By Ricky, on May 25th, 2009
The power of blogging © Marco Rullkoetter
I started this blog, mainly as a way to keep friends and family up-to-date with what my new life in Prague is like. It also has proved to be quite therapeutic and has helped me clarify my thinking by having to write things down in a form that others can read and understand.
From the outset, I have been very conscious that I am a public figure (albeit a minor one) and that what I post on my blog promptly appears in the public domain. Therefore, I have always tried to be accurate with my facts and distinguish clearly between what is fact, over and against what is my opinion. But I never really expected it to be read much beyond my former parishioners in Oxfordshire, UK, various family members and friends, and now increasingly by members of my Prague . . . → Read More: Discovering the Power of Blogging!!!
By Ricky, on May 20th, 2009 Šárka Valley © Sybille Yates
I am often asked, both by old friends in the UK and by new friends here in Prague, whether there are things I miss now that I live in a European capital city rather than the Oxfordshire countryside. I usually respond by saying that the only thing I miss is being able see fields and hedgerows directly from the windows of my home. But although I now live in an urban rather than a rural environment, the countryside is not very far away. Just behind the Pat’anka flats complex where we now live is Prírodní Park Šárka – Lysolaje, the Šárka Valley Nature Reserve, an amazing steep-sided wooded valley which once you enter it, seems a million miles away from the busy city environment even though it isn’t!
The main way to explore the Šárka Valley is on foot. There is a network of . . . → Read More: Prírodní Park Šárka – Lysolaje
By Ricky, on May 12th, 2009 Temporary Residence – forever!
I blogged previously on 11th March, regarding our ongoing battle with Czech bureaucracy in seeking to obtain our residency permit with respective social security numbers from the Czech Foreign Police. Last week, more than a month after Andrea from the private registration agency had submitted all our signed & notarised forms, apostilled, translated and notarised marriage certificate, certified protocol regarding our flat etc, etc, we got an email saying that all was finally ready. Please would we attend the offices of the Foreign Police on Tuesday 12th May with our passports and health insurance cards, and our residency permit and respective social security numbers would be issued to us.
The offices of the Foreign Police open at 7.30am and we were advised to be there at that time as it would speed up proceedings. Sybille & I are not early morning people, so . . . → Read More: A 21st Century defenestration of Prague?
By Ricky, on May 8th, 2009
Schengen Visa – Image in public domain via Wikimedia
As I feared, Anna has suffered the same fate as Karen. Despite going in person to the Foreign Police three times this past week, accompanied by a Czech speaking friend, she has had to leave the country today. She was eventually told that her application for a work permit & residency visa, submitted in Berlin on 21st January 2009, would not be granted because she had exceeded the 90 days she was allowed to be in the Czech Republic as a tourist.
Anna sent me a text/SMS message with this information early on Wednesday afternoon. I rang her straight back and invited her to join Sybille & I for a meal at Grosetto that evening so I could learn more about her experience with the Foreign Police and also say a proper ‘Goodbye’. We had an . . . → Read More: Update on my previous post ‘More problems with Czech Bureaucracy’
By Ricky, on May 4th, 2009 Image taken from http://www.a-cesky-krumlov.com/guide#h4 assuming fair use. Please contact me if in breach of copyright
One of the things I was warned about before accepting an invitation to become Chaplain to a continental European Anglican Church, was having to cope with a high turnover of members of the congregation. Many people come to major European cities as exchange students, visiting lecturers or on short-term contracts for international companies. Therefore, they may only worship with you for a few months and then move on. Just as you feel you have got to know them, they are leaving. The constant round of farewells I was warned, could become quite dispiriting.
To be forewarned is to be forearmed so they say. Therefore when an American couple, Tom & Myra, came to St. Clement’s for the first time on my first Sunday last September, I soon discovered that they would only be worshipping . . . → Read More: More Problems with Czech Bureaucracy
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Sybille has written a book ;-)
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