The renovation of the ground floor of my house is just about complete

Stará Oleška 44 with the first snowfall of the 2023/24 winter, 24th November 2023 © Ricky Yates

Once again, I have to start a blog post with a sincere apology for the absence of any posts for a whole six months – the longest hiatus in the fourteen-year history of this blog. In recent months I have said to myself several times that I must start writing again. But then, there are always other things to do. But enough of my excuses, here is the latest instalment of the renovation of Stará Oleška 44.

Before the extension on the west side of my house was built, (on the left in the photograph), with a new front door into an entrance lobby and what is now my sitting-dining room, the way into the house was up . . . → Read More: The renovation of the ground floor of my house is just about complete

My ongoing ministry at the Frauenkirche, Dresden

Walking towards the Frauenkirche © Ricky Yates

I’m very conscious of two things. That I haven’t posted here for two months and that most of my more recent posts have either been about my disputes with UK banks or about the renovation of my house. So here is a new post about my ongoing ministry at the Frauenkirche in Dresden, a topic I haven’t written about since February 2020, except for briefly mentioning it in my post about last winter.

The day after our December 2022 service of ‘Nine Lessons & Carols for Christmas’, my Archdeacon Leslie Nathaniel and I had a most useful meeting with the two Frauenkirche clergy – Pfarrer Markus Engelhardt and Pfarrerin Angelika Behnke. Archdeacon Leslie asked about the possibility of having a second English-language . . . → Read More: My ongoing ministry at the Frauenkirche, Dresden

I’ve written a book!

My book © Ricky Yates

After sitting in a warehouse near Prague Airport for several days, awaiting customs clearance, yesterday, courtesy of UPS, a parcel containing three copies of my ‘Collection of Life Stories’ was delivered to me at my home. Yesterday evening, I posted this photo on Facebook and was rather overwhelmed by the number of ‘likes’ and ‘loves’ it received with several people saying that they wanted copies of the book. Therefore I decided that a blog post of explanation was called for.

For my 70th birthday in February 2022, my daughter Christa gifted me a one year subscription to Storyworth. What this has meant is that once a week on a Monday, I have received an emailed question about my life to which I had to reply. Each of . . . → Read More: I’ve written a book!

Renovating the sitting-dining room and other parts of my house

Roses alongside the front door © Ricky Yates

As I wrote at the end of my previous post, K & K, (as in K & K renovace nemovitostí Decín), besides renovating my study-bedroom, have also done work in other parts of the house. This is the promised further blog post describing and illustrating their work.

The ground floor of the house has only three main rooms – my study-bedroom, a kitchen and adjacent small shower room, (completely refurbished in January 2018), and a sitting-dining room.

The sitting-dining room, along with the adjacent entrance lobby, is the newest part of the house. As a result, there was no need to do anything to the walls, other than painting them . . . → Read More: Renovating the sitting-dining room and other parts of my house

Renovating my Study-Bedroom

Stará Oleška 44 © Ricky Yates

I have now lived in my retirement home in Stará Oleška for six years. During that time the only major work I’ve had done to the interior of the house was the refurbishment of the kitchen and adjoining shower room in January 2018 when, for three weeks, I was living in the middle of a building site.

At that time, I did ask Elefant, the firm that installed my new kitchen and shower, if they would be interested in carrying out further work on the house. But they were booked up for several months ahead and also were really only interested in work that involved kitchens and bathrooms, installing units and fittings that they themselves sell out of their showroom in Decín.

. . . → Read More: Renovating my Study-Bedroom