By Ricky, on February 5th, 2021 Zámek Decín © Ricky Yates
I realised late yesterday, that 4th February is the birthday of my blog. My first ever post was published here on 4th February 2009 meaning that the blog is now twelve years old. Last night when I realised, I was immediately going to try to write and publish a birthday post as I have on several occasions in previous years. But I eventually decided that if I was going to write a coherent post, it might be better to wait until today 🙂
The blog has an amazing 435 posts. This will be post 436, the first in Year 13 of Ricky Yates – An Anglican in Bohemia & Saxony. Whilst I am very happy that the blog is now one year away from becoming . . . → Read More: Happy Twelfth Birthday to my blog
By Ricky, on January 31st, 2021
Stará Oleška 44, Sunday 31st January 2021 © Ricky Yates
Further to my previous post, ‘Winter has arrived‘, winter has definitely decided to stay 😉 We have had further snowfall since I last posted and there has been lying snow now for over three weeks.
It finally stopped snowing around lunchtime yesterday (30th). Overnight, the skies cleared and the temperature dropped to -10°C (14° Fahrenheit for my American visitors). But clear skies has meant bright sunshine all day today, creating the perfect opportunity for taking snowy photographs 🙂 Knowing from past comments, how much my previous snowy photographs have been appreciated, here are a few more.
Back garden, . . . → Read More: More snow
By Ricky, on January 15th, 2021
The view from my front door on Tuesday 12th January © Ricky Yates
As I explained in this post, the winter of 2019-2020 was remarkably mild. However, the winter we are currently experiencing is bearing a much greater similarity to my first two winters living here in Stará Oleška and a week ago, winter arrived with a vengeance.
Before Christmas, we had a dusting of snow on a few occasions, but it soon melted. On 26th December, Boxing Day, we had a further light snowfall but which again, mostly melted in the following twenty-four hours. But overnight Friday 8th – Saturday 9th January, snow fell once again and didn’t melt. And since then, snow has fallen, snow on snow!
. . . → Read More: Winter has arrived
By Ricky, on December 10th, 2020
The benefit of Brexit
As a recipient of a UK state pension and living in the Czech Republic, last Friday I received a letter from the British government. The letter was organised by the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey. Below is the text of what I have written in reply, sent this afternoon by email, to both ministers.
Dear Mr Raab, Dear Ms Coffey,
On Friday 4th December 2020, I received a letter entitled, ‘UK Transition Period: A message for UK Nationals living in the Czech Republic’. Ostensibly, it came from the British Embassy in Prague. However, as is acknowledged at the end of the letter, it was actually compiled by the Department of Work and . . . → Read More: A Letter to Dominic Raab and Thérèse Coffey
By Ricky, on November 24th, 2020
The viewing tower at Vlcí hora © Ricky Yates
As well as working on improving my garden, I’ve also been exploring more of the wonderful countryside in the surrounding area where I now live. I’ve enjoyed sharing several walks with my Czech friend Kát’a who, in turn, has been a great help to me in overcoming various Czech language issues.
Back on the afternoon of Wednesday 9th September, we climbed to the top of Vlcí hora (581m), a prominent mountain about forty-five minutes drive north-east of Stará Oleška, near the town of Krásná Lípa. Like so many Czech hills and mountains, Vlcí hora is completely forested. But also like quite a number of Czech hills and mountains, there is a viewing tower at the summit, which overcomes the problem of the trees . . . → Read More: Autumn walks
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