"Waaaaa... waaaahhhhh...", not the screaming of a newborn but the perfect harmonic of a fine-tuned rally car as it came straight THROUGH OUR WINDOW - well that's what it felt like as we tried to prise our eyes from a deep Sunday morning sleep. Hang on - rally cars outside our apartment block - in Prague??? We're used to stepping on dog crap outside our apartment door, yes, and maybe step over the comatose and snoring lumps of local winos as we make our way to the tram stop, yes, or maybe even try not to gawk at the young (and old) couple getting it on as if they were making their own porn movie. But wait - there's a car rally going on there too, with race-prepared cars flying around corners below the castle walls!
Just another one of the Czech Republic's little mysteries that have filled our daily lives since the last time Christmas rolled around.
Although at the same time last year miniskirts were clearly still being flaunted - this year we're almost exhaling icicles, and we still stop to look at puddles on footpaths and in gutters to see if they've ACTUALLY really frozen over. (We have to pretend we're looking for a lost coin though.)
Yes, everyone's Christmas rolls around quicker and quicker every year.
"What the f#$@ am I doing, sitting at the wheel in a fully-looaded transporter van with 2 colleagues next to me bouncing along the cobblestoned roads that will eventually turn into freeways, with the destination "Birmingham" plotted into the GPS navigator?" mused Brett one Sunday morning as he headed off on a 2+ week motorshow campaign for his MotoGP events company. It makes total sense, that you come to central europe to do a spot of teaching to ‘immerse’ yourself in the culture, you know, put on a tweed jacket and sit in a smoky bookshop cradling a pipe that you don’t actually know how to use (it happens!). What happened to take Brett away from Prague and on an international journey involving his MotoGP and travel dreams (and yes, leaving his girlfriend behind when he goes away).
When December rolled around Brett returned exhausted but with a complete racing outfit (no he didn’t sleep in it), and hibernated for days. Thank God for outdoor ice rinks in the center of town, so we were off like penguins, putting on our relaxed faces as we struggled to hold hands and glide effortlessly (so we thought) our anti-clockwise way around the rink full of expert tiny-tots diving in and out of our legs. Ahhh, time for some hot wine. And another one, please!
Winter a time for hibernation? Yeah right. If anything, all the shenanigans happen indoors out of sight. The girls showed Maria how to realllly let her hair down (don’t mention Becherovka to her – on fear of your life!), and we showed Russian Angela inside a real rocker’s bar: men thumping their chests, swinging from the lampshades, bartenders stripping their vests off, blowing fireballs with such ferocity we thought the whole wall of spirits behind them were going to spontaneously combust...
With one of our great mates, Sarah, leaving for home in the U.S. soon, December also brings its melancholy sadness. So we all upped and went off to the hockey stadium to see Czech Rep finally get one up over Sweden (another anniversary, we saw the same match last year). Now thoroughly experts in all things ice hockey, the sadness has been put on hold for now...
We’ve got a festive season to prepare for! Huge pools of live carp are already appearing on every other street corner and we’re on the hunt for the biggest turkey and leg of pork to roast for an Orphans’ Christmas lunch on the 25th. With Christmas falling on the evening of the 24th in Europe, we’ll be gathering with a bunch of other stranded ‘others’ for a feast of food, festivity...
... and a toast to all of you on the other side of the world, without whom Christmas just won’t be the same. Our friends here will help us to make it a special day in our own way – almost as good as the real thing which we’ll miss dearly.
So Veselé Vánocé a Stasné Nový Rok!
