How far is it?

Exactly 111 metres to the Optician’s Shop © Ricky Yates

The picture above is of an advert on the window of vacant retail premises near where we live. It is advertising an 80% reduction on the cost of frames and a 70% reduction on the cost of lens at an Optician’s Shop further along the street. But how far away is the Optician’s Shop? It isn’t a simple round 100 metres. Nor is it slightly further at 110 metres. No – it is exactly 111 metres!

This is an example of something we see quite regularly on a variety of signs here in the Czech Republic. An exactness in distance that borders on the absurd. For from where is it 111 metres to the Optician’s Shop? The poster itself is about 2 metres wide. From which end of it does anyone start measuring? And is it . . . → Read More: How far is it?

Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived!

Kaufland – Open from 07.00 – 22.00 every day © Ricky Yates

Back in September 2011, I wrote an illustrated post about the building work going on to create a large new supermarket on the site of a former bus depot that lies adjacent to the Rezidence Podbaba estate where we live. It was entitled Kaufland prichází! – Kaufland arrives! Well now it is Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived! On Thursday 31st May 2012, our long awaited Kaufland supermarket finally opened.

As part of the development, as I illustrated in my earlier post, the main section of the former bus depot with its curved roof has been retained and renovated. Then alongside has been built a wholly new two-storey building. This new building houses the supermarket with the former bus depot building now providing a large undercover parking area.

At the . . . → Read More: Kaufland je tady! – Kaufland has arrived!

Kaufland prichází! – Kaufland arrives!

Kaufland arrives! © Ricky Yates

Today, 19th September 2011, is the third anniversary of our arrival in Prague. Ever since then, Sybille and I have almost constantly lived next to, or very adjacent to, major building and construction work. In many respects, this should not be surprising as the Czech Republic bounces back from over forty years of Communist era stagnation, to now being the most economically prosperous of all the former Warsaw Pact countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

For nearly two years from our arrival, we had the fourth and final stage of ‘Residence Podbaba’ being constructed in front and to the side of our Chaplaincy Flat. As I mentioned in a July 2010 post, the dust and noise that building work constantly generated, was at times quite irritating and frustrating. More recently, at the beginning of 2011, the work . . . → Read More: Kaufland prichází! – Kaufland arrives!