Adrian of Nepomuk

The Expat Bible without Religion

Expats.cz 1 — The expats.cz Survival Guide & Business Directory 2012. Photo © Ricky Yates

In more than one previous blog post, I have mentioned the extremely helpful website expats.cz. For example, it was through the forum on their website that I found Adrian Blank of Nepomuk to help me through the various hoops in order to register my right-hand drive car here in the Czech Republic.

As well as their website, expats.cz also annually publishes the ‘Czech Republic Survival Guide & Business Directory’. A new edition comes out around the end of September each year. We discovered the then new edition of the ‘Survival Guide for 2009’ within a few days of our arrival in Prague back in September 2008. At that time, expats.cz were specifically asking for new locations from which the guide could be distributed to English-speaking expats. Finding it such a useful source of information ourselves, we offered to take copies to distribute to newcomers who come to St. Clement’s Church and ask for one of our welcome booklets. Since then, we have distributed around forty copies each year.

The ‘Survival Guide’ is distributed free of charge as the cost of production is more than covered by advertising. It contains a great deal of highly useful information that any expat coming to live in the Czech Republic might need, covering employment and business, accommodation and real estate, health, education and leisure activities. This page of the expats.cz website gives full details of the guide including the claim that it is, “Known locally as the expat ‘bible’”.

Each of the three editions that we have previously helped distribute have included just over a page entitled ‘Religion in Prague’ giving basic details of the English-speaking Churches as well as contact information for other faith groups. Therefore, when I discovered whilst attending and exhibiting at the Expats Expo on Saturday 8^th October, an event sponsored by expats.cz, that the new 2012 edition of the ‘Survival Guide’ was now available, I picked up a copy for myself and made a mental note to go to the expats.cz office during the following week, in order to pick up a supply of the new edition to distribute from Church.

The first thing I did upon picking up my copy of the 2012 ‘Survival Guide’ was to check that the information about St. Clement’s Anglican Episcopal Church was accurate. I went to the contents pages at the front and then to the index at the back, to try and find ‘Churches’ or ‘Religion’. Could I find the information? No – because the 2012 edition of the so-called ‘expat bible’, has been published with all information about both Christian Churches and other religions, completely eliminated.

As well as immediately speaking with two staff members on the expats.cz stand, both of whom claimed to know nothing about the decision to exclude all information about religion, I also sent off a strongly worded email via the ‘contact us’ page of their website. When several days later, I had not received a reply, I rang the expats.cz office. No one there would admit to having even seen my email. But about half-an-hour later, my phone call was returned by their Creative Director Dominic Bignal, who also claimed not to have seen my email but knew about my complaint from feedback from the staff members on their stand to whom I had spoken.

There followed a rather interesting twenty minute phone discussion. Mr Bignall’s main points were as follows.

They had to reduce the size of the new 2012 ‘Survival Guide’ from 220 to 200 pages because of not having sold sufficient advertising, therefore something had to go.
They had judged what to include or exclude based on the number of visits to the various parts of their website.
If we had paid for an advertisement then we would have been included.
Going to Church was so specialised that if people wanted to find us, they would.

I have to say, as I also personally told Mr Bignall, that none of these arguments hold water and/or contradict what expats.cz claims.

If they needed to reduce the size of the ‘Survival Guide’ by twenty pages in order to be commercially viable, why didn’t they just slightly edit down each section rather than completely cut out one section? Allowing for the fact that 25% of guide is advertising, they needed to reduce about 165 pages of text to around 150 – hardly an impossible task.
How does expats.cz know that what people look for on the website is the same as what they look for in the ‘Survival Guide’? Bearing in mind that the information about Churches is already well hidden on the website, it’s not surprising that it doesn’t get so many visitors.
Expats.cz claim to provide unbiased information. But if you advertise……
The last argument can apply to anything that appears in the ‘Survival Guide’. Yes – put ‘English-speaking Church, Prague’ into Google and up will pop St. Clement’s and six or seven other possibilities. But the same applies to Tennis Clubs, Museums, gay bars etc, all of which are included. It is an argument for the ‘Survival Guide’ not to exist in the first place.

What expats.cz (or Howlings s.r.o. – the company who run the website & publish the guide) have done, is a combination of discrimination and ignorance. Discrimination against those who practice the Christian or any other religious faith. Ignorance in thinking we are so small a group of people that we can be safely ignored.

As a commercial organisation, expats.cz/ Howlings s.r.o. are free to choose what they include in their annual ‘Survival Guide’ and what they exclude – a point Dominic Bignall reiterated to me several times over during our phone conversation. Whilst this is true, they also claim that their ‘Survival Guide’ is ‘Prague’s most comprehensive and objective expat publication guide’. As far as I am concerned, following their unilateral decision to exclude all information about the practice of religious faith, both Christian and otherwise, their guide is no longer comprehensive and certainly not objective.

Stanice technické kontroly – STK

STK 1 — The ‘Carly’ at Nepomuk having a new crankshaft sensor fitted © Ricky Yates

In order to legally keep a car on the road in the United Kingdom, it has to have an MOT certificate. This shows that it has passed its MOT test, proving that it is mechanically sound and its exhaust emissions are within the accepted limits. The abbreviation MOT comes from ‘Ministry of Transport’, the then government department which first introduced the test in 1960.

In the Czech Republic, the equivalent of an MOT test is also known by a set of initials – STK. These stand for Stanice technické kontroly / Technical Inspection Station. Whilst in the UK, once a car is three years old, it has to pass an MOT test annually, in the Czech Republic the STK test only has to be undertaken once every two years.

As I wrote in my June 2009 post entitled “Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road”, my RHD Renault Scenic underwent its first STK test in December 2008, as part of the complicated procedure of obtaining a Czech registration document and Czech number plates for it. But as I explained in a subsequent post entitled ‘Check this Czech car out!’, I didn’t successfully achieve this until 25^th June 2009.

Knowing that any vehicle has to have an STK test once every two years, I had assumed that the ‘Carly’, as it is affectionately known, would need to be tested again in December 2010. But when I asked my good friend Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, who helped me negotiate the minefield to get the car registered here in the Czech Republic in the first place, he assured me that the date the authorities would use would be two years from the date of registration, meaning that it did not need to be tested again before 25^th June 2011.

Theoretically, I could have taken the ‘Carly’ to any STK centre in Prague for its test. But being aware of both my limited Czech and recurrent expression by many Czech people of their belief that you cannot register a RHD car here, I decided that it would be wise to once more work through Adrian, even though it would mean a journey out into the south-western Bohemian countryside. Therefore last Thursday, two days before the second anniversary of the ‘Carly’ becoming Czech, I set off.

Adrian suggested that, rather than travelling via Nepomuk, I should drive directly to the test centre at Horažd’ovice and he would meet me there. Fortunately, this worked out perfectly as we arrived at the centre within thirty seconds of each other. There is no system of booking a test at Horažd’ovice – you just turn up and wait your turn. Adrian discovered that there were two other cars in front of us so, having paid the test fee and handed over the car’s paperwork and keys, we went off and enjoyed coffee and cake together in a nearby outdoor coffee shop.

STK 2 — Stickers on the rear number plate of the ‘Carly’ showing the validity of its STK tests © Ricky Yates

Upon our return to the test centre, I was pleased to discover that the car had duly passed both its emissions and mechanical tests and my papers had been dated and stamped for a further two years. But, much more importantly, I had two new little hexagonal stickers on my rear number plate – one green for emissions and the other red for the mechanical test.

As in many continental European countries, the way the police can easily check as to whether a car has a current STK test certificate, is to look at these two stickers as illustrated in this photograph. On the outer rim of each sticker, is a hole between ‘5’ & ‘7’ indicating June, the sixth month. Then on the inner part of the sticker, there is a hole in the same box as ‘13’. My STK certificates are now valid until June 2013.

Adrian had also kindly ordered a new sensor for the crankshaft to try and resolve the occasional recent problem of the ‘Carly’ not wanting to start, despite the starter motor turning over. So after the STK test, I drove across to Nepomuk where it only took one of Adrian’s mechanics half an hour to fit before I was able to drive on back home to Prague.

Silvestr – New Year’s Eve

Zoo 3. — In the bleak mid-winter..... © Ricky Yates

Today is 31^st December – New Year’s Eve. In Czech it is known as Silvestr as we discovered last year when the car park attendant at our local Billa supermarket wished us ‘hezky Silvestr’ as we gave him our ticket at the barrier. Sybille immediately knew what he meant as today is Silvester in German. And the reason for the name? In the Roman Catholic Church, today is the feast day of St. Sylvester/Pope Sylvester I who died on 31^st December 335.

This post is really just a quick update on the things I’ve written about in my three previous December blog posts.

Weather

Not only did winter, with considerable snowfall, come early to Prague this year – it hasn’t gone away! We had a white Christmas with snow already on the ground and more fine powdery snow falling as we travelled to Church for our Midnight service on Christmas Eve.

Zoo 1 — Emu in the snow at Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates

Yesterday, rather than being cold and cloudy, it was fine; cold but sunny. So we went to visit one of Sybille’s favourite places – Prague zoo. The weather was perfect for the polar bears, North American bison and other animals used to snow and below freezing temperatures. However, I did feel somewhat sorry for this emu though I believe he was outside by choice.

Since well before Christmas, we’ve been planning to take the car to our good friend Adrian of Nepomuk in order to have four new ‘winter tyres’ fitted and a couple of other minor things fixed. But unfortunately, the weather has been so bad we just haven’t felt able to undertake the journey. Therefore, the poor ‘Carly’, as it has become affectionately known, continues to sit outside covered in snow.

Zoo 4 — The 'Carly' in the snow © Ricky Yates

‘On the Feast of Stephen’

Our broadcast service on BBC Radio 4 on 26^th December had been very well received. As well as complimentary emails from various persons, known and unknown, one other very interesting statistic has emerged. Our Church website normally gets 10 – 15 hits a day. On Sunday 26^th December it got 153 hits!!! If you haven’t yet heard the broadcast, you can still do so during the next two days by visiting the Radio 4 Sunday Worship website.

Christmas Carp induced flooding

We’ve dried out and all the electrics are working. However, we are still awaiting a visit from our neighbour’s insurance company’s appropriately named ‘liquidator’!

Happy New Year!

Zoo 2 — Frozen waterfall in the grounds of Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates

Correcting History

Town Hall, Klatovy. The two plaques referred to below are either side of the bottom left window. © Ricky Yates

When I moved to live and work in the Czech Republic in September 2008, I believed I had a pretty good grasp of European History. I had studied the subject for many years at school and it was one of the three subjects I read, along with Geography and Theology, during my first year as an undergraduate student at university. However, during these past 16 months, my historical knowledge and understanding has been greatly increased as I’ve sought to understand the Czech people and this country which has become my current adopted home.

Good students of history do not just learn dates and places when and where certain events took place, such as knowing that the Battle of White Mountain occurred in 1620 on a hill just to the west of Prague. Rather they will want to understand the causes that led to the battle taking place and the consequences that followed from the victory of the Catholic League over the supporters of the Bohemian Estates. But a student still needs to know the dates and events before s/he can do any historical analysis.

During the last hundred years, the Czech and Slovak people have suffered much. Until 1918, they were a subjugated people incorporated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then, having enjoyed twenty years as an independent democratic nation, their country was partly carved up without any consultation, by Neville Chamberlain and others at Munich. Six months later, the whole of Czechoslovakia was under Nazi occupation. Then, two and a half years after being liberated from the Nazis, the country was subjected to nearly forty-two years of Soviet inspired communist rule.

Under communist rule, many Czech and Slovak people suffered greatly. But it was not just people who suffered, another victim was historical truth.

Czechoslovakia has the distinction of being the country that endured the longest period of Nazi occupation. It was already fully occupied by March 1939 and was not liberated until the last days of World War Two in early May 1945. Liberation came from two different directions. Slovakia and Moravia and eventually Prague in Central Bohemia, were liberated from the east by the Soviet Red Army. But the whole of Western Bohemia, including the major city of Plzen, was liberated from the west by the Third US Army under General G.S. Patton.

After the Communist seizure of power at the beginning of 1948, there was a systematic campaign to suppress all acknowledgement of the U.S. Army’s role in liberating Western Bohemia. This effort continued until December 1989 when the Communists were removed from power. History textbooks declared that the whole of Czechoslovakia was freed from Nazi oppression by the valiant efforts of the Soviet Red Army. Schoolteachers were obliged to perpetuate the myth – to suggest otherwise would mean the loss of your job.

Last month, we drove out to Western Bohemia in order to visit our friend, Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, so he could carry out a couple of minor repairs to my car. But we combined the trip with a pastoral visit to one of our congregation who lives in a village very near to the German border but who regularly comes to Prague at weekends in order to worship at St. Clements.

Driving from Nepomuk towards the German border, we arrived in the attractive town of Klatovy where we stopped for lunch. We parked in the large square in the centre of the town which is surrounded by many architecturally interesting buildings including the Town Hall, pictured above. As we explored the square we saw two plaques, either side of a window on the outside of the Town Hall.

Incorrect History, Klatovy — Soviet Communism's version of history, Klatovy © Ricky Yates

The first is only in Czech and reads in translation;

9th May 1945 the Soviet Army liberated Czechoslovakia

Unveiled as part of the celebrations of the 700th Anniversary of founding of the town of Klatovy

Klatovy was founded in 1260 so the plaque was presumably unveiled in 1960, twelve years into Communist rule.

Not only does the wording on the plaque perpetuate the myth that it was the Soviet Red Army that liberated the whole of Czechoslovakia, it also includes another little Soviet quirk. The German surrender that brought World War Two to an end in Europe came into effect late on 8^th May 1945. This became known as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) and is a public holiday in many Western European countries such as France. But because it was late on 8^th May in France and Germany, it was already past midnight in Moscow. Therefore as far as the Soviet communists were concerned, VE Day was 9^th May 1945! Since the Velvet Revolution, the VE Day public holiday is now marked on 8^th May each year in the Czech Republic, not 9^th May.

On the other side of the window is a second plaque, pictured below, with text in both Czech and English. Although not dated, it has clearly been put up since 1989.

Correct History, Klatovy — Post-1989 correction of history, Klatovy © Ricky Yates

With this second plaque, the facts of Czech history have been corrected. Klatovy was liberated on 5^th May 1945 by the US Third Army under General Patton. The following day, they moved on and liberated Plzen.

What I was most struck by was the fact that the Town Council had obviously decided not to take down and destroy the first incorrect plaque. They clearly felt that it was important to preserve it as a historical record of the Communist era. But the truth has eventually triumphed and is now clearly displayed for all to read. Much as many people would like to, especially Communist dictatorships, you cannot re-write history.

Check this Czech car out!

This morning, I walked out of the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ in the centre of Prague with an incredible sense of satisfaction. I had achieved what I had been told so many times, by a whole variety of people, was impossible to achieve. In my rucksack were Czech number plates and a Czech registration document for my previously British registered right-hand drive (RHD) car. Today my red Renault Megane Scenic has legally become a Czech car!

It should really be what we have achieved as I would never have managed to do this without the help and support of Sybille, the knowledge of the whole variety of procedures to obtain the appropriate protocols which came from Adrian Blank of Nepomuk, together with being accompanied through the final stages by Gerry Turner speaking in Czech on my behalf.

In my previous post entitled “Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road”; I explained how Gerry & I had gone to the imposing offices of the Czech Ministry of Transport on Wednesday 3^rd June, to submit my application and accompanying papers for a ‘Certificate of Exemption’ for my RHD car. Adrian of Nepomuk had said that I should receive the certificate a week to ten days after submitting the application. When after two weeks, I had neither heard nor received anything; Gerry made a phone call asking what was happening. “Oh it will be in our system and we can take up to four weeks to process it” was the somewhat unhelpful answer given to Gerry. However, on Monday 22^nd June, a registered letter arrived at our flat containing the certificate of exemption. The fact that the certificate was dated 17^th June 2009, the date of Gerry’s phone call, does seem a little more than coincidence!

On the afternoon of Monday 22^nd, I duly delivered the certificate to the Magistrát office in Vysorany, Prague 9 where all my other papers were already lodged. I had to return to the office on Tuesday to put two signatures onto the completed paperwork. Then it was a third visit in three days to collect the completed file on Wednesday. On this third occasion, Gerry accompanied me to ensure I discovered correctly what to do next.

We were told to go to the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ in the centre of Prague, pay 3000 Kc (about £100) environmental fee as my emissions are only ‘Euro 2 standard’, and there I would finally be issued with a Czech registration document and Czech number plates. We hopped on the tram, changed onto the Metro and arrived at the correct office. Through the good offices of Gerry, we explained to the lady on the information desk, what I had come to do. She checked through all the papers giving her approval to everything I had until she asked, “Do you have your insurance certificate with you?” What was the one thing I had not got with me????

So it was that Gerry and I reconvened at the offices of ‘Praha Hlavní Mesto’ at 9.30am this morning. We took our numbered ticket and waited for our number to come up on the electronic board to tell us which kiosk to attend. After about a half hour wait we were summoned.

The lady at kiosk 35 was perfectly friendly. We presented all my papers, including my insurance certificate. “Did I have my passport and residency document with me, not just the photocopies in the file?” Fortunately I had anticipated that one! “Had I personally imported the car?” This question reflects the concern of the Czech authorities of a glut of cheap second-hand British RHD cars being brought into the Czech Republic by unscrupulous dealers. “Did I have 3000 Kc to pay the environmental charge?” I went off to the cash desk, handed over the cash and returned with a receipt.

Then the magic moment came. Number plates were produced from a drawer. Stickers were attached, marked to show the end date of the validity of my mechanical and emissions protocols. A registration document in two parts, showing my new car registration number and my full name and address, came out of the computer printer. All these were presented to me. As a parting gesture, the lady then said to me in Czech, “May God bless you”. Gerry replied by telling her in Czech, how appropriate her words were as she had just said them to the English-speaking Anglican Priest in Prague. The poor lady nearly fell off her chair both with shock and with laughter!

This afternoon, the car underwent it’s transformation from being a British car to being a Czech car. Off came the British number plates and the ‘GB’ sticker. Using the British plates as a template, I successfully drilled two holes in each of the Czech plates and then proudly screwed them onto the car before, of course, posing for the photograph!