I know, I know, there hasn’t been a blog post since early January. Sadly, good intentions to write one have never come to fruition – until now! So here’s a bit of what’s been happening since I returned from Zermatt on New Year’s Eve 2025.
Health update
Let’s start with the good news!
Unlike in the UK, where when you reach the age of seventy, you have to self-declare that you are still fit to drive if you want to retain your driving license, in the Czech Republic, you are required to pass a medical examination. And the process starts five years earlier, on reaching your sixty-fifth birthday. A further examination is then required at age sixty-eight and every two years thereafter.
On 5th January 2026, a few weeks before my seventy-fourth birthday, I was medically examined by my GP and deemed fit to drive my car for a further two years, until the day before my seventy-sixth birthday in February 2028. I had to pay CZK 1100/GBP 39.15 for the privilege as it is one of the few things not covered by my otherwise totally free healthcare. But without having the resultant certificate, my car insurance would be invalid.
Also on a positive note, my INR, (level of thinness of my blood), has now fully settled down having been seriously disrupted by taking antibiotics to treat my Erysipelas infection. I am back to only needing to have it checked once every six weeks.
On the downside, the swelling of the lower part of my left leg, which never completely subsided following my Erysipelas infection has partially returned. I am back to taking anti-inflammatory tablets again to try and bring it under control. It subsides overnight but returns soon after getting out of bed each day. A further consultation with my GP will take place on Friday 26th June along with the regular check of my INR.
House
Over a period of several weeks from late March to mid-May, the father and son team of K & K renovace nemovitostí have renewed the cladding & improved the insulation of the enclosed verandah at the front of my house. Why it took so long to complete is another story 😉 but the end result is excellent.
What prompted this work was me asking Karel junior if they could repair this damaged section of the existing cladding, alongside the steps to the front door. Whilst he said they could repair it, he suggested that it would be much better to undertake a complete renovation of the whole exterior of the enclosed verandah and, as part of the work, improve the insulation. As in previous posts about the renovation of my house, I’ll let the photographs do most of the talking.
The photograph above shows what the front of the house looked like before work commenced.
Insulation material was inserted on the three exterior sides of the enclosed verandah, held in place by wire. Then a couple of wooden batons were attached to hold the new cladding.
All the new insulation material was then covered by a waterproof membrane.
Fresh insulation material was also inserted between the roof and the ceiling of the enclosed verandah.
New cladding was then attached.
The cause of the damage to the old cladding, as seen in the photograph at the beginning of this section, was rainwater dripping from the small gutter on the side of the perspex shelter above the front door, onto the steps and then splashing onto the wooden cladding.
So the old perspex shelter has been removed and a more extensive shelter erected over the front steps, with a gutter and downpipe to take rainwater well away from the new cladding.
Garden
A year ago, I discovered a tree surgeon called Michal who lives locally to me in Decín. He is the husband of Marcela who I’ve known for a few years through her teaching English classes held at the Hussite Church in Podmokly, the western part of Decín. Michal doesn’t have a word of English but communication via Marcela has worked perfectly 🙂
In June 2025, he cut down the branches of the popular tree that were hanging over the roof of my house, as well as removing two branches that had snapped of in a storm but were still caught up in the tree. He also seriously reduced part of the massive walnut tree in my back garden.
Through Marcela, I asked him to return this Spring, as he had previously said it would be the best time for him to work on the trees, and complete the reduction of the walnut tree.
He also said that the popular tree should cut right down drastically, assuring me that it would survive and sprout again. As it is very close to the house, I agreed to his suggestion.
One benefit of having all this work done has been the creation of a considerable new supply of firewood for next winter which Michal has kindly cut up and stacked in my woodshed. And I am hopeful that I will experience another benefit this coming Autumn with a much smaller leaf fall to rake and clear up.
Here are two photographs, taken yesterday, showing that both trees are still flourishing.
English-language ministry at the Dresden Frauenkirche
As I have explained previously, one of the two main reasons that the Church of England in Germany, was offered a monthly evening English-language Anglican service at the Frauenkirche, twenty years ago, is the strong links the Frauenkirche has with Coventry Cathedral through the Community of the Cross of Nails. Being born in Coventry and living and being educated in the city until the age of eighteen, makes my English-language ministry at the Frauenkirche very significant to me.
Over the past couple of years, I have got to know John Witcombe, the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, through his visit to Dresden in February 2025 and by attending worship at Coventry Cathedral when I’ve been in the UK.
More recently, the new Bishop of Coventry, Sophie Jelley, a fellow graduate of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford 🙂 made her first visit to Dresden on Sunday 26th October 2025 and was the preacher at the Festgottesdienst, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the consecration of the rebuilt Frauenkirche. I attended the service and got to meet her afterwards.
Over Easter 2026, I made my first UK visit of this year and worshiped at Coventry Cathedral on Easter Sunday morning. Dean John was the celebrant and +Sophie the preacher at the Eucharist and she recognised me in the congregation and greeted me warmly at the Peace. In her sermon, +Sophie spoke of her first visit to the Frauenkirche and of the shared ministry of reconciliation. It has been a real privilege to be a part of the significant relationship between the Cathedral of my home city and the Frauenkirche where I minister.
Having updated my safeguarding training and once more proved my lack of criminality in the Czech Republic, earlier this year, my Bishop’s Permission to Officiate (PTO) was renewed for a further three years, meaning I can continue to lead worship and preach in my active retirement. I’m very much looking forward to my next service at the Frauenkirche on the evening of Sunday 21st June when we will be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of English-language Anglican services, the first ever service being held on Sunday 18th June 2006.
I remain very grateful to the Intercontinental Church Society for their continued prayer support of my Dresden ministry. At the end of April, I was again able to attend their annual Chaplain’s conference held in Beatenberg, near Interlaken, in Switzerland. A lovely mixture of good teaching, fellowship and relaxation and you can’t really beat the view from my bedroom window 🙂
On my way back from the conference, I broke my journey, staying overnight in Bülach, near Zürich, meeting up with my friend Benedikt who I first met in Bavaria in 2004, when he was only sixteen years old. On the following morning, I drove us to Neuhausen am Rheinfall on the Swiss-German border and visited the impressive Rheinfall/ Rhine Falls where Benedikt kindly took this photograph of me. He then got the train back to Bülach and I drove on to Stará Oleška.
Postscript
There are several more things I could write about, particularly from my UK visit where I met up with both of my sisters as well as my two adult children and four grandchildren, watched Coventry City beat Derby County 3 – 2 at the CBS Arena, and at great expense, obtained a new British passport in Peterborough. But I want to get this published before it becomes six months since my last post.
