By Ricky, on June 4th, 2018 Empty room © Ricky Yates
At the end of an earlier blog post entitled ‘Finishing touches and next steps‘, I posted this picture of one end of the small room behind the kitchen and stated: ‘My plan is to decorate it to get rid of all the orange 😉 and then get Elefant to fit further matching units along the wall on the right, to store all those things that didn’t fit in the kitchen’.
On Wednesday 23rd May, just over two months after I wrote that post, my plan came to fruition when Martin from Elefant, came and fitted my chosen units. Before that, I spent many hours over several days, removing unwanted things attached to, or sticking out from, the walls, and . . . → Read More: Further progress with the house and garden
By Ricky, on May 1st, 2018 Bonfire with witch, ready for burning © Ricky Yates
Yesterday evening, Monday 30th April, I attended my first ever Carodejnice, here in my adopted home village of Stará Oleška. In the nearly ten years that I have lived in the Czech Republic, I had both heard and read about Carodejnice, but had never experienced the tradition whilst living in urban Prague. However, in the North Bohemian countryside, the tradition is alive and well.
Carodejnice is very similar to the better-known Germanic tradition of Walpurgis Night. It involves having a large bonfire on which the effigy of a witch is burnt. Historically, the idea was to ward off evil spirits. These days, it is used as the opportunity for an outdoor evening party, helped by the following day being May . . . → Read More: Carodejnice – the burning of witches night
By Ricky, on April 10th, 2018 Entering the National Park on the yellow waymarked route © Ricky Yates
Last Friday, I drove over the border into Germany, in order to visit the Bastei, a major landmark in the Sächsische Schweiz/Saxon Switzerland. The Bastei is a rock formation consisting of a series of eroded sandstone pillars, towering above the Elbe river.
Rather than drive to the nearest car park and almost certainly pay a substantial parking fee, instead I drove to the village of Rathewalde. However, even parking there cost me €2.00!
Walking down the main street of Rathewalde, I joined the yellow waymarked route which headed gently upwards into the forest and the National Park.
After walking for about forty . . . → Read More: Bastei
By Ricky, on March 31st, 2018 Kostel sv Václava, Srbská Kamenice © Ricky Yates
Yesterday was Good Friday and, for the first time in 28 years, I wasn’t officiating at a Church service. So as it was a fine, sunny Spring day, around midday, I set out walking the yellow waymarked route to Srbská Kamenice. This is a walk that I described and illustrated in a previous blog post last August, which you can find here.
Olešský rybnik © Ricky Yates
I first passed alongside Olešský rybnik, which is finally no longer frozen. Instead, it was glistening in the Spring sunshine.
Olešský rybnik © Ricky Yates
Several walkers were having a lunchtime break, sitting on the lakeside benches and enjoying the view.
. . . → Read More: A Good Friday walk to Srbská Kamenice and return
By Ricky, on March 21st, 2018 New mirror cupboard and light © Ricky Yates
My apologies once again, for another long pause between blog posts. I was planning to write something back on Tuesday 6th March, only for my laptop to crash whilst downloading a Windows 10 update 🙁 Two days later, I travelled to Berlin for a meeting of the Council of Anglican & Episcopal Churches in Germany (CAECG). Twenty-four hours into the meeting, I went down with a very nasty bout of vomiting and diarrhoea from which it took me a week to recover.
But enough of my ills – this is a short update of further progress with the house.
Having had the previous shower room completely gutted, I had to choose new fitments and then have one . . . → Read More: Finishing touches and next steps
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