By Ricky, on May 14th, 2012 
Further to my most recent post that has attracted both a considerable number of comments and also aroused a little bit of controversy, here is a funny poem on a related theme. A reminder that spelling checkers have their limitations.
Spring tulips © Ricky Yates
Eye halve a spelling chequer, It came with my pea sea, It plainly marques four my revue Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a quay and type a word And weight four it two say, Weather eye am wrong or write, It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid It nose bee fore two long, And eye can putt the error rite, Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it, I am shore your pleased two no, Its letter perfect all the weigh My chequer . . . → Read More: The danger of purely relying on spelling checkers
By Ricky, on May 10th, 2012 
Magnolia flowering © Ricky Yates
Ever since I started writing this blog more than three years ago, I have always sought to recognise three important things. Firstly, I am a native first-language English-speaker. Secondly, I am an expatriate, living in a foreign country – in my case, the Czech Republic. Thirdly, I am a Christian minister – an Anglican priest in the Church of England.
Therefore, as far as I am concerned, numerous consequences flow from these three things.
As a native first-language English-speaker, it behoves me to use correct English spelling and grammar; particularly so when I have written and posted many times about the numerous examples of Czenglish which I regularly encounter. As a foreigner resident in the Czech Republic, it is essential that when I write about Czech history and geography, I get my facts and locations correct. As a Christian minister, . . . → Read More: My blogging and online philosophy
By Ricky, on May 8th, 2012
Statue of Soviet Marshall Ivan Konev with floral tributes © Ricky Yates
Inscription alongside the statue © Ricky Yates
Today is a public holiday here in the Czech Republic, as it is in several other European countries. The public holiday marks the ending of World War Two, sixty-seven years ago, on 8th May 1945.
I took the photograph on the left today. It is of a statue that stands in Námestí Interbrigády, a large square on one side of Jugoslávských partyzánu, the main thoroughfare leading from our nearest Metro station at Dejvická, to Podbaba where we live. And the person it portrays is Marshall Ivan Stepanovich Konev of the Soviet Red Army, who led the troops that liberated Prague from Nazi occupation, finally entering the city early on 9th May 1945, just a few hours after the unconditional surrender of all Nazi troops . . . → Read More: Liberation Day – 8th May 2012
By Ricky, on April 23rd, 2012
Our first outdoor beers of 2012 © Ricky Yates
Back in 1970 when I was just eighteen years old, I went off to see the world and emigrated from England to live in the Australian island state of Tasmania. As well as being a formative experience, one thing I discovered whilst living there, really surprised me. Despite Tasmania having at that time, a population of only just over 400,000, there was a great rivalry between those who lived in the south of the island, particularly in the state capital Hobart, and those who lived in the north of the island, either in the second city Launceston, or in the string of towns along the North-West coast.
Bearing in mind that Tasmania was and still is the smallest of the six Australian states, both in area and population, it did seem odd to me that there should be . . . → Read More: Rivalries within small states & nations
By Ricky, on April 15th, 2012
The Vltava River in central Prague © Ricky Yates
The longest river wholly within the Czech Republic is the Vltava, known to Germans as the Moldau. It rises in the Šumava mountains near the Austrian border and then flows north through the centre of Prague going on further north to join the Labe/Elbe at Melník.
The Vltava was portrayed musically, by the nineteenth century Czech composer Bedrich Smetana, in the second of six symphonic poems that form his symphonic cycle called Má vlast – My Fatherland. Click on this link below and listen to the music whilst enjoying my illustrated guide to the river.
The picture at the beginning of this post is the view most tourist visitors to Prague have of the Vltava, overlooked by St Vitus Cathedral and the walls of Prague Castle. On the river in the foreground, is an ancient paddle . . . → Read More: The Vltava River
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