From Kentish Town to Brno

Well here I am in Brno, the 2nd city of the Czech Republic. I escaped the UK 2 years ago to begin a new life. Escaped? Well actually my girlfriend kicked me out for not helping with the rent and my Mum didn’t want me back, probably for similar reasons. Now she has another boyfriend who pays for everything My ex-girlfriend is probably doing the same.

So, I’m from London, Kentish Town to be exact, a sort of grotty Highgate and not so fashionable Camden Town. Do I miss London? Mmm, sometimes, and for all the wrong reasons.

I’m almost 40! A horrible thought, but it’s my last 2 months before I’m decrepit. Then after, I just don’t know, maybe I’ll get grey quickly or I’ll need glasses or a hearing aid or some other giveaway that will single me out as past it and a bit senile. Still, as yet, no-one has offered me a seat on a tram.

But, do I like living here in Brno? You betcha mate!! It’s great, and Dagmar my very sexy, wonderful, tall, blond, clever and also eager to please (YAHOOO!!) girlfriend is all the things that Maggie (the old one) never was. So there, all in all a good move and I ain’t going back.

What do Expats do here in Brno? Well I’m teaching English, same as lots others, mostly for a language school and bits and pieces with individual students. Many others here seem to work for IBM and earn big bucks, but not me, I just get by.

I came firstly to Prague and worked in a call centre, but Prague’s not for me. It’s like a big island, you don’t really know what country you’re in. When I lived in Prague I was staying in a shared flat and someone kept nicking my CD’s and socks and other little things. I didn’t really know any Czechs, all my friends were British, American, anything but Czechs and they didn’t really know any either. So, I paid for a TEFL course, came to Brno and the rest is history.

You wouldn’t believe that 5000 English speaking expats live in Brno, but they do, they’re here, they’re somewhere around keeping a low profile. They only seem to surface at the airport, Brno has a daily flight to Stansted and I’m always surprised how many English are there.

Why indeed are there so many British expats anywhere? It can’t be that everyone hates the Labour Government or wants to smoke in pubs, or some other tobacco or alcohol reason for emigration, but let’s face it, it doesn’t help does it.

Brno’s quite a big place, most people live in flats, older spacious ones in the centre and high rise 70’s jobs in the outlying parts, there are also plenty of terraced houses, but not like the Victorian types around London, these here are post war. Outside Brno lots of people live in new developments, it’s a growing place.