Spring seems to be arriving!

Snowdrops in Stromovka Park © Ricky Yates

 

 

During the past three weeks, we’ve had numerous bright sunny days, enhanced by the hours of daylight getting longer each day. This has encouraged Sybille and I to get out walking and exploring again, especially on Mondays which are meant to be my regular weekly day-off.

As I wrote in an earlier post, three weeks ago on Monday 16th February, we made a round trip to Prague Zoo. A week later on Monday 23rd February, late in the morning, we left the flat, took the tram and travelled to Hlubocepy in the southern suburbs of Prague. From the tram stop, we made our way down to the side of the Vltava River and then walked all along the river bank to the village of Zbraslav.

 

 

 

 

 

. . . → Read More: Spring seems to be arriving!

A week of cold showers

Our heating & hot water plant © Ricky Yates

Visitors to the Chaplaincy Flat, when they look out from our main balcony, often ask exactly what is this industrial building, with its very tall chimney? The answer is that it’s a plant that produces hot water and heating for a large number of buildings in the immediate vicinity.

Judging by the utilitarian nature of it’s architecture, the plant clearly dates from the communist era. But it was obviously built with a far greater capacity than was necessary when first constructed. For now, the whole of ‘Rezidence Pobada’ is also supplied with heating and hot water from it. ‘Rezidence Pobada’, where the Chaplaincy Flat is situated, has been developed over the last ten years on the site . . . → Read More: A week of cold showers

Russell

Russell, in the garden of Bar-Restaurace Na Staré Fare © Ricky Yates

One of the things I really enjoy about this blog is when people respond to what I’ve written and leave a genuine comment. I say ‘genuine comment’ for, despite using a CAPTCHA Code, I still have to delete between twenty and fifty ‘spam comments’ each day, whilst approving and replying to the small number of genuine ones. I am also well aware that having to decipher and then enter the CAPTCHA Code, is what puts off many genuine people from ever leaving a comment in the first place.

Most of the small number of people who comment here regularly, are friends who are already known to me. But there are several others who I only know online. These are people who, in a variety of ways, have found my blog and are . . . → Read More: Russell

Prague Floods – June 2013

This was written and should have been posted late in the evening of Monday 3rd June. However, as I was uploading the photographs, the internet connection to the Chaplaincy Flat died, along with the landline phone. Nearly four days later, we are still without internet or phone. Our provider O2, tells us in a recorded message that they have ‘technical issues in our area’, with no information as to when these ‘technical issues’ will be resolved. We assume that floodwater has got into their system somewhere. I have finally managed to complete this post using the wifi connection in Bar-Restaurace U Topolu whilst eating my lunch 🙂

Don’t try walking or parking your car here © Ricky Yates

I have previously written on this blog, about flooding in Prague. I wrote that post from a historical perspective and illustrated . . . → Read More: Prague Floods – June 2013

A snowy weekend in Prague

Kostel sv Kliment / St. Clement’s Church in the snow © Ricky Yates

Last weekend, we had the heaviest snowfall here in Prague, since early January 2010. It started snowing late on Friday 22nd February and rarely stopped until just before Sybille and I left the Chaplaincy Flat to go to Church on Sunday morning. To give you a visual impression, here is a picture showing what Kostel sv Kliment / St. Clement’s Church looked like last Sunday, covered and surrounded by freshly fallen snow.

But in contrast to the UK, where everything seems to grind to a halt as soon as any snow falls, here in the Czech Republic, that just does not happen. So it was that Tram 8 arrived on time at 10.07 at the Podbaba tram stop, and whisked us off on our sixteen minute journey to Dlouhá trída, . . . → Read More: A snowy weekend in Prague