retirement

Why did I decide to retire and move to live in North Bohemia?

My home in Stará Oleška as it looks today © Ricky Yates

This is a question, sometimes with slight variations, that I’ve been asked time and again this past year. So as this is my four hundredth blog post 🙂 🙂 🙂 , I thought I would put into written form, the answers I’ve been giving to all those who have enquired. I’ve broken the question down into two parts, with four reasons under each heading. If you have further questions, please leave them in a comment and I promise to respond.

Why did I decide to retire?

1. Because I could

On 26^th February 2017, I celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday. Although, because of increasing longevity and consequent increased costs, both the Church of England and the British government are raising the age of retirement for younger people, these changes have had very little effect on me. I remained entitled to retire at age sixty-five and claim both my Church and state pensions.

When I left the UK and moved to Prague in September 2008, I knew that in the previous financial year, I had completed paying sufficient National Insurance contributions, to be entitled to receive the minimum state pension at age sixty-five. Continuing working past my sixty-fifth birthday in the Czech Republic, was not going to increase my UK state pension 🙂 I did work on for two more months, retiring on 30^th April 2017, but all that did was to slightly increase my Church of England pension.

2. It is what I always envisaged

When I was offered and accepted the position as Anglican Chaplain in Prague, I always envisaged being in post for the following eight and a half years and then retiring. My predecessor as Chaplain, John Philpott, had done exactly the same, except that when appointed, he was one year older than me and therefore served for seven and a half years before retiring at age sixty-five. As I pointed out to the Prague congregation at my final Annual Church Meeting on 9^th April, compared to many other European Anglican Chaplaincies, Prague had enjoyed a long period of stability with only two chaplains in nearly seventeen years.

3. Repeating myself

Over my final two or three years at St Clement’s, Prague, I increasingly felt I was saying the same things over and over again in my preaching. Because of the relatively high turnover of congregational membership, with people only being in Prague for relatively short periods of time, this might not seem to be a problem. But I felt sorry for the long-standing members of the congregation who might well have heard me say something at least once too often 😉

4. My health

In August 2015, I had a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in my lung, which nearly killed me. As a consequence, I have to permanently take the blood-thinning drug Warfarin, (aka ‘rat poison’), and wear a compression stocking on the lower half of my left leg.

The cause of my pulmonary embolism was a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that formed in my left calf, then escaped from there and travelled to my lung. Despite wearing a compression stocking, I continue to have problems with my left calf and foot. Sometimes they become swollen with areas of bleeding through the skin, which in turn is difficult to stop, because of taking Warfarin 🙁 Currently the calf and skin are as good as can be expected but I had a serious flare up this summer, not helped by being stuck in cattle class for two hours on a Wizz Air flight to the UK.

Why did I retire to North Bohemia and not back in the UK?

1. Affordability

In simple terms, I can afford to retire here in North Bohemia and live fairly comfortably, but in no way could I do so in the UK.

For the nearly twenty-eight years I was in full-time ordained ministry, I was always housed as part of my job. But I do not own a house in the UK and with the absurd price of property, there is no way I could now afford to buy one. The Church of England does have various schemes to help retired clergy with housing. But they would all eat into my pension giving me much less income to live on.

In contrast, using just over half the lump sum from my Church pension, I have been able to purchase outright, my new home in Stará Oleška, and still have funds left over to make improvements to it – five new uPVC double-glazed window units were fitted last week 🙂 Major work to completely refit the kitchen, is due to commence on 8^th January 2018.

2. Frauenkirche, Dresden

Although I have retired from full-time ministry, as I have previously explained, I have been granted Permission to Officiate (PTO) by my bishop, in order that I may continue as the Coordinator of Anglican worship in Dresden. This currently means officiating at the monthly English-language Anglican service of Evening Prayer, hosted by the Frauenkirche, but will hopefully lead to a second monthly service, starting in the new year.

Stará Oleška is only a twelve kilometre drive from the main railway station in Decín from where it is just forty-five minutes by train to Dresden. Therefore by living here, I can now return home following the evening service, rather than staying overnight and returning on Monday as I was doing whilst living Prague. To answer the question as to why I didn’t then choose to set up home in Germany, the answer is simple – cost! Housing, and so many other things, are considerably cheaper on this side of the border, as explained in this recent post.

3. ‘Location, location, location’

‘The three most important things to consider when buying a property are location, location, and location’. A quick check on the internet reveals that no one can be sure who first said this but it is a mantra that is often repeated. As well as proximity to Dresden, I love the surrounding environment of the CHKO Labské Pískovce, the landscape protected area in which Stará Oleška is situated. As I have already explained and illustrated in this post and this post, it offers wonderful opportunities for walks out in ‘the nature’ as English-speaking Czech people often say.

4. Xenophobia in the UK

Besides cost, the other main reason for not retiring back in the UK is the rise of xenophobia, at times bordering on racism, which is now being freely voiced in parts of British society as a result of David Cameron’s ill-thought out EU referendum. Each time I visit the UK, the more I feel like a stranger in a strange land. I visit in order to spend time with my two adult children, their spouses and my two grandchildren. But even if I could afford to do so, I’m not at all sure that at the present time, I would want to make the UK my home once again.

Not that the Czech Republic doesn’t also have a vocal right-wing, recently winning electoral support by voicing anti-refugee, anti-Islam, anti-Roma propaganda. It is a politics of fear, bearing mind that very few refugees have come here, there are extremely few Muslims, and the country has had no experience at all of so-called Islamic terrorism.

However, as an ‘immigrant’ myself, I have been made very welcome in the community where I have now chosen to live in my retirement, smiling and waving helping to overcome the language barrier.

The new house in Stará Oleška

As I’ve explained in my two previous blog posts, here and here, and in responding to comments on them, I’ve been looking to buy a house into which to retire, in the vicinity of the north Bohemian town of Decín. This is the promised update.

On Thursday 9^th March, I went to view this house, along with Martin Tonder of Vesta Realitní. Having overnight pondered on what I saw, the next day, I sent off an email with an offer to buy. By the morning of Tuesday 14^th March, my offer had been accepted 🙂

After a few days delay, I’ve now received translations into English of two documents for me and the current owners to sign and also pay a modest deposit. Once this is done, the purchase will be set in motion. As Martin Tonder said on the phone to me this afternoon, the ball is now in my court!

The house lies in the village of Stará Oleška, Alt Ohlisch (German), eleven kilometres east of Decín. It has a population of just over 200. Like many places in this part of the Czech Republic, it gets much busier in summer as there are three camp sites, a pension and apartments to rent.

All these facilities are located in the vicinity of a lake at the eastern end of the village. Part of the lake is a nature reserve, home to around 130 different species of birds. But the rest is available to the public and there is a grassy ‘beach’ from which it is possible to swim.

The house is at the western end of the village. It is quite small but solidly built. It currently belongs to an elderly couple who have slowly improved it over the years.

The main bedroom is on the ground floor, as is the shower and toilet. There is also an entrance hall, sitting room and a kitchen.

On the first floor are two small bedrooms. One is currently completely full of junk! This is the other, which judging by the décor, is where the granddaughters sleep when they come to visit.

The one main drawback is this rather ‘interesting’ access to the first floor bedrooms. I was going to write ‘upstairs bedrooms’, but in reality, they are ‘up-ladder bedrooms’ 🙁 However, there is a distinct possibility of installing a staircase at the rear of the building with a door into the bedrooms where there is currently a window.

Everybody, including us, have been asking about the timetable for the move. Fortunately, the elderly owners are now, aided by Martin Tonder, talking about moving initially to rented premises which should be more quickly arranged rather than another house purchase. The main problem I foresee is getting them to sort out and remove their assorted belongings collected over many years, so that there is vacant possession.

From Winter into Spring

After a very cold and snowy winter, as I explained in my eighth blog anniversary post, in the last couple of weeks, Winter has slowly begun to recede and Spring is arriving. Therefore, it is certainly time to get my blog out of hibernation, being very aware that I haven’t posted anything here for a month.

There are numerous events that I could write about but here are just three highlights from the last couple of weeks.

Birthday

On Sunday 26^th February, I celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday. This is the second time since moving to Prague, that my birthday has fallen on a Sunday. The last time was on the occasion of my sixtieth birthday in 2012 which was also a leap year. There has since been a further leap year in 2016 meaning that my birthday in 2017 was once more on a Sunday.

Whilst I was aware that certain members of the congregation knew it was my birthday, I made no mention of it during our 11.00 Sung Eucharist that morning, hoping that after post-Eucharistic coffee and refreshments, I could just go on to a quiet birthday lunch with Sybille, who had celebrated her forty-ninth birthday on Friday 24^th February.

At the end of the service, having instructed the congregation to, ‘Go in peace to love and serve the Lord’ and they had responded, ‘In the name of Christ. Amen’, I acknowledged the altar and then set off to walk down the aisle to the Church door. But what did Professor Michal Novenko strike up with as his organ postlude? ‘Happy Birthday to you!’ I was therefore duly serenaded by the whole congregation as I made my exit 🙂 I discovered afterwards that Churchwarden Gordon Truefitt, once having received communion, had nipped up to the balcony and worded up Michal 😉

I did eventually have my quiet birthday lunch with Sybille in one of our favourite restaurants, Fraktal. It is known as serving the best burgers in Prague, and on their Víkendové menu, is my favourite Fredov snídanový burger. I did manage to take a photograph of mine before consuming it!

Tower of the Freiburger Münster © Ricky Yates

Council of Anglican and Episcopal Churches in Germany (CAECG)

Having officiated at my final Ash Wednesday Eucharist in Prague on the evening of Wednesday 1^st March, the following morning, I set out at 07.00, to drive to Freiburg im Breisgau. This was to attend my first meeting of CAECG, in my capacity of being the coordinator for English-language Anglican worship in Dresden. My journey took six & three-quarter hours including two brief breaks, but was made at least twenty minutes longer than it should have been, by a Stau on the Autobahn near Heilbronn.

Germany is part of continental Europe where there is what is proverbially known as ‘overlapping ecclesiastical jurisdiction’. There are a number of Anglican congregations which are part of the Church of England’s Diocese in Europe. But there are also several congregations that are part of the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe. Most but not all of these Episcopal congregations, came about as a result of the American zone of occupation, following the end of World War Two.

CAECG was established about twenty years ago, to coordinate and support the work of both ‘Anglican Churches’, within Germany. From 15.00 on the afternoon of Thursday 2^nd to lunchtime on Friday 3^rd, we met as a clergy chapter, sharing experiences of ministry and discussing pertinent issues. Following a two hour afternoon break, during which I was able to enjoy a brief walking exploration of the Altstadt of Freiburg, we were joined by elected lay delegates for the following twenty-four hours.

An attractive building on one side of the Münsterplatz, Freiburg © Ricky Yates

First we dealt with various business matters, but then we enjoyed three talks with impromptu questions and discussion, given by Rev’d Dr Charlotte Methuen. In the year that marks the five-hundredth anniversary of Martin Luther and his ninety-five theses, Charlotte spoke about Luther, the issues facing the German Church at that time, and then how his teaching and theology impacted on Church of England liturgy and Church practice. Wonderfully stimulating and most enjoyable.

On Saturday 4^th March following lunch, I drove back to Prague, giving a lift to Archdeacon Colin Williams. Colin is both Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe, as well as being Archdeacon for the Eastern Archdeaconry. Therefore when we crossed from north Bavaria into the Czech Republic, we crossed his Archidiaconal boundary 🙂 On Sunday 5^th March, Archdeacon Colin was the preacher at our 11.00 Sung Eucharist. Then following post-Eucharistic coffee and refreshments, he held a further ‘Vacancy Meeting’ with the Prague Church Council, helping them plan for the future ‘post Rixit’, as my retirement has become known 🙂 , including compiling a Chaplaincy profile and person specification as part of the recruitment process for finding my successor.

House hunting

Ever since the beginning of the year, I have become very aware that I need to find somewhere to live, once I retire on the Sunday 30^th April 2017. I previously wrote about my plans in my first blog post of 2017. However, in recent weeks, I have become increasingly frustrated with Czech Real Estate Agents, who seem to lack desire to sell any property in their portfolio.

Numerous Estate Agents have websites that are in both Czech and English. The reasonable assumption is that they recognise that some potential buyers will not be fluent in Czech. Yet when I have sent off enquiries in English about certain properties, silence has ensued.

However, in the past couple of days, I have found two properties that look suitable, located in my area of search. Even better, I’ve had prompt responses in English from the respective agents. In particular, Martin Tonder of Vesta Realitní, phoned me within half an hour of receiving my email. When I missed his call, he immediately followed it up with a text message, offering me the opportunity to view the property the next day which was today.

When I met Martin today, as well as speaking to me in English, aided by having lived and worked in the USA and being married to an American, he was most helpful in addressing and answering my queries. He even gave me the ultimate compliment, saying he had been reading this blog 😀 No property will fulfil every requirement of mine, but the one he showed me today looks very promising. Watch this space!

Happy eighth birthday to my blog

Kostel sv. Mikuláse in Malá Strana © Ricky Yates

Tomorrow, Saturday 4^th February 2017, marks a significant anniversary – it is exactly eight years since I wrote and posted my first-ever blog post here on ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’. Yes – eight years on, I’m still blogging 🙂

Believe it or not, this is post number 375. But I have to confess that in the past year, I’ve only managed to add 33 posts since celebrating the blog’s seventh birthday, a year ago. Therefore it sadly ranks as my least productive year 🙁 However, I am proud that if you scroll down the right-hand side bar to ‘Archives’, you will see that in each of the 96 months since I started writing, I have managed at least one post in every single one of them!

However, in its forthcoming ninth year, my blog will have to change its name as, very soon after Sunday 30^th April, Ricky Yates will cease to be ‘an Anglican in Prague’. Suggestions for a new title are welcome. Likewise, I will need a new header photo to replace the skyline of the city that has been my home for the past eight & a half years.

As I write this post, we are experiencing one of the coldest and snowiest winters that we have had for a number of years. Here in Prague, there hasn’t been as much snow as there was back in January 2010, when the authorities were using JCBs to tip excess snow into the Vltava. But the temperature has been below freezing point for about two weeks and, whilst it has risen today to -1°C 🙂 , after a brief thaw, we are are promised sub-zero temperatures again from next Tuesday.

This year’s severe weather has certainly been positive for one part of the Czech economy. As this news article explains, the Czech ski resorts are having a bumper season. Two years ago, when we experienced the mildest of all our nine winters here, they suffered considerably because of warm temperatures and a lack of snow.

I am still trying to get my head around the fact that twelve weeks on Sunday, I will retire. There is still so much to do as part of the day job, not least divesting myself of things that I normally do, to members of the laity. That is before starting to sort out papers and belongings, ready to move.

But I do promise to try and continue adding regular posts here over the coming weeks. And as I’m taking the week of annual leave owing to me in 2017, from Monday 13^th – Monday 20^th February inclusive, I may even finally complete the text of my long-promised book, ‘How to be Czech’. Watch this space!

When I’m Sixty-Four

Tomorrow will be my sixty-fourth birthday. Yes – on 26^th February 1952, in the upstairs bedroom of a semi-detached house in Allesley, Coventry, UK, Yours Truly made his entry into the world. Of course, if I had arrived three days later, then it would only be my sixteenth birthday as 1952 was a leap year 🙂 , just like 2016.

The reason I was born at home and not in hospital, was because my two older sisters had been born in hospital. My mother had had no problem with either delivery so was told that baby number three could be born at home. My mother was under the care of her district midwife, a situation which is now much more widely understood by the younger generation, because of the TV series ‘Call the Midwife’. However, I chose to enter the world on my mother’s district midwife’s day-off, meaning that a colleague covering for her, had to assist with my delivery.

Unlike 25^th February 2015, when Sybille and I celebrated our joint birthdays with a delightful meal at Sansho, I cannot celebrate with her today, as she is currently in Spain, walking the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago de Compostela. So instead, I sent greetings to her by Skype yesterday, wishing her both ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Alles gute zum Geburtstag!‘ I’m sure she will return the compliment to me tomorrow. And I have been invited out to lunch tomorrow, in honour of my birthday.

Whilst my birthday tomorrow is not a landmark one with a zero at the end, it still has great significance. Why? Because it means that in exactly one year’s time, both the Church of England and the state, will allow me to retire if I choose to do so. Whilst because of increased human longevity, retirement ages are being raised for younger people, it doesn’t really affect me, because of my age.

I probably will not retire in exactly a year’s time. However, my current Bishop’s Licence as Chaplain of St. Clement’s, Prague, only goes to the end of April 2017. Therefore sometime between my sixty-fifth birthday on 26^th February 2017 and the expiry of my Bishop’s Licence on 30^th April 2017, I will retire – the exact date to be decided in the next few months.

The other major decision to be made is where to retire to. That is a big issue to be resolved sometime this summer. In the mean time, I end this post with a song that I’ve been whistling and singing the past few weeks in anticipation of tomorrow. Rather than the original from The Beatles, here’s a fun version by a male voice choir.