kind of romance about it all now.
This side of London is all but gone now, but things have always moved on.
For example , Gran was a bit too young too remember highwaymen getting a public hanging outside Newgate Prison or the hunt for Jack the Ripper, but what will be remembered about us?
I think it’s strange that no-one has ever disguised the fact that London has always been a tough place to live, for example Charles Dickiens wrote books about the poverty and inequality of living in London. And what do we do, we romanticise it, don’t we. All those nice costume drama’s and interesting characters.
So when future generation learn about a tough and unfair life in London during the early part of the 21st century, all the characters will be cute and funny and there’ll be lots of romantic snow lying all around.
Makes me glad to be in Brno again, and the snow’s along way off.
One last comment, about Nutter of the Week. One of Grans friends brought Grans budgie to the funeral, the cage even had a black ribbon round it. It chirped through the Vicar’s sermon and now we don’t know where it is.
I cancelled all my lessons today, just felt like it and stayed at home. Watched a few DVD’s. Some film and then Catweazle. Yeah, I know I was too young for Catweazle, but he was here in Czechoslovakia and readily approved by the Communists. Exactly why, defeats all reason, possibly because he opposed William the Conqueror. Maybe because he kept a frog called Touchwood and did magic.
It’s sometimes strange to live in country that was until quite recently a communist dictatorship. When you look around, you’ll see much more advertising than in UK. In Britain it’s banned on motorways for example, here it’s everywhere on the roads. At least 30% of all cars have some kind of blatant advert it seems.
Dagmar, my girlfriend came home to make lunch, she’s fattening me up for Christmas I reckon. Down here in Brno, most people have a big lunch and then a light dinner. But for me it’s difficult to feel anything but sleepy after, so it’s loads of strong coffee and force myself out.
Czechs have strange ideas about England. They think English food is the most boring in the world, but they don’t what we eat, apart from Fish & Chips. They think all English beer is warm and flat, mm.. ok some is. They even ask if I have a bowler hat! They are also fascinated with the USA and especially with the Wild West. They watch an old western TV show called Vinnetou and his friend Old Shatterhand. I watched an episode, amazing Stewart Granger was in it!! But, the original language was German and it was shot on location in Yugoslavia. How did Stewart Granger manage to pull it off?
Their country music is just as interesting, I didn’t know that Kenny Rodgers made Czech versions of all his hits. My mum would be horrified!! She’s actually an Eagles fan.
When I was a kid, she made me take guitar lessons so I could try and play all her favourite numbers, well I didn’t have much choice.
Now she usually listens to the Eagles after a few in the pub. She sings along out of tune, much to her boyfriend Johnnie’s delight. Then she gets a word or two completely wrong, which has Johnnie bursting out in a fit of giggles.
Mum texted me that she’d call tonight with a bit of news.
Well, life without connecting to the internet is strange these days. But, our router decided not to work. I think it died of overuse actually. The girls and Honza were fighting over the computer, my laptop is usually with me.
But he was popular, he can download free music and films from Russian sites which the girls liked immensely. Blank CD’s were piled everywhere. My wish-list came true a long time ago now, I’ve got a music collection to die for. God bless the Russian Federation!
The atmosphere is completely different to Brno. Prague is like a huge West End of London. It just goes on and on. It seemed that only bar staff were Czechs.Dagmar, my girlfriend, was knackered from speaking English all weekend. Am I the only foreigner ordering drinks in Czech?
Dagmar slept in the car all the way home. Everything seemed back to normal when my Mum called; Mags, my ex-girlfriend still wants the car back, she’s been calling.
But, no chance. No-one in their right mind gives up an almost new Audi A4. Mums boyfriend, who’s a lawyer, says it’s mine legally now, although I didn’t pay for it. But he’ll look into it further. I’ll just keep polishing it and hope for the best.
Well it’s Friday evening and I picked up the girls from the airport this afternoon. What was all the fuss about I wonder.
The ex has been on the phone more times than I can remember.
“Are you sure the flat is big enough, it’s not a hostel?” ( A hostel, I ask you)
“ Has it got hot water? “ (no, we wash in the river)
“ How old is this boy?” (he’s 23 and has 37 previous convictions)
“ You won’t let them go to Prague, will you?” (yes, I’ll take them myself & sell them into the sex-slave trade)
She also phoned Mum loads of times, but Mum re-assured her. I was then warned of an incoming calls. Sod the re-assurance.
So, the ex drove them to Stansted and I picked them up today.
It’s not just the ex who’s been acting up. Honza, Dagmars boy has been up in the air about this too. He spent ages in the bathroom, he’s shaved all the fluff off his chin, spent another 20 minutes in front of the mirror removing and hiding 2 spots from his forehead. He came out smelling a bit fragrant, he’d used the best part of a bottle of aftershave.
Teenagers will always be strange, they only speak to other teenagers, to anyone else it’s just Yeh or No or Dunno. When I picked up Katie and her friend it just like this.
Kate wanted to sit in the back of the car with her friend, who I now know is Jessica.Dinner was quiet and a bit pungent with Honza’s aftershave. Now they’re out, Honza’s showing them round town.He got a grunt of approval, when they saw him, and Honza spoke his first ever word in English today.
We couldn’t believe it, he said “Hello” amazingly followed by “How are you?”
Today started off nicely, sunny and promising, but now it's raining. I was just thinking back to the weekend, when we went to Telč. There was a kind of display of old and interesting cars and motorbikes.
Also some kind of cycling club, where they all dress up in pre-war clothes and cycle round on old bicyles. They went twice round the square and then to the pub!! My kind of cycling trip!
And not one them locked up!
Can someone tell me what this is? (not the picnic basket)
Is it a Jag? A Morgan? Help me out folks.
Weird & Weirder still!
A prop from Where Eagles Dare? Complete with machine gun.
Mobile park bench! & a Nice old Royal Enfield
Another mystery. & Meet the locals!
So, a great day and a great place, visit sometime.
I’ve been meaning to come back to you all about this, and it’s a tricky subject. Why did Dagmar take the Renault badge off her car?
Well… Czechs don’t swear or use bad language like we do in English, they use pictures and there’s a funny shape that looks something like a Renault badge or something lozenge shaped that refers to a part of your anatomy. And if you’re a boy, don’t waste your time looking, it ain’t there! With me so far?
You know, oh come on, surely I don’t have to spell it out do I?Ok, it lives near the little starfish, are you getting close?
Personally, I’ve always been a bit strange about lozenges, even when I had a bad throat. I’m quite fussy what I put in my mouth. I’m talking about Strepsils, of course.
And there’s a rock group here in CzechRepublic called Tři Sestry (3 Sisters) and according to Czechs, they are pushing their luck, because they have a symbol like this:
What a bunch of lozenges!!!
The point is that Dagmar doesn’t want something on the front of her car that says
“I am a Lozenge!”
I've just looked at my flag counter I've got 29 online, from round the world. Yahoooo!!
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I'm an English teacher abroad. Live with my girlfriend. We like to go out and have a good time. Or get on our bikes and cycle round a bit, mostly to pubs.
This side of 
One last comment, about Nutter of the Week. One of Grans friends brought Grans budgie to the funeral, the cage even had a black ribbon round it. It chirped through the Vicar’s sermon and now we don’t know where it is. 
