North Bohemia – Page 5

A danger of driving in the Czech Republic

According to a news report I read some time ago, the three most common causes of road traffic accidents in the Czech Republic are: First – driving too fast. Second – driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Third – hitting a wild animal, either a deer or a wild boar. Unfortunately, late on the night of Monday 27^th September, I joined those statistics 🙁

I was giving a lift to my friend Kát’a, from a rather late evening appointment in Ceská Lípa, to her home in Decín. Driving through the forested area between Kamenický Šenov and Ceská Kamenice, I had a major altercation with a large deer. It suddenly appeared out of the forest on my left. I only saw it for a nano-second before it crashed into the front driver’s side of the car and smashed the windscreen.

Thankfully, neither of us were physically hurt and, being on a straight stretch of road, I was very easily able to bring the car to a halt. However, we were both quite shaken up by the experience. I was also covered with numerous small shards of glass from the broken windscreen. I thought that I had brushed or shaken them all off me, but then found one sticking out of my left index finger when I woke up in my bed the following morning!

Several people who have already heard this story have asked, ‘What about the deer?’ The answer is that I do not know. Once I had stopped the car and looked in my rear-view mirror, I expected to see a dead body lying in the road. But there wasn’t one. The deer had run off into the forest on the other side of the road from whence it had come. But at around midnight and very shaken by what had happened, I wasn’t prepared to walk into a dark Czech forest to make further enquiries.

Although the windscreen was smashed, the bodywork damaged and my driver’s side door would not open properly, the car was still just mobile. So I eventually decided that the best thing to do was to drive on, very carefully. I could still just about see where I was going and I drove quite slowly to ensure the windscreen didn’t implode any further. Fortunately, it being so late at night, there was very little traffic on the roads and I safely delivered Kát’a to her flat and then drove back to my own home in Stará Oleška. Climbing out of the car via the front passenger-side door, was an ‘interesting’ exercise 😉

The following day was a public holiday so I could do nothing to start the process of getting the car repaired. That evening, I went for a drink at Bar Restaurace U Soni and was greeted on my arrival by Libor, (husband of Sona, the boss of U Soni), and by Karel, (father of a young lady who I have helped with her school English). They both gave me a knowing look and said, ‘Jelen‘, which is Czech for deer. Living in this heavily forested area, what had happened to me is a well-known local hazard.

After conversations with my insurers, much aided by Kát’a, my car was eventually collected and taken to a repair shop in Ústí nad Labem. This was one of three possible repairers recommended by my insurers. The Ústí repairer promised to start work on Monday 11^th October. The other two could only offer a start date later in October.

After much toing and froing with paperwork between my insurers, the repair shop and me, including the demand for a scan of the medical certificate that says I’m fit to drive as I’m over sixty-five, finally on Wednesday 27^th October, I got a text message to say I could collect my car. A journey by bus, train and another bus, got me there. I was required to pay 5808 Kc / £191.00 / €227.00 being 5% of the total repair cost. Insurance has fortunately covered the other 95% – a not inconsiderable sum!

Golf Carly dva duly repaired © Ricky Yates

Being without a car for a whole month was very frustrating. It was also a little expensive as I decided that to get to certain appointments and complete tasks, I needed a car. So I hired one for several days, a Škoda Fabia which, as I said at the time, made me completely Czech 🙂

Once I got my car back, I then had another expense, one that I was expecting. As I explained in my previous post about buying the car in March this year, it came fitted with Summer tyres. As it is a legal requirement here to have Winter tyres with at least 4mm of tread, when driving between 1^st November and 31^st March, on Thursday 4^th November, I drove down to my good friend Adrian Blank in Nepomuk, to have four brand new Winter tyres fitted. Now I’m ready to face the coming Winter, hopefully without any further altercations with deer.

A climb to Mariina skála

The new gazebo on the summit of Mariina skála © Ricky Yates

Mariina skála is a prominent rock outcrop, 428 metres above sea level, located north of the village of Jetrichovice, which is in turn, around 12km north of Stará Oleška, the village where I live. Perched on top of the rock is a gazebo forming a viewing platform, with spectacular views across the surrounding area.

Back in late March 2016, I did climb up to Mariina skála as I describe and illustrate in the latter part of this post. But more recently, I have wanted to return for two reasons. Firstly, the weather on that previous visit was somewhat misty, which restricted the views. Secondly, I had seen in local news reports, that a brand new gazebo had been erected earlier this year, replacing its predecessor which had become unsafe.

Therefore, when Monday 6^th September dawned fine and sunny, I drove to Jetrichovice and then set out on the red waymarked route, to climb up to the top of Mariina skála. Jetrichovice is around 230 metres above sea level meaning a fairly steep climb of about 200 metres or 650 feet.

In many places, the route is a series of steps cut out of the surrounding sandstone rock as in the two photographs above.

Just occasionally, the path is a little less steep which allowed me to catch my breath 🙂

Here is the first view I got of the new gazebo….

…..just before the point where I needed to detour from the red waymarked route, in order to reach the summit.

This photograph, taken standing on the first section of the viewing platform, shows some of the steps I had to climb to get there. But the spectacular views made the effort in climbing more than worthwhile as I hope the following photographs illustrate.

View from Mariina skála looking towards the border with Germany © Ricky Yates

View from Mariina skála with the conical hill Ružovský vrch © Ricky Yates

Jetrichovice from Mariina skála using the zoom function on my camera © Ricky Yates

My house is now connected to mains water – update

The front lawn of Stará Oleška 44 on 13th December 2020 © Ricky Yates

As is illustrated in my previous post about how, on Sunday 25^th October 2020, my house was connected to mains water, part of the work involved digging a deep trench right across the front lawn. Because late October is the end of the growing season here, I realised that I wouldn’t be able to do anything to repair the grass, until the Spring of 2021. The photograph above, taken on 13^th December 2020, after I had finished severely pruning all the bushes down the right-hand side of the lawn, shows the extent of the damage.

Excess earth from digging the ‘shaft’ © Ricky Yates

As I wrote in that previous post, there was also excess earth that needed to be taken away from where the contractors had dug the hole for the ‘shaft’.

Strip of public land in front of my front hedge on 6th November 2020 © Ricky Yates

And the strip of public land between the concrete gully and my front hedge still needed to be made good, which also involved removing excess earth and rubble.

Earlier this year, I decided that I would use the need to repair the damage done to the grass, as an opportunity to make other improvements to the front garden. I wanted to get rid of two unsightly trees, a half-dead bush and a shrub. I also wanted to remove three lumps of concrete near the house, two of which I believe were the base of steps up to the original front door, which was on the far side of the now enclosed verandah.

Believing that some of these tasks were beyond my capabilities, my friend Kát’a kindly found me a landscape gardener, Mr Bezdekovský, and in mid-April, he came to look at what I wanted doing. He gave me a very reasonable quotation and promised start work on Wednesday 5^th May, providing it wasn’t raining heavily 😉

The front garden before work commenced © Ricky Yates

This is how the front garden looked on the morning of Wednesday 5^th May, before Mr Bezdekovský and his colleague started work.

The front garden a few hours later © Ricky Yates

And this is how it looked a few hours later, after the unwanted trees, bush and shrub had been removed, together with the addition of a pile of fresh earth to help with reseeding all the bare patches.

Concrete block refusing to move © Ricky Yates

But what I and Mr Bezdekovský had not realised was how deeply embedded two of the three lumps of concrete were. Here is the first one that they tried, and failed 🙁 to remove, using a pickaxe and spade.

Part of a concrete block after being extracted © Ricky Yates

So the following day, they returned with a pneumatic drill/jack-hammer and eventually managed to extract all three concrete lumps. Here is part of the first one.

And here is the resultant hole! However, the excess earth that the contractors never came back to take away in October/November 2020, proved highly beneficial, as Mr Bezdekovský was able to use most of it to fill three large holes 🙂 The remainder, he loaded onto his trailer, along with the lumps of concrete, and took it all away for disposal.

Front lawn on 6th May 2021 © Ricky Yates

At the end of day two, this was how the front lawn looked with all holes filled and the bare earth seeded.

Area around the shaft seeded © Ricky Yates

The area around the shaft seeded with excess soil removed.

Public strip of land levelled © Ricky Yates

The strip of public land cleared of excess earth and rubble and levelled.

Front lawn on 31st May 2021 © Ricky Yates

Fast forward three and a half weeks and this is what the front lawn looked like after I mowed it for the first time in 2021.

Front lawn on 20th July 2021 © Ricky Yates

And here is a more recent photograph, taken on Tuesday 20^th July 2021.

Blog update

Wisteria flowering at the back of my house © Ricky Yates

I am very aware that it is now two and a half months since I last published a blog post. I am also aware that, either in the text of previous posts or in answering comments, I have promised to provide further updates on things I’ve written about. So this post is my attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

Back in late April I complained that ‘Someone keeps trying to kidnap Spring‘. Well Spring did eventually arrive as I hope is illustrated by this photograph of wisteria flowering at the back of my house, taken at the end of May. But it has been noticeable how much later plants and trees have been producing leaves or flowering, in comparison to previous years. The time lag has been in the region of two to three weeks.

I am pleased to report that after complaining that ‘It’s beginning to be a bit expensive…..‘, and that ‘There is a very big hole in my bank account‘, I have not incurred any further unexpected major expenses. I have however, had one that I anticipated.

I pay for my electricity by a monthly direct debit with my meter being read once a year in June. At that point, an invoice or refund is issued, depending on whether I’ve paid too little or too much over the previous eleven months. In June 2020, I received a small refund of CZK 750/GBP25.00. In June 2021, I received an invoice for CZK 6,985/GBP232.80 🙁

As I’ve said, I did anticipate that I would be asked to pay a little extra, though probably not as much as nearly CZK 7000. I was very aware that, because of the severe weather last winter, I’d made considerable use of the electrical heater in my study bedroom, whilst waiting each day for the wood-burning stove to fully warm the house.

But the other reason is the COVID-19 pandemic. In any normal year, I would spend at least three weeks away from my home. During that time, the only things using electricity would be my fridge and freezer. Everything else would be turned off. But after returning home from the UK on the evening of 27^th December 2019, I haven’t spent one night anywhere else but in Stará Oleška 44.

No direct debits were made in either June or July. But because of my increased usage of electricity, my monthly direct debit in August until June next year, will be CZK 600/GBP20.00 more than it has been in the past two years 🙁

I sadly have to report that I have had no reply to my ‘letter to Victoria Prentis MP‘, other than an automated email acknowledging receipt, despite sending it two and a half months ago. If there are any benefits from Brexit, then Ms Prentis has had more than enough time to compile a list and send it to me. Of course, there aren’t any benefits. But even if she knows that, she dare not say it because it would cost her job as a junior minister at the Department of Farming, Fisheries and Food. To remain in post and to remain as a Conservative MP, you have to be a sycophant to Bungling Boris 🙁

I do however, have one piece of very good news to report. On Friday 11^th June, I was vaccinated at my GP practice in Prague and received my EU Digital COVID Certificate. And because I received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I have only had to have a needle stuck in me once 🙂

The final post about which I promised update was regarding the house now being connected to mains water. The new mains water supply has been completely problem-free. But getting piles of earth shifted and disturbed areas of ground made good has been a long saga which deserves a post in its own right. So I’m going to finish this post now and promise to publish a further one in the next few days.

A letter to Victoria Prentis MP

This past week, I have personally experienced the ‘wonderful benefits’ of Brexit. So I decided to write to my MP and tell her all about it. My letter to the honourable member for North Oxfordshire and junior government minister – Victoria Prentis MP.

Dear Mrs Prentis,

Although I have lived outside of the UK for over twelve years, I am currently still on the electoral register as a former resident of Finmere, in the eastern extremity of your constituency. So I am writing to tell you of my recent experience of the great benefits of Brexit.

On 10^th April 2021, I ordered online, an item of clothing, manufactured in the UK, from a UK supplier. I paid £75.00, together with a further £18.95 for shipping via Royal Mail Track & Trace. When the UK was still a member of the EU, the parcel containing my order would normally have been delivered to my home in the far north of the Czech Republic, some seven to ten days later.

However, because of Brexit and the wonderful Trade and Cooperation Agreement negotiated by your party leader and prime minister, my parcel was instead held in Czech Customs, upon its arrival in Prague. I then received a registered letter explaining various ways for me to receive my parcel, all of which would involve additional costs.

I eventually decided to collect my parcel in person, whilst having to be in Prague for a medical appointment. As well as having to make a difficult journey across a city with a population of 1.3 million, (somewhat bigger than Banbury or Bicester in your constituency), I was also required to pay tax and customs duty of CZK 696/£23.60, increasing the cost of the goods by over 25%.

So as you can see, one great benefit of Brexit is that I have been forced to make an additional contribution to the income of the Czech government. The second benefit is that the cost of goods ordered from UK businesses by any of 446 million people resident in the EU, has been increased by around 25%. I am sure you will see both of these things as being highly beneficial to the future well-being of the United Kingdom.

Yes – I am being very sarcastic. But please explain to me; what are the benefits of Brexit? Do not give me the line about regaining sovereignty. The whole concept is nebulous and my question in return would be, ‘What have you done with your sovereignty today?’

The truthful answer to my question is that there are none! The Emperor doesn’t have any new clothes. And that truth needs to be said loudly and clearly.

Yours faithfully

Ricky Yates

Postscript

I promise to report the details of any reply that I receive. However, my hopes are not high for a truthful answer from someone whose party leader and prime minister is an inveterate liar.