I am very aware that it is now two and a half months since I last published a blog post. I am also aware that, either in the text of previous posts or in answering comments, I have promised to provide further updates on things I’ve written about. So this post is my attempt to kill two birds with one stone.
Back in late April I complained that ‘Someone keeps trying to kidnap Spring‘. Well Spring did eventually arrive as I hope is illustrated by this photograph of wisteria flowering at the back of my house, taken at the end of May. But it has been noticeable how much later plants and trees have been producing leaves or flowering, in comparison to previous years. The time lag has been in the region of two to three weeks.
I pay for my electricity by a monthly direct debit with my meter being read once a year in June. At that point, an invoice or refund is issued, depending on whether I’ve paid too little or too much over the previous eleven months. In June 2020, I received a small refund of CZK 750/GBP25.00. In June 2021, I received an invoice for CZK 6,985/GBP232.80 🙁
As I’ve said, I did anticipate that I would be asked to pay a little extra, though probably not as much as nearly CZK 7000. I was very aware that, because of the severe weather last winter, I’d made considerable use of the electrical heater in my study bedroom, whilst waiting each day for the wood-burning stove to fully warm the house.
But the other reason is the COVID-19 pandemic. In any normal year, I would spend at least three weeks away from my home. During that time, the only things using electricity would be my fridge and freezer. Everything else would be turned off. But after returning home from the UK on the evening of 27th December 2019, I haven’t spent one night anywhere else but in Stará Oleška 44.
No direct debits were made in either June or July. But because of my increased usage of electricity, my monthly direct debit in August until June next year, will be CZK 600/GBP20.00 more than it has been in the past two years 🙁
No caption required!
I sadly have to report that I have had no reply to my ‘letter to Victoria Prentis MP‘, other than an automated email acknowledging receipt, despite sending it two and a half months ago. If there are any benefits from Brexit, then Ms Prentis has had more than enough time to compile a list and send it to me. Of course, there aren’t any benefits. But even if she knows that, she dare not say it because it would cost her job as a junior minister at the Department of Farming, Fisheries and Food. To remain in post and to remain as a Conservative MP, you have to be a sycophant to Bungling Boris 🙁
I do however, have one piece of very good news to report. On Friday 11th June, I was vaccinated at my GP practice in Prague and received my EU Digital COVID Certificate. And because I received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I have only had to have a needle stuck in me once 🙂
The final post about which I promised update was regarding the house now being connected to mains water. The new mains water supply has been completely problem-free. But getting piles of earth shifted and disturbed areas of ground made good has been a long saga which deserves a post in its own right. So I’m going to finish this post now and promise to publish a further one in the next few days.
This past week, I have personally experienced the ‘wonderful benefits’ of Brexit. So I decided to write to my MP and tell her all about it. My letter to the honourable member for North Oxfordshire and junior government minister – Victoria Prentis MP.
Dear Mrs Prentis,
Although I have lived outside of the UK for over twelve years, I am currently still on the electoral register as a former resident of Finmere, in the eastern extremity of your constituency. So I am writing to tell you of my recent experience of the great benefits of Brexit.
On 10th April 2021, I ordered online, an item of clothing, manufactured in the UK, from a UK supplier. I paid £75.00, together with a further £18.95 for shipping via Royal Mail Track & Trace. When the UK was still a member of the EU, the parcel containing my order would normally have been delivered to my home in the far north of the Czech Republic, some seven to ten days later.
However, because of Brexit and the wonderful Trade and Cooperation Agreement negotiated by your party leader and prime minister, my parcel was instead held in Czech Customs, upon its arrival in Prague. I then received a registered letter explaining various ways for me to receive my parcel, all of which would involve additional costs.
I eventually decided to collect my parcel in person, whilst having to be in Prague for a medical appointment. As well as having to make a difficult journey across a city with a population of 1.3 million, (somewhat bigger than Banbury or Bicester in your constituency), I was also required to pay tax and customs duty of CZK 696/£23.60, increasing the cost of the goods by over 25%.
So as you can see, one great benefit of Brexit is that I have been forced to make an additional contribution to the income of the Czech government. The second benefit is that the cost of goods ordered from UK businesses by any of 446 million people resident in the EU, has been increased by around 25%. I am sure you will see both of these things as being highly beneficial to the future well-being of the United Kingdom.
Yes – I am being very sarcastic. But please explain to me; what are the benefits of Brexit? Do not give me the line about regaining sovereignty. The whole concept is nebulous and my question in return would be, ‘What have you done with your sovereignty today?’
The truthful answer to my question is that there are none! The Emperor doesn’t have any new clothes. And that truth needs to be said loudly and clearly.
Yours faithfully
Ricky Yates
Postscript
I promise to report the details of any reply that I receive. However, my hopes are not high for a truthful answer from someone whose party leader and prime minister is an inveterate liar.
As I have indicated in two previous posts, here and here, this past Winter has been a cold and very snowy one. And Winter has been very reluctant to release its grip. It seems that each time Spring tries to make its appearance, someone promptly kidnaps it 🙁
Altogether, we had over six weeks of lying snow, which only finally began to melt in the latter part of February. This photograph, taken on 20th February, shows one of my clumps of snowdrops, reappearing as the surrounding snow slowly melted.
And here they are ten days later, flowering beautifully.
Believing that we had seen the last of the snow for this Winter, during the first weekend of March, I moved my snow shovel from outside my back door, to its Summer home in the woodshed. On the morning of Monday 8th March, this was the scene that greeted me when I opened my back door!
But after the official beginning of Spring, the weather did finally become Spring-like. Therefore on Friday 26th March, I went on a 9km circular walk from the village of Ludvíkovice, exploring a route above Kanon Labe which I hadn’t previously walked. It included this wonderful view.
Then on Tuesday 30th March, I walked with my friend Kát’a, on a triangular route from Markvartice to the summit of Vysoký les (464m) & return. There was bright sunshine and a maximum temperature of 22°!
Whilst this is the view west with the conical hill Ružovský vrch on the right. The village you can just make out in the centre of the photo is Stará Oleška.
A week later, on Monday 12th April, I had to be Prague for two separate medical appointments which were several hours apart. So during the period between the appointments, in a mixture of rain and snow and with a maximum temperature of 3°, I walked around parts of the historic centre of the city. A combination of the weather, together with COVID-19 restrictions meaning there are currently no visiting tourists, meant I hardly saw another human being.
This is a never to be repeated photograph – Charles Bridge with absolutely nobody on it.
Winter did have one final fling on on Friday 16th April when we had yet more snow, which fortunately rapidly melted. But I won’t post yet another snowy photograph 😉 Instead, here are my tulips finally flowering.
And trusting that the kidnapper of Spring has made his final appearance for 2021, a few days ago, I returned these plants to their normal Summer location on my front steps, after their Winter sojourn in the house.
As I wrote at the end of my previous post, on the afternoon Sunday 28th February, I was driving back from Decín to my home in Stará Oleška, when the car accelerator went limp and the engine died. I was fortunately able to roll to a halt at the far end of a long lay-by, part of which is a bus stop, which at least meant I didn’t foul up the traffic on route 13 / E442.
A cri de cœur to my neighbour, Lucie, resulted in her younger brother Pavel, driving out to rescue me, accompanied by her daughter Lucka, who I help with English for an hour each week. Pavel and Lucka helped me unload my supermarket shopping and my new toaster from the boot of my car, into Pavel’s vehicle, and then drove me home.
It took me two bus journeys to return to the car the following morning. The bus that goes through Stará Oleška, doesn’t take the direct route to Decín but instead goes through the upper part of Huntírov and the village of Dobrná. So I had to take that bus all the way into Decín and then another one back out again to Ludvíkovice where the car was stranded. Fortunately, by being over 65, each bus journey only costs CZK 5 / £0.15 🙂
My Czech friend Kát’a, kindly made the necessary phone calls to arrange for a tow truck to come at 11.00 and it duly arrived on time, about ten minutes after my arrival. After some necessary paperwork, a few photos on the drivers mobile phone, and paying CZK 1400, my blue VW Golf was loaded up and we drove to the premises of Gerhard Horejsek a spol., s.r.o., the VW dealer in Decín.
That day was the beginning of an even stricter period of lockdown, trying reduce the spread of COVID-19. So whilst the service and repair centre was still working, I was met outside by the service manager, Mr Kocour, rather than in his office. Whilst I normally go to my friend Adrian Blank at Nepomuk, for the car to be serviced, my details and those of the car, were already on the Horejsek computer as I’ve twice previously got them to replace a headlight bulb when it failed.
I was just about to complete my third bus journey of the day, making my way back home, when my phone rang. It was Kát’a. Mr Kocour had rung her, rather than me, with the bad news. The cause the car breakdown was the failure of the cam belt or timing belt, which had totally wrecked the engine. It would cost in excess of CZK 50,000 to repair, roughly what the car was worth with a functioning engine. In simple terms, my car was a complete write-off 🙁
On Thursday 4th March, I once more took the bus into Decín, met up with Kát’a, and we walked to the VW dealers’ premises to meet Mr Kocour. He showed us the wrecked engine and presented me with the failed cam belt. He again confirmed that the car was really beyond repair.
The one small spot of good news was that one of the mechanics working there, was interested in having my car as he could use some of the parts. He would give me CZK 2000 and also take responsibility for eventually legally disposing of it. I later learned that the mechanic had a VW Golf similar to mine, which he had bought off a man who was a dog owner. He wanted the seats out of my car, as they were in excellent condition, to replace those in his car which had suffered at the hands/paws/teeth of the dog 🙂
Although, because of the lockdown, all car sales showrooms were meant to be closed, Mr Kocour said we could go and walk around to the other side of the building and look at the used vehicles that they had on display for sale. Before our visit. I’d had already had a perusal of their website, to have some idea of what might be available.
I eventually settled on another VW Golf, first registered in 2015, but with only just over 21,000 km on the clock. Mr Kocour gave me the business card of the used car sales manager, Mr Hajný, and said I should drop him an email expressing my interest.
That evening, I compiled my email in English, including asking if it would be possible to swap the wheels and winter tyres on my old car, for the wheels and summer tyres currently on the new one. I sent this off to Kát’a who, in turn, translated it into Czech and sent it on to Mr Hajný the following day.
On Monday 8th March, Mr Hajný replied to both of us, offering me the possibility of a test drive, but first wanting scans of my ID and my driving licence. Having received them, I was then offered the opportunity of a test drive on Wednesday 10th.
Late in the morning of Wednesday 10th March, I arrived with Kát’a, for my test drive. Mr Hajný spoke to us from the door of the showroom, seeking to keep appropriate social-distancing. He told us that the car was ready with the key in the ignition, on the forecourt of the used car sales area. I did wonder about the risk of somebody driving off in it but apparently the area is fully covered by security cameras 😉
The test drive was more than enough to convince me that if I was going to get mobile again fairly soon, then this was my best opportunity. So on our return, I confirmed that I wanted to proceed and purchase. Then came the one item of bad news. The wheels and tyres on my old Golf were not the same size as those on the new car. So swapping them over wasn’t possible.
In anticipation of agreeing to purchase this new car, I had arranged to transfer a large part of the contents of my UK bank account, into my Czech bank account. This is money that I was either going to spend on having further major work done to my house, or going travelling, once some form of normality returns. But needing to once more be mobile again with a reliable car, it had to be done.
That afternoon, I received an invoice to be settled by bank transfer. Mr Hajný also put me in contact with an English-speaking friend who works for Kooperativa, an insurance company with whom my house and contents are already insured. As I discovered, the contact is actually the Russian wife of his sales colleague 🙂 On Thursday 11th, by a succession of emails, she arranged insurance for the new car. Because of being an existing client of Kooperativa, I got an additional discount!
Therefore on the morning of Friday 12th March, after eleven days without a car, I became the proud owner of the one in the photo above.
There are two footnotes to this tale.
Much to my surprise, my new VW Golf doesn’t have a handbrake. It has an automatic brake which comes on as soon as the car stops and is released as soon as my foot touches the accelerator. Whilst it works perfectly, I still find it rather strange and frequently find myself reaching for a handbrake that doesn’t exist.
On Saturday 13th March, the day after I collected the car, I drove into Decín to go shopping at the Kaufland supermarket. Just as I was leaving the supermarket car park to drive home, there was a ping and the petrol warning light came on. Therefore on my way home, I drove into the petrol station that I frequently use, located four kilometres from my home.
I went to press the button between the two front seats to open the flap covering the petrol cap. However, unlike in my old Golf, there wasn’t a button. Nor could I see any other means of releasing the flap. Inevitably, the manual for the car in the glovebox, was in Czech. I had already asked for an English manual and Mr Hajný has promised to order one from Volkswagen HQ in Germany and provide it free of charge. But he said it would take at least ten days to arrive.
I ended up driving home and googling my problem. Fortunately, I found this video. It is American, so it inevitably tells you how to access the ‘gas cap’ 😉 But after discovering the secret, I drove back four kilometres and filled up.
I knew that the work to connect my house to mains water was not going to be cheap as the house is set back quite some way from the road. In the end, it cost me CZK 30,500, about £1000 at current exchange rates, together with a further CZK 1000, paying František to complete the work the ‘chancers’, (thank you Sean, for your perfect terminology 😉 ), didn’t do.
I was also aware that once the house was connected to mains water, I would soon need to purchase a new washing machine. My existing machine was frequently failing to complete the set programme, in particular, stopping after one rinse. Therefore it was always impossible to go out whilst the washing machine was in use because of needing to keep it under close inspection and make manual changes.
I didn’t want to change it in advance of being connected to mains water as the discolouration of the previous water supply had left brown stains on various rubber parts. So I didn’t want to mess up a new washing machine in the same way. Therefore it was a perfect act of timing that, as soon as I tried to put a load of washing on, after I had been connected to my new mains supply on Sunday 25th October 2020, the machine refused to even fill and commence the washing programme. I needed to buy a new washing machine.
At that time, we were in our second period of lockdown because of COVID-19, meaning that Datart, the electrical shop I would normally go to in Decín, was closed. So I went online to their website, all in Czech 😉 , and successfully ordered a new washing machine. This was available at there depot in nearby Liberec, with the promise of delivery the following Sunday, 1st November 2020, in the afternoon.
The plumbing for a washing machine is in the same small room as my toilet. In January 2018, during the complete rebuilding of the adjacent shower room, the dividing wall between the two rooms was reconstructed. But since then, I have consistently put off redecorating the room because of the difficulties I could foresee of trying to paint behind the toilet, the hot water tank and all the exposed piping, as well as the washing machine itself.
The prospective arrival of a new washing machine gave me the necessary ‘kick up the backside’ that I needed. During the week without a functioning washing machine, I disconnected the old machine & moved it elsewhere, and then proceeded to redecorate the whole room. Fortunately, I had just enough white emulsion paint to complete the job.
The photograph above shows the space where the old washing machine once stood, with old sheets put down to protect the tiled floor during redecoration.
And here is the new washing machine, plumbed in by me and washing its first load. The new machine is a narrower model than its predecessor which leaves a wider gap to pass through to reach the toilet. Cost CZK 12,189 / £400, plus the paint. Fortunately, the deal to buy the new washing machine included taking its predecessor away.
Whilst I was Priest-in-charge of St Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church in Prague, the Chaplaincy flat where I lived had a landline phone, which enabled wifi for internet access. I also had a fairly simple mobile phone, proverbially known as ‘the Chaplaincy mobile’, which I took great delight in presenting to my successor at my farewell service.
With my new home in Stará Oleška not having a landline phone, but discovering I could obtain internet access by a wireless service from JAW.cz, I decided that all I would need following retirement, would be another very simple mobile phone. Like it or not, there is an expectation these days that everyone has a mobile phone, along with an email address, and ready access to the internet. I cannot log into my Czech bank account online, without a code being sent to my mobile phone. Nor can I pay for something by bank transfer, or use my debit card to purchase something online, without a code being sent to my mobile, to then be inserted online, to complete the transaction.
My simple mobile phone has been fine for the past three and a half years. Unfortunately, I never discovered all the things it could do because the manual for it was only available in Czech, Slovak and German, and neither my Czech or German are good enough to understand phone manuals! But on Thursday 26th November 2020, my mobile phone died. The screen went black and it couldn’t be revived.
Having been teased by a few friends, (who shall be nameless 😉 ), about my very simple mobile phone, I decided that this time I would buy something more advanced – a smart phone is, I believe, the correct term. Once more, with shops closed due to COVID-19, I was again forced to order online without any chance to try things out or ask questions.
Initially I thought I was in a Catch 22 situation. How could I pay for a new phone online, if I needed a code sent to my mobile phone that wasn’t functioning? I did eventually discover that it was possible on the Datart website, to order an item, but then pick it up and pay for it in person, by being part of a socially-distanced queue at their shop in Decín.
So that is what I did. A man in the T-Mobile office then successfully swapped my SIM card over allowing me to keep my old phone number and credit. And there is a manual in English for it online – all 261 pages! So far, I’ve only worked through the first fifty 🙂 Cost CZK 11,029 / £365.
Knowing that I was going to have spend Christmas 2020 in total isolation, I decided I would give myself a Christmas present. So during a short period before Christmas, between lockdown two & lockdown three, when all shops were open, I treated myself to a new CD player. My previous one died, just at the end of my time in Prague, and I had never got around to replacing it.
So over the Christmas and New Year period, I enjoyed listening to my CDs of Christmas carols. In particular, I listened several times, to my double CD of Bach’s Weihnachts Oratorium. Cost, a modest CZK 2490 / £82.
With the current pandemic, and being over 65 with a pre-existing health condition, I have become increasingly aware of my own mortality. During over thirty years of ordained ministry, I have on numerous occasions, spent time with bereaved relatives who amongst many things, were having to organise a funeral and deal with the estate of a deceased relative, with no idea of what their wishes were, because they had not made a will.
I made a will back in July 2008, under the law of England and Wales. With nearly all my assets now being in the Czech Republic, I have increasingly felt that I ought to make a fresh will that would be recognised under Czech law. Through a Facebook group of which I am a member, entitled ‘British in the Czech Republic‘, I found Jan Šleis, recently returned to the Czech Republic from working in Exeter, who is dual qualified – a Czech Advokát and a Solicitor in England & Wales.
With the help and guidance of Jan, I now have a will in Czech, together with an English translation, which deals with all of my assets. Therefore when the grim reaper does decide to visit, it will enable my two adult children to inherit my house, bank account and personal assets I have here. Jan assures me that the English translation will also allow them to get probate in England and access my one UK asset – my Sterling bank account.
Lawyers don’t come cheap 😉 , as I’m sure anyone reading this blog will know. But as I’m still awaiting the bill from the associated notary and his translator, I cannot put an accurate price on it just yet. But it is one of those things it is easy to put off doing and I’m glad to have ticked it off my ‘To do list’.
Then last month, several times when I tried to use my toaster, it threw the trip switch for half of the electrics in my kitchen. I think I caused the fault when trying to extract part of a piece of toast that had got stuck. I must have pushed part of the heating element into contact with the metal casing of the toaster, causing it to short. So just like the new mobile phone, I went onto the Datart website, found a replacement toaster and ordered it, to be collected from their shop in Decín. Cost CZK 999 / £33.
Just before the end of February, in view of the ever-rising number of COVID-19 cases putting pressure on Czech hospitals, an even more severe lockdown was announced to take effect on Monday 1st March. Therefore, although I don’t normally go shopping on a Sunday, on the afternoon of Sunday 28th February, I drove to the Kaufland supermarket in Decín to do a major shop, and to collect my new toaster from the Datart shop, next door to the supermarket.
The supermarket was pleasantly quiet and there was no socially-distanced queue at Datart as I was the only customer. I was halfway back to my home in Stará Oleška, with my shopping and toaster in the boot of my car, when the accelerator went limp and the engine died. I was fortunately able to roll off the main road into a lay-by which is a bus stop.
My wonderful neighbours came and rescued me, my shopping and my toaster and drove me home. But the car is another story and needs a further blogpost. But it definitely is beginning to be a bit expensive……
