Looking ahead into 2015

Prague © Ricky Yates

Since the beginning of this new year, aided by the ‘Forward Planner’ in my new Church Book & Desk Diary 2015, I’ve been looking ahead at what is in store for me and what I want to achieve in the coming year. In the past, I’ve frequently not been the best at forward planning, so with the new year comes a determination to do better.

In particular, I’ve been trying to decide when I can and want to take my annual leave, allowing for Easter and Christmas when I have to be in Prague, weddings at which I have agreed to officiate, and the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod and the ICS Chaplains Conference, at which my attendance is expected. By the end of this week, I want to have something firmly booked and begin organising cover for . . . → Read More: Looking ahead into 2015

Home to Prague

Premošten, Croatia © Ricky Yates

When I wrote my first blog post about travelling to Asia and back which I posted on 30th October 2009, three days after our return to Prague, I promised to write about our trip ‘over the next few weeks…….’ As you can see, I was somewhat optimistic – it has taken me just over two months rather than a few weeks! But here on the last day of 2009 is my twenty-first and last post about our journey of 4,500 miles/7,200 kilometres, through twelve countries over a period of twenty-three days. Once this is posted, I shall return to writing about Church and expat life in Prague, something I’ve only done twice in the last two months on my blog.

We explored Trogir in the bright morning sunshine of Sunday 25th October before setting out to drive some . . . → Read More: Home to Prague

Mistaken Identity

Dalmatian islands seen from the coast road between Senj and Zadar © Ricky Yates

On Monday 6th July, we drove right across Austria via Linz in the north to Klagenfurt in the south. As we did so, the rain got heavier and heavier so that, as we headed towards the steep mountain pass that would take us into Slovenia, it was positively tipping it down. The weather was no better on the Slovenian side of the border. However, as we joined the motorway to head south towards Ljubljana, (having purchased an expensive vignette to travel relatively few km of motorway), the rain slowly started to ease. And having bypassed Ljubljana and travelled on to Postojna where we left the motorway for the somewhat windy road that leads to the Croatian border, the sun came out as though to welcome us to our holiday destination.

At the . . . → Read More: Mistaken Identity

Journey to Croatia

After being the Anglican Chaplain in Prague for just over nine months, I’ve finally taken a proper holiday (vacation to the American readers of this blog) as, having celebrated the Eucharist on the morning of Sunday 5th July I am not officiating at Sunday worship again in Prague until Sunday 26th July. This is the reason why I haven’t posted anything on this blog since the end of June until today.

I wrote a number of blog posts whilst we were away in the hope of being able to post them from where we were staying. But the facilities and opportunity to do this never materialised so instead I will be posting them over the next few days now I’m back in Prague.

We decided to have a completely unplanned holiday with absolutely nothing booked in advance. The only thing we decided was to travel in the car to Croatia . . . → Read More: Journey to Croatia

Update on my previous post ‘More problems with Czech Bureaucracy’

Schengen Visa – Image in public domain via Wikimedia

As I feared, Anna has suffered the same fate as Karen. Despite going in person to the Foreign Police three times this past week, accompanied by a Czech speaking friend, she has had to leave the country today. She was eventually told that her application for a work permit & residency visa, submitted in Berlin on 21st January 2009, would not be granted because she had exceeded the 90 days she was allowed to be in the Czech Republic as a tourist.

Anna sent me a text/SMS message with this information early on Wednesday afternoon. I rang her straight back and invited her to join Sybille & I for a meal at Grosetto that evening so I could learn more about her experience with the Foreign Police and also say a proper ‘Goodbye’. We had . . . → Read More: Update on my previous post ‘More problems with Czech Bureaucracy’