Prague – Page 2

ICS Chaplains Conference at Hothorpe Hall

Hothorpe Hall Conference Centre © Ricky Yates

I spent the week (Monday 12^th – Friday 16^th May 2014), attending the annual Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) Chaplains and Families Conference at Hothorpe Hall, which lies adjacent to the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border, a few miles outside Market Harborough. Attending the conference was one of the two reasons for my two-day drive from the Czech Republic to the United Kingdom, that I described in my earlier post.

As I explained in my post about the 2013 Conference, ICS is an international Church of England mission agency seeking to make known the good news of the Christian Gospel to people who speak English, who find themselves living, studying, working or holidaying away from home in countries where English is not the main language. ICS mainly works in continental Europe and other countries that surround the Mediterranean, and has financially and prayerfully supported the Prague Anglican Chaplaincy since August 2000.

The conference struck a nice balance between prayer, worship and teaching with some free time each afternoon, to explore the delightful surrounding countryside. As so often with conferences of this nature, some of the most valuable time was spent talking informally with colleagues over coffee or on occasions, something a little stronger 🙂 All of us work in somewhat isolated situations with rarely any opportunity to meet with each other except at this annual gathering.

The area around Hothorpe Hall was somewhere I had previously explored by foot or on my bicycle during my teenage years when living in Coventry. On the Wednesday afternoon, I made a circular walk of around 13 km to see the staircase flight of ten locks at Foxton on the Leicester section of the Grand Union Canal, a place I last visited about forty years ago

Top end of the remains of the Foxton inclined plane © Ricky Yates

Bottom end of the remains of the Foxton inclined plane © Ricky Yates

As well as the locks, a remarkable feat of engineering in their own right, I was fascinated to see the remains of the neighbouring inclined plane, built at the beginning of the twentieth century but abandoned in 1928 because of being too costly to maintain. The whole site, which used to be totally overgrown, has in recent years, been completely cleared and landscaped.

My path through a field of flowering oil seed rape © Ricky Yates

I took a different and slightly longer route to return to Hothorpe Hall, one that avoided a section of busy main road and which took me through a field of flowering oil seed rape.

On the final evening of the conference, a celebration dinner was held. We were encouraged to dress up a little and several of the ladies wore dresses or skirts, rather than the usual jeans and I wore my suit, together with my favourite tie which features a series of white sheep with just one black sheep in the middle.

During the dinner, a tradition started at the 2013 conference was continued with a fun ‘awards ceremony’, known as the ICS Carrot Awards. Last year, little mementos were presented which were made of carrots – this year there were printed certificates featuring a smiling carrot logo. Clearly my suit and tie were impressive as was given the prestigious ICS Carrot Award in recognition of being the best dressed man during the conference 🙂

The Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Wilby © Ricky Yates

Whilst the weekend following the conference, was meant to be the first part of my holiday, on the morning of Sunday 18^th May, I undertook a deputation visit on behalf of ICS and was the preacher at two supporting parishes, St. Mary the Virgin, Wilby and St. Mary Magdalene, Ecton, two villages near Wellingborough in Northamptonshire. As well as preaching, I was also interviewed at both services by the Rector, Rev’d Chris Pearson, asking me to explain about my ministry in the Czech Republic and how ICS supports that work by finance and prayer. It was a most worthwhile morning, tinged by a little bit of déjà vu as I drove between services through the Northamptonshire countryside, echoes of my fifteen and a half years of rural multi-parish benefice ministry in the Oxfordshire countryside 🙂

FK Dukla Praha vs. FK Teplice

On Thursday 20th February, my son Phillip and his girlfriend Lisa, flew into Prague for a four day visit. Yours truly paid for the flights as a birthday and Christmas present 🙂

Their visit fortunately coincided with the resumption of the Czech football season following its mid-season break. Like many leagues in Central Europe, the Gambrinus liga, (the top tier of Czech football), cease playing during the period when harsh winter weather is most likely to occur. There had therefore been no matches since the very beginning of December. It is ironic that this winter has been so unusually mild in the Czech Republic, that matches could have continued to be played right through the mid-season break.

Immediately behind where the Chaplaincy Flat is located, is the stadium of FK Dukla Praha, one of the four Prague football clubs currently playing in the Gambrinus liga. Phillip and I have often talked of going to see a Dukla home game together and the evening of Friday 21st February, finally gave us the opportunity to do so.

FK Dukla Praha were playing FK Teplice, a clash between two teams respectively fourth and third in the league. Not surprisingly, it was one of the weekend round of matches chosen for live television coverage, meaning the kick-off was at 20.15, rather than Dukla’s normal starting time of 18.00 on a Friday evening.

A most entertaining game resulted in a 3-1 win for Dukla with all their goals being scored in the first half. The Teplice consolation goal came near the end of the second half. It was an ‘own goal’, the ball coming off the head of Dukla defender Marek Hlinka. He had previously scored the third of Dukla’s goals and so had the dubious distinction of scoring at both ends 🙂 The result meant that the two teams swapped places, with Dukla moving up to third and Teplice dropping to fourth.

As I’ve previously highlighted in a blog post from October 2011, there are numerous contrasts between attending a top flight football game in the Czech Republic, and attending a similar game in the UK. My ticket cost 130k? (just over £4.00) which is about 10% of what an adult might pay to attend a Premier League game. And for 30kc (just under £1.00), you could buy 0.5l of Gambrinus beer and take it with you to drink whilst watching the match! One nice touch was the beer being served in strong plastic ‘glasses’ on which a deposit of a further 30kc had to be paid. But this was reimbursed when the ‘glass’ was returned at the end of the match.

There was a small police presence outside the ground but none within it, so far as I could see. Inside the ground, there were a number of stewards who had very little to do except watch the game, bearing in mind that the total attendance was only 1958. And whilst there was a band of more enthusiastic fans singing and chanting in a group well below us in the main stand, nearer the pitch, there was no foul and abusive language to be heard.

Instead, during the match, I could not but help listen into a fascinating conversation going on behind me as a Czech man explained various aspects of the game, to the young lady sitting alongside him, doing so in second-language English. I eventually discovered, (once I let on I could understand every word they were saying 🙂 ), that the young lady was the Czech man’s Armenian girlfriend. He not speaking Armenian and she not speaking Czech, second-language English was their means of communication.

Altogether, it was a most enjoyable evening with the added bonus that it only took ten minutes to walk home with the whole route being either downhill or on the level!

Phillip & Lisa enjoying the game © Ricky Yates

Is Prague safe?

The centre of Prague from Letna © Ricky Yates

This is a question which I get asked from time-to-time, and in various forms, is one many of my congregation also get asked by their family and friends. So for anyone contemplating a visit to the delightful city of Prague, or thinking of coming to live in the Czech Republic in the near future, here is my answer to this question.

There is an inevitable tendency to think that where I normally live is safe, and to question the safety of anywhere else. This comes about because of familiarity – I am familiar with where I live and therefore I think it is a safe place. The worst offenders in this regard are Americans, partly because roughly two thirds of the American population, have never set foot outside the borders of their own country.

The reality is, that of all the nations in the developed Western world, the United States of America is actually one of the least safest places to live. It has one of the highest murder rates per head of population – 4.7 per 100,000. Compare this to the United Kingdom, where the rate is 1.2 per 100,000. And the Czech Republic? The most recent figures from 2012, show a murder rate of 0.8 per 100,000. So in simple terms, there is the answer to the question in the title of this post.

As in any major city, there is a certain risk of petty theft which any visitor or resident needs to be aware of. This usually takes the form of pickpocketing in busy places, such as Charles Bridge on a sunny summer’s day, or in crowded tram and metro carriages. Simple precautions, such as making sure your handbag or rucksack is closed properly, and not putting your wallet in your back trouser pocket where a thief can easily access it, are the best ways to avoid becoming a victim of this sort of crime.

Petty theft used to be a far bigger problem in Prague some years ago, than it is now. Because petty theft was giving the city a bad reputation, there was a major police effort to crack down on it, before it caused further damage to the important tourist trade. The effects of this is born out by my own experience which I do accept may not be statistically accurate 🙂

I have now lived in Prague for nearly five-and-a-half years. During the first eighteen months of my time here, two members of my congregation were victims of petty theft. One had her shoulder bag slashed whilst on a crowded tram, and various bank and credit cards stolen. The other had her mobile phone taken from her pocket whilst travelling in a crowded metro carriage. Since then, I’m only aware of one other congregational member who has suffered in this way – another female who had her iPhone stolen, though she admits she was rather careless with it.

One other way in which tourists can become victims of street crime, is to respond to shady individuals in the streets, who offer to ‘change money’ for you. Just ignore them and instead use a bank. Or draw Czech currency from an ATM using your bank debit card. You will get a far better exchange rate, without the risk of having your wallet snatched or being given counterfeit notes.

Quite honestly, the greatest risk to life and limb in Prague, are trams and motor vehicles. In simple terms, do not have an argument with a Prague tram – you will always lose! Except where a pedestrian crossing is controlled by lights, trams to do NOT stop for pedestrians. That is the reason the words ‘Pozor Tram‘, are painted on the tarmac before crossing tram lines!

Officially, all motor vehicles are meant to stop and give way to pedestrians at zebra crossings. Unfortunately, there are a proportion of Czech drivers who either ignore this law or believe that their urgency to reach their destination, is vastly more important than your right to cross the road in safety. Just be aware of this and exercise your right of way with caution.

Even late at night, Prague is a very safe city. I know from personal experience that I would much prefer to travel on the Prague Metro late at night, than on the London Underground. Several other people that I know, have expressed similar sentiments. Of course, there are a few areas of the city which are best avoided late at night, in particular, several streets off Václavské námestí / Wenceslas Square. This is where certain of the more unsavoury aspects of city life can be seen, and young ladies are best advised not to walk through there wearing short skirts, or there is the risk of being mistaken for what they are not!

However, with that one proviso, and by taking simple precautions against petty theft, Prague is a very safe city both to visit and in which to reside. A place with far less dangers than many other cities in the developed Western world.

Happy Fifth Birthday to my blog

A rare sight - Charles Bridge with hardly any tourists! © Ricky Yates — A rare sight – Charles Bridge with hardly any tourists! © Ricky Yates

Tomorrow, Tuesday 4th February 2014, this blog will be five years old. My first ever blog post, entitled ‘Episcopal Taxi Service‘, was published here on 4th February 2009. Five years later, this is post number two hundred & fifty eight.

In some respects, I’m a little disappointed with myself. Two years ago, I set myself the target of publishing fifty-two blog posts in the year – an average of one a week. As I explained twelve months later, I eventually only managed fifty. This year, having set myself the same target, I have again fallen short as, with this post, I have only managed to publish forty-six.

On the positive side as I look back over the past five years, I am quite pleased with what I have achieved. For example, if you scroll down and click on ‘Select Month’, under ‘Archives’ in the right-hand side bar, you will discover there isn’t a single one of the past sixty months, when I haven’t published a blog post. And in fifty-nine of those sixty months, it has always been more than one!

Without blowing my own trumpet too loudly, I do contrast this with several other blogs I’ve followed over the time that I’ve been blogging, which have gone well for a while and then have quietly died. Or those that start out very well-intentioned, and then have failed to manage more than two or three posts. If you are going to first build and then maintain interest in your blog, it is essential to add a new post at reasonably regular intervals which is what I have always tried to do, even though I haven’t done so quite as frequently as I would have liked to have done.

In some respects, my blog has become far more widely read and appreciated, than I ever could have imagined when I started writing it five years ago. As I’ve previously explained, the original aim was to update family, friends and former parishioners in the UK, about my new life in Prague and my role as the Anglican Chaplain. But I now seem to have gained a following amongst English-speaking Czechs, both those living in their country of origin and others currently residing elsewhere. Additionally, I appear to be read by other English-speaking expats living in the Czech Republic and by both current and former members of my Prague and Brno congregations.

One very satisfying result of my five years of blogging is that it has brought people to Church. Just a few weeks ago, I was standing at the door of the Church, shaking hands with members of the congregation following our Sunday Eucharist. A British couple who were visiting Prague, introduced themselves and told me that they had decided to come and worship at St. Clement’s simply because they had read my blog!

Another reason why my blog attracts as many visitors as it does, is that a small number of posts, rank highly in Google and other search engines, for the topic they cover. An enquiry as how to register a British or Irish right-hand drive car in the Czech Republic, will promptly highlight my two posts from 2009 – ‘Driving on the ‘right’ side of the road‘ and ‘Check this Czech car out!‘. Consequently, I’ve several times generated business for my friend Adrian Blank, who was so helpful to me in getting the ‘Carly’ through all the necessary hoops nearly five years ago.

I also really ought to be on commission from the Czech Tourist Board as my post from January 2011, entitled ‘Why I like living in Prague‘, remains as one of the most popular landing pages for new arrivals to my blog.

A major change in my blogging practice came at the end of May 2012 when I started using a brand new laptop computer, one on which I still work. This, together with the ever-increasing availability of wifi internet connection in restaurants and hotels, has allowed me to both write and published blog posts, without being located in the Chaplaincy Flat in Prague. Thus in June 2013, when flooding caused us to lose our internet connection for seventeen days, I was able to publish a post using the wifi provided by Bar-Restaurace U Topolu. Later that month, I both wrote and published a blog post, whilst on holiday in the Orlické hory.

This fifth birthday for my blog, has come immediately following the events I described in my previous post – the publication of an abbreviated and very poorly translated version of one of my blog posts, by the the online Czech tabloid Prásk!, both without any link to my original or seeking my consent. I have written to the Director of PR and communications of the offending media company, seeking a published apology, but have yet to receive any reply. However, without condoning the behaviour of the Nova media group, I’m increasingly taking what has happened to me as a back-handed compliment.

It has resulted in a massive increase in visitor numbers to my blog, with numerous English-speaking Czechs leaving interesting and appreciative comments. And the number of Facebook ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ for ‘How to be Czech in ten easy steps‘, yesterday went past 8,000! Twelve days after the offending article was published online, my blog which normally has around fifty or sixty visitors each day, still had well over four hundred. Clearly I had better take full advantage of my new-found fame 🙂

So as ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’, enters the sixth year of publication, I shall seek to continue to write and reflect upon my experience of ministering to English-speakers from around the world and living as an expat myself in this fascinating city and the wider Czech Republic. Hopefully, those who have recently discovered the blog for the first time, will continue to visit.

Whilst I have a number of plans for future blog posts, if there are any particular topics my regular readers would like me to tackle, please let me know your thoughts. In the meantime, join with me in raising your glass to celebrate the fifth birthday of ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’.

All change!

Regular visitors to this blog will have noticed that, in the last 24 hours, its appearance has changed. After three and a half years, I’ve decided the time has come to alter my ‘theme’. No – I’m not changing the theme of what I write about. What has changed is the way it now visually appears on yours and my computers. I’ve adopted a new WordPress theme.

As always, when it comes to technical matters in relation to this blog, it should really be what my internet savvy wife has done. Whilst I outlined the appearance I wanted and am responsible for the photograph of the Prague skyline featured in my new header, Sybille has been totally responsible for implementing the changes you can now see. If you like what you see, her services are available to you – for a donation 🙂

Why have I made the change? Partly just to freshen up the blog appearance. But a major factor was that my previous theme was fluid. This meant that the way any post appeared on my computer was not necessarily the way it appeared on other people’s computers. It depended entirely on each person’s screen resolution. Seeing several blogposts as they appeared on other computers made me recognise the problem. Therefore, I am now using a theme with a fixed layout.

Inevitably, as you fix one problem, it is very easy to cause others. A quick journey back through the blog shows that a few photographs now run partly into the sidebar on the right. This is a problem I hope to fix in the next few days. But if any of my readers spot any other issues, please let me know either via the ‘Contact’ page or by leaving a comment.

I have also taken the opportunity to change the tag line for the blog. It used to say ‘Ricky Yates – a blog and more…..’. Now it’s ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’ which is a far more apt description. My thanks to ‘Girl in Czechland’, who has used this tag line for my blog in her blogroll for quite some time and which I’ve now chosen to adopt myself.

What has also changed, is the computer on which this blog is being compiled and published. Courtesy of a generous donation by one of the members of the St. Clement’s congregation, together with a contribution by Sybille and myself, I am writing this on a shiny new laptop computer which functions using Windows 7 and speaks to me in English! My previous machine had Windows XP, spoke to me in Czech, and was rapidly dying.

Once more, courtesy of my computer savvy wife, in the past forty-eight hours, the whole contents of my old computer – email, photographs, a vast variety of files – have all been safely transported onto this new machine. There are sure to be a few teething problems as, with Sybille’s encouragement, I’m now drafting this in ‘OpenOffice’ rather than ‘Microsucks Word’. But as far as I am concerned, it certainly is, ‘All change!’

If you like what you see – tell me. If you don’t – please also tell me!