Prague Expat Life

Is Prague safe?

The centre of Prague from Letna © Ricky Yates

This is a question which I get asked from time-to-time, and in various forms, is one many of my congregation also get asked by their family and friends. So for anyone contemplating a visit to the delightful city of Prague, or thinking of coming to live in the Czech Republic in the near future, here is my answer to this question.

There is an inevitable tendency to think that where I normally live is safe, and to question the safety of anywhere else. This comes about because of familiarity – I am familiar with where I live and therefore I think it is a safe place. The worst offenders in this regard are Americans, partly because roughly two thirds of the American population, have never set foot outside the borders of their own country.

The reality is, that of all the nations in the developed Western world, the United States of America is actually one of the least safest places to live. It has one of the highest murder rates per head of population – 4.7 per 100,000. Compare this to the United Kingdom, where the rate is 1.2 per 100,000. And the Czech Republic? The most recent figures from 2012, show a murder rate of 0.8 per 100,000. So in simple terms, there is the answer to the question in the title of this post.

As in any major city, there is a certain risk of petty theft which any visitor or resident needs to be aware of. This usually takes the form of pickpocketing in busy places, such as Charles Bridge on a sunny summer’s day, or in crowded tram and metro carriages. Simple precautions, such as making sure your handbag or rucksack is closed properly, and not putting your wallet in your back trouser pocket where a thief can easily access it, are the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of this sort of crime.

Petty theft used to be a far bigger problem in Prague some years ago, than it is now. Because petty theft was giving the city a bad reputation, there was a major police effort to crack down on it, before it caused further damage to the important tourist trade. The effects of this is born out by my own experience which I do accept may not be statistically accurate 🙂

I have now lived in Prague for nearly five-and-a-half years. During the first eighteen months of my time here, two members of my congregation were victims of petty theft. One had her shoulder bag slashed whilst on a crowded tram, and various bank and credit cards stolen. The other had her mobile phone taken from her pocket whilst travelling in a crowded metro carriage. Since then, I’m only aware of one other congregational member who has suffered in this way – another female who had her iPhone stolen, though she admits she was rather careless with it.

One other way in which tourists can become victims of street crime, is to respond to shady individuals in the streets, who offer to ‘change money’ for you. Just ignore them and instead use a bank. Or draw Czech currency from an ATM using your bank debit card. You will get a far better exchange rate, without the risk of having your wallet snatched or being given counterfeit notes.

Quite honestly, the greatest risk to life and limb in Prague, are trams and motor vehicles. In simple terms, do not have an argument with a Prague tram – you will always lose! Except where a pedestrian crossing is controlled by lights, trams to do NOT stop for pedestrians. That is the reason the words ‘Pozor Tram‘, are painted on the tarmac before crossing tram lines!

Officially, all motor vehicles are meant to stop and give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings. Unfortunately, there are a proportion of Czech drivers who either ignore this law or believe that their urgency to reach their destination, is vastly more important than your right to cross the road in safety. Just be aware of this and exercise your right of way with caution.

Even late at night, Prague is a very safe city. I know from personal experience that I would much prefer to travel on the Prague Metro late at night, than on the London Underground. Several other people that I know, have expressed similar sentiments. Of course, there are a few areas of the city which are best avoided late at night, in particular, several streets off Václavské námestí / Wenceslas Square. This is where certain of the more unsavoury aspects of city life can be seen, and young ladies are best advised not to walk through there wearing short skirts, or there is the risk of being mistaken for what they are not!

However, with that one proviso, and by taking simple precautions against petty theft, Prague is a very safe city both to visit and in which to reside. A place with far less dangers than many other cities in the developed Western world.

Happy Fifth Birthday to my blog

A rare sight - Charles Bridge with hardly any tourists! © Ricky Yates — A rare sight – Charles Bridge with hardly any tourists! © Ricky Yates

Tomorrow, Tuesday 4th February 2014, this blog will be five years old. My first ever blog post, entitled ‘Episcopal Taxi Service‘, was published here on 4th February 2009. Five years later, this is post number two hundred & fifty eight.

In some respects, I’m a little disappointed with myself. Two years ago, I set myself the target of publishing fifty-two blog posts in the year – an average of one a week. As I explained twelve months later, I eventually only managed fifty. This year, having set myself the same target, I have again fallen short as, with this post, I have only managed to publish forty-six.

On the positive side as I look back over the past five years, I am quite pleased with what I have achieved. For example, if you scroll down and click on ‘Select Month’, under ‘Archives’ in the right-hand side bar, you will discover there isn’t a single one of the past sixty months, when I haven’t published a blog post. And in fifty-nine of those sixty months, it has always been more than one!

Without blowing my own trumpet too loudly, I do contrast this with several other blogs I’ve followed over the time that I’ve been blogging, which have gone well for a while and then have quietly died. Or those that start out very well-intentioned, and then have failed to manage more than two or three posts. If you are going to first build and then maintain interest in your blog, it is essential to add a new post at reasonably regular intervals which is what I have always tried to do, even though I haven’t done so quite as frequently as I would have liked to have done.

In some respects, my blog has become far more widely read and appreciated, than I ever could have imagined when I started writing it five years ago. As I’ve previously explained, the original aim was to update family, friends and former parishioners in the UK, about my new life in Prague and my role as the Anglican Chaplain. But I now seem to have gained a following amongst English-speaking Czechs, both those living in their country of origin and others currently residing elsewhere. Additionally, I appear to be read by other English-speaking expats living in the Czech Republic and by both current and former members of my Prague and Brno congregations.

One very satisfying result of my five years of blogging is that it has brought people to Church. Just a few weeks ago, I was standing at the door of the Church, shaking hands with members of the congregation following our Sunday Eucharist. A British couple who were visiting Prague, introduced themselves and told me that they had decided to come and worship at St. Clement’s simply because they had read my blog!

Another reason why my blog attracts as many visitors as it does, is that a small number of posts, rank highly in Google and other search engines, for the topic they cover. An enquiry as how to register a British or Irish right-hand drive car in the Czech Republic, will promptly highlight my two posts from 2009 – ‘Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road‘ and ‘Check this Czech car out!‘. Consequently, I’ve several times generated business for my friend Adrian Blank, who was so helpful to me in getting the ‘Carly’ through all the necessary hoops nearly five years ago.

I also really ought to be on commission from the Czech Tourist Board as my post from January 2011, entitled ‘Why I like living in Prague‘, remains as one of the most popular landing pages for new arrivals to my blog.

A major change in my blogging practice came at the end of May 2012 when I started using a brand new laptop computer, one on which I still work. This, together with the ever-increasing availability of wifi internet connection in restaurants and hotels, has allowed me to both write and published blog posts, without being located in the Chaplaincy Flat in Prague. Thus in June 2013, when flooding caused us to lose our internet connection for seventeen days, I was able to publish a post using the wifi provided by Bar-Restaurace U Topolu. Later that month, I both wrote and published a blog post, whilst on holiday in the Orlické hory.

This fifth birthday for my blog, has come immediately following the events I described in my previous post – the publication of an abbreviated and very poorly translated version of one of my blog posts, by the the online Czech tabloid Prásk!, both without any link to my original or seeking my consent. I have written to the Director of PR and communications of the offending media company, seeking a published apology, but have yet to receive any reply. However, without condoning the behaviour of the Nova media group, I’m increasingly taking what has happened to me as a back-handed compliment.

It has resulted in a massive increase in visitor numbers to my blog, with numerous English-speaking Czechs leaving interesting and appreciative comments. And the number of Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ for ‘How to be Czech in ten easy steps‘, yesterday went past 8,000! Twelve days after the offending article was published online, my blog which normally has around fifty or sixty visitors each day, still had well over four hundred. Clearly I had better take full advantage of my new-found fame 🙂

So as ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’, enters the sixth year of publication, I shall seek to continue to write and reflect upon my experience of ministering to English-speakers from around the world and living as an expat myself in this fascinating city and the wider Czech Republic. Hopefully, those who have recently discovered the blog for the first time, will continue to visit.

Whilst I have a number of plans for future blog posts, if there are any particular topics my regular readers would like me to tackle, please let me know your thoughts. In the meantime, join with me in raising your glass to celebrate the fifth birthday of ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’.

I must be a good writer – my blog has been plagiarised!

An example of Prague architecture to brighten a dark winter day © Ricky Yates

By far the most popular post on my blog, is one I wrote in February 2013 entitled, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps‘. As I explained in a follow up post last month, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps – revisited‘, the original post almost immediately went viral resulting in the blog getting 2,040 visits, the day after it was published. And as explained in that follow-up post, there was another major surge of interest in the first half of December 2013.

But all of this pales into insignificance in the light of what has happened in the last few days. The reason – an online Czech tabloid ‘newspaper’ Prásk!, has published in Czech, a completely plagiarised version of ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps’. To see it, follow this link .

It is one the worst examples of tabloid journalism I have seen in a very long time. The headline reads in translation, ‘Shocking instructions from an American website: Ten Steps on how to become Czech’. I presume that, purely because my blog has a dot com domain, the ‘journalist’ has immediately assumed that the author is American and the website is based in the United States. Wrong – the author is British and has lived in Prague for over five years. Incidentally, I do have great difficulty calling the creator of this article a ‘journalist’ – his activities are a complete denigration of an important profession.

What follows is a completely plagiarised version of my blog post. In places, what I wrote has been abbreviated. In other places, in particular under point seven, there are additions which are not part of my original text. Nowhere is there any acknowledgement of the source of the original article.

The article is illustrated with five photographs. Three of them are from microstock sites to whom I assume, the publishers have paid for the rights to use them. However, the other two photographs have been pulled directly from my blog post. One of them, the photograph of the lady in skin tight black jeans and knee-high white boots with serious heels, is from a free image site. It was found by Sybille for me to use, hence it appears in my blog without acknowledgement. But the other, of various pairs of shoes outside a door, is my own photograph and appears on my blog as © Ricky Yates. Yet, in total breach of the law of copyright, the publishers of Prásk! have decided they can use it without permission or acknowledgement.

Prásk! is published by the same media company who own TV Nova, a major commercial television channel here in the Czech Republic. Imagine that I made a video of one of their popular programmes, put it on DVD and started marketing and selling pirated copies. Their lawyers would be down on me like ton of bricks in no time at all. Please note CET 21 spol. s r.o., who claim copyright to the whole of the prask.nova.cz website, including the plagiarised version of my blog post, the law of copyright, also applies to you!

I am extremely grateful to Igor, someone who I do not know, who kindly left a comment on my blog late last Thursday evening, alerting me to the plagiarised version of of my blog post that had been published by Prásk!. He asked, ‘Did you give them permission?’ followed by a smiley. I think he already knew the answer! Thank you again Igor!

Fortunately, the publishers of Prásk!, allow people to leave comments. Within an hour of publication, one person had already left a link to my original blog post. Several others had also pointed out that I was British and not American and that I lived in Prague. Of course there were others who took no notice of this information and instead left rude comments about Americans.

Very late on last Thursday evening, I left the following comment.

‘As several commenters have already pointed out, the original article can be found here https://rickyyates.com/how-to-be-czech-in-10-easy-steps/ & I am the author. This is a shortened & plagiarised version of it. Clearly prask.nova.cz have not heard of the word ‘copyright’. In particular, the photograph of shoes before the door is my photograph which I have not given permission to be used. prask.nova.cz could also spend a few minutes doing a little research – I am British, NOT American, & have l lived in the Czech Republic for over five years. However, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’.

I am pleased to say that this comment, despite being written in English, rather than Czech, at the time of writing, has received 48 ‘likes’.

But the most amazing outcome of this act of plagiarism, has been the impact on visitor numbers to my blog. On Thursday 23rd January, the day the Prásk! article was published, this blog had 5,272 visitors. On Friday 24th January, it was 8,695 visitors, more than four times the previous highest total of 2,040. Today, as it is just approaching midnight, the total has passed 4,000. I suspect that this proves the old saying that, ‘All publicity is good publicity’.

Likewise, ‘How to be Czech in 10 easy steps’, now has over 6,400 ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on Facebook and has been ‘tweeted’, forty-seven times. As Sybille keeps reminding me, I need to get on and finish writing my book, ‘How to be Czech’, ASAP! It seems that plenty of people will want to buy it.

In the meantime, whilst I cannot afford a copyright lawyer, via this post and in any other ways possible, I shall seek to embarrass the publishers of Prásk!, their ‘journalist’ who does not even give his name but only his initials ‘pul’, and the management of TV Nova and the media company CET 21 spol. s r.o.. As another of my commenters has remarked, ‘The behaviour of Prásk! tabloid is unacceptable and repugnant. I concur!

‘Sunday – it’s the only day you work’

This is a comment that I have heard so many times, with occasional slight variations, that it ought to by now have exceedingly long grey whiskers on it. Yet each time I hear it said, the person saying it to me thinks they are being highly amusing. So please excuse this little rant as I try to debunk yet another popular myth about the clergy.

Yes, I do work on Sunday – and often for quite long hours. When I conduct a service in Brno as well as in Prague, I’m away from home for around a minimum of thirteen hours and drive about 420 kilometres. If I travel by train, whilst I don’t have to drive, I don’t get home until after midnight, having left the Chaplaincy Flat at around 10.00 in the morning.

I would hope that anyone with a few grams of common sense, would realise that Sunday worship does not just ‘happen’ – it has to be planned. There is the obvious matter of writing a sermon, having reflected on the Biblical readings set by the Lectionary. But there are also hymns to be chosen and appropriate insertions into the liturgy to be identified. Then because I live a twenty minute tram journey from the Church, I always have to make sure in advance, that I have with me everything I will need. When going to Brno, this is even more important.

As in many Churches, we produce a ‘Weekly Bulletin’ or ‘pew sheet’, to be given to everyone attending worship, along with a copy of the the Order of Service and a hymn book. It contains the text of the Biblical readings, the Collect, along with notices and details of forthcoming events. Again, that does not mysteriously appear – it has to be drafted, proof-read and then printed.

As in so many professions these days, I have to deal with a lots of administration. I suspect that many of my readers would be amazed at the number of emails that land in my Inbox each day, nearly all of which are expecting a quick, detailed and accurate reply. In November and December last year, I did manage for once, to pre-empt enquiries about when and what time were our Christmas services, by posting all the details on our Church website in early November. But doing that is a time consuming administrative task in its own right. And although it is still January, I’ve already had the first enquiry as to whether we are holding services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and if so, what time do they start!

Like most clergy, I hold an office – I am the Anglican Chaplain in the Czech Republic. I do not have a job description with set hours. I also have the constant tension between ‘being‘ and ‘doing‘. If asked, most people would expect me to be giving time to praying, reading the scriptures, together with further theological study. This is what I would describe as ‘being‘. Yet at the same time, there is the expectation that I should be out and about and be seen to be ‘doing‘ things. A balance between these two is extremely difficult to find.

Even when I am ‘doing’, it is frequently the case that I do not really want others to know very much about what I am doing. Spending time with a couple with marriage difficulties or giving a listening ear to someone who is depressed, is an important part of my ministry but the the last thing the individuals concerned need, is me broadcasting details of my pastoral work.

Some things are more public such as leading mid-week study groups and conducting the occasional weddings. But just like Sunday services, these too don’t happen without appropriate preparation. And like nearly all of the other things I have outlined here, they rarely take place on a Sunday but on the other six days of the week.

I will finish this post/rant with an exchange Sybille saw on Facebook, several months ago. An Anglican priest wrote, “The next person who tells me I only work on Sundays is likely to be punched in the face!’ His Bishop responded, “And I will hold him down whilst you do so, with all the love of Jesus in my heart!” Whilst I have no time for threats of physical violence, I do know all too well, where the priest was coming from. And how nice to have such a supportive bishop 🙂

2014 – The year ahead

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates

On the first day of 2014, it seems good to think and write about the year ahead and what it might have in store for Sybille and I, for the Anglican congregations in Prague and Brno that I lead, and for the wider Czech Republic. What follows is what I’m currently contemplating, but as always, God might have other ideas 🙂

New leadership of State and Church

It does appear that, more than two months after elections at the end of October, the Czech Republic will once again, shortly have a properly functioning government which is able to command a majority in the lower house of parliament. It will be a three-party coalition, with Bohuslav Sobotka, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (CSSD), as Prime Minister.

However, one can never be sure, especially as all ministerial appointments have to be approved by President Miloš Zeman. Whilst the three political parties who will form the coalition have agreed on the number of ministries they will each control, the names of those proposed as ministers have yet to be made public. Several likely ministerial candidates from the CSSD are people Zeman fell out with before leaving the CSSD some ten years ago. Apparently, according to press reports, the President has indicated that he might refuse to formally appoint some of these individuals, should they be nominated.

If this happens, the matter will probably end up with a complaint to the Constitutional Court, seeking a ruling as to the extent of presidential powers. I do hope that all sides will see common sense and put the well-being of the country ahead of settling old personal and political scores.

It also does appear, that sometime in the coming Spring, the name of the next Anglican Bishop of the Diocese in Europe, will be announced. He, (sadly no chance of ‘she’ just yet), will succeed Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, who retired in early November 2013. If you want to know more about what lies ahead for my next Bishop, see this link to the ‘Description of the Diocese and Statement of Needs‘.

I do find it absurd that, having known since early 2013, the date of Bishop Geoffrey’s retirement, it is only now that the process of appointing his successor is underway. What other major organisation, knowing the date of the forthcoming retirement of its CEO, would not have appointed their successor and had them ready to take over straight-away, thus ensuring a smooth transition? I do think that this is where the Church of England does need a complete rethink. I experienced a very similar situation previously in the Diocese of Oxford where we were without a Diocesan Bishop for around eighteen months.

The Liturgical Year ahead

This year, Easter Day is quite late, falling on Sunday 20th April. This is vastly preferable as far as I’m concerned, in comparison to 2013 when Easter Day was 31st March, the clocks went forward one hour overnight the night before, and there was snow on the ground in Brno.

What it also means is that there is a far longer period of ‘Ordinary Time’, between the end of the Epiphany season on 2nd February, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, which with Easter Day being late, in 2014 falls on Wednesday 5th March.

Therefore, with now being in Year A of the three-year cycle of readings from the Revised Common Lectionary when the Gospel of Matthew predominates, throughout February, the Sunday readings focus on sections of the Sermon on the Mount. This should certainly make for interesting preaching material!

However, I note that during Lent, we also get several large chunks of the Gospel of John each Sunday. Appropriate Lenten penance, both in the time it takes to read the passages as well as then trying to expound them 🙂

Family, holidays and travel

I am looking forward to my son Phillip and his girlfriend Lisa, coming to Prague for a long weekend visit at the end of February. The dates of their visit were partly governed by when jet2.com are scheduled to resume their East Midlands Airport – Prague flights after a post-Christmas/New Year hiatus of seven weeks.

Phillip & Lisa during their previous visit in January 2013 © Ricky Yates

But I’ve since discovered that the weekend they are here, is when the Czech Gambrinus Football League resumes matches following their current mid-winter break. It means that Phillip and I can go and see Dukla Praha play in their stadium which lies directly behind where the Chaplaincy Flat is located, something we’ve talked about doing for the past four years. Dukla will be home to FK Teplice – a fourth versus third-in-the-table clash, which should be most enjoyable. Sybille has promised to take Lisa for a ‘Girls night out’ 🙂

After last year’s Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) Chaplains and Families Conference being held in Switzerland, this year the ICS conference will be in the UK, between Monday 12th – Friday 16th May, in a Conference Centre on the Leicestershire-Northamptonshire border, near Market Harborough. As this location lies almost equidistant between my daughter and son-in-law’s home in Daventry, and Phillip’s home in Nottingham, my plan is to take a week of annual leave following the conference, and spend time with both of them.

I have also been doing some price comparisons and have decided that probably the cheapest, and certainly the most convenient way to travel, will be to drive back to the UK, meaning the first time my right-hand-drive car, will have been driven on the left side of the road, for nearly six years. This will allow me easy movement around the UK which will hopefully also include a trip to the south coast to see one or both of my sisters.

The other big family news I hinted at, in reply to a comment on an earlier post about ‘Discovering the Way of St. James in the Czech Republic‘. Probably starting in late May/early June, Sybille is planning to make a long distance pilgrimage and walk from Prague, all the way to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. We reckon that she will need somewhere in the region of four months to complete the journey, meaning that she will not be back in Prague until probably early October.

Provisionally, I am planning to take a couple of weeks of annual leave in July-August, and walk with her through part of France. I may well be able to bring back some things she will not require in Spain, thus lightening her load.

Eastern Archdeaconry Synod

Further ahead, at the end of September, there will be the annual meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod which in 2014, as I previously indicated, is being hosted by the Prague Anglican congregation. I’m very much looking forward to it, especially if we by then, finally have a Diocesan Bishop who is able to join us. But there is a lot of planning and organisational work to undertake in the meantime.