Leaving UK nanny's lead weights of lifestyle gloom and scaremongery at Ruzyně airport like so much unwanted baggage, it was just a 15 minute cab ride before Mrs P & I were happily nestled at a table in the bar pictured left. I don't know much Czech except 'pivo', which is just about all one needs to know after a flight where the ice cold Staropramen had been calling to me siren-like, but whatever the word is for bliss, we enjoyed that too while sipping quality brew and simultaneously lighting up without so much as a raised eyebrow from anyone.There's not much to say about Prague and its more relaxed and respectful approach to people in comparison to the UK that I haven't mentioned in an article last November ... except to correct this bit.
[The bar] was the only place one could smoke, thereby leaving every other part of the 354 roomed hotel - and two non-smoking lounges - for non-smokers, including the restaurant where we were heading.Err, not strictly true, as it happens. On Friday evening, we sat down at our table in the plush restaurant and Mrs P put her cigarettes (£2.50 Rothmans from the shop over the road) next to the condiments rather than suffer the discomfort of a square box in her trouser pocket. A waiter, without waiting to be asked and flashing a genial smile, promptly placed a gleaming glass ashtray in front of us. How thoughtful, eh? We didn't make use of it on this occasion but it was very liberating to be offered the freedom to choose. It's the same just about everywhere. In fact, the one establishment we stumbled across with the bold claim "Prague's first ever smoke free bar" painted on its window was amusingly lifeless and - predictably - shut.
The whole weekend was equally stress free, and the Prague urban scenery as picturesque as ever. But, as alluded to briefly yesterday, you can always trust lefties to make life that little bit more difficult.
Returning from Old Town on Saturday afternoon after having savoured a succulent piece of veal which would have sent Kerry McCarthy into anaphylactic shock, there was a procession going on at Malostranské náměstí tram station. Lefties. Tons of 'em.
How do I know they were lefties? Well, the massive - and I mean huge - Che Guevara flag we saw from Charles Bridge gave the game away somewhat. As did the uninspiring chanting, regimented banners, and kids-as-weapons tactic so enamoured of that kind of morally bankrupt political activist. It turns out that it was, indeed, exactly the kind of emotive and detached-from-reality protest we see over here**. As 'normal' Czechs stood watching with bemused indifference, I asked a street caricaturist - not the type one would mark down as a heartless beneficiary of right wing privilege - what was going on.
"Idiots", he spat, "the government say we must change, cannot spend money. They don't like". Ah, that old chestnut. "They are going to the Finance building. They will stay there I think".
And then the penny dropped. They had been marching along the tram lines, and we passed the Ministry of Finance on the way down to central Prague that morning. By 'down', I do mean down. We were at the foot of a steepish hill that leads up to Prague Castle, said to have been built 'on the back of a dolphin', and our hotel was that-a-way. With these sods closing the roads off and blocking trams, the only way back was a 30 minute hike. Uphill. In 25 degree heat.
Bastards.
I consoled myself with a lime ice cream bought along the way, and by pondering why it was that citizens of a country, formerly stamped on by the communist jackboot, would contemplate pursuing the same damaging policies which they had only recently thrown off.
Just a small inconvenience, of course, but one which was irritating considering my visiting there is partly to escape lefty-led policy nonsense over here.
I could have done without the NHS administrator who checked in just before us on our way back too, taking the last window seat in the process, only to then be sat in the same row glued to seminar documents the whole way back without glancing out of the bloody thing even once.
Trifles, yes. But when you've enjoyed a weekend of quiet enjoyment and unhampered personal choice, most irritations are.
**Well, not exactly, as it happens. There were no 'anarchist' riots and no smashed windows, graffiti etc the next day.
7 comments:
I've heard Estonia is also pretty liberal. Odd, isn't it? Why are these countries that were on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain when I grew up now better at it than we are? Because they became relatively free only recently and are still treasuring it, perhaps? But in that case why do they have the same kind of idiots who can't see that what they're demanding means a move back towards the bad old days? Maybe it's true what they say about democracy only lasting as long as it takes people to realise they can vote themselves money from the government which has been taken from other people.
Angry Exile: I'm off on holiday Estonia for the very first time in three weeks. I shall share my experiences here, hopefully. :-)
If anyone knows a good place for pintage and good company in Tallinn (no, not of that kind!), please let me know.
Che.....a murderer, traitor and commie piece of human filth!
I`d like to dump those lefty zombies in Havana and then watch and laugh when the scales of stupidity fall from their eyes and they plead to be set free from Castro`s commie jackboot, dickeds!
Che Guevara flag is a little bit of a giveaway, Dick.
Weird that they just got rid of the jackboot of Communism, now some of them want it right back again.
Personally, I'm quite glad they want to exercise their right to assemble and dissent and that they do so in a civilised manner. Remember, it wasn't possible in the not-so-distant past, not without severe risk to life, limb and career prospects. As for your delay, that's a notorious traffic bottleneck - you can wait 20-30 mins in a heavy rush-hour.
If there's an event likely to cause big delays, Prague transport usually re-route trams - in that case, probably via the next bridge over the river, so you would probably only have had a 10 min walk on level ground to the next useful stop.
You'd have been better investigating some of the myriad bars adjacent to Malostranske Namesti. Anyway, your post started me thinking, so.......
There are still strands of anti-capitalism at work in Cz - the slightly reformed communist party regularly clocks up to 20% of the vote in elections. There's quite a lot of greenism about, perhaps stemming from what seems a semi - mystical enthusiasm for "The Nature" (entails lots of tramping through the woods, and more comfortably, weekends at the country cottage, both involving a fair amount of campfire sing-songery - all very idyllic) Cz has a rich countryside - fruit trees often grow by the roadside, there are hundreds of ruined castles, lakes galore and huge forests.
Anti-Americanism exists too, which is quite regional - in Plzen, they've never forgotten it was Patten's army that liberated the city in 1945, so the USA is more highly approved of there. Many have integrated well, but the initial flood of tens of thousands of actual Americans - corporate employees, entrepreneurs, tourists,artists, chancers, etc,etc, after the wall fell, tempered the enthusiasm of many Prague locals.
Prague is a big university city, and has student activists galore, united by their utterly normal desire to be "agin the system", and probably also, the need to disagree with their parents, who, if they were of the professional classes, would have had much more to complain about in the communist system than would those of the labouring classes. Also, capital cities tend to attract young malcontents - unorthodox appearance/behaviour gets less attention/censure than in small towns. (not possible in the old days - you needed permission to move) None of them were born under communism, they would have to be nearly 30 to remember,so their dreams are untempered by experience.
In general though, I think the socialist tendency is more deeply embedded in the older manual workers - jobs for life and iron goulash-bowls were the rule, so there's a nostalgia factor. This was one of the more prosperous of the peoples' democracies, Russian tourists regarded it as "the West" and from visits to both countries in the '80s I could see why, on the streets and in the shops. Life was not too bad for the workers - nobody worked too hard, many people had 2nd homes in the country and if you put your name down to buy a car, then Skoda would get it built for you in a couple of years. (Then you could sell it for at least double the price to someone who didn't want to wait 2 years.)
In Cz, there are 1950s heavy-industry towns,often grafted on to an existing mediaeval village. Once the wall came down, these towns had no economic point - huge locally-based workforces were laid off.(Look up "Kladno")
Cz was always good at light industry/electrical goods,so new industries have naturally appeared, but they often need different skills and locations, so some towns are still "dead", with large residual populations from the old days. State benefits are not generous here, many older workers were materially better off under communism and regard it as a period of security and stability - the "good old days", hence the still popular C.P.
Sorry to have so much to say, but "Whither Lefties In Post.Com.Soc" is a big subject!
Personally, I'm quite glad they want to exercise their right to assemble and dissent and that they do so in a civilised manner. Remember, it wasn't possible in the not-so-distant past, not without severe risk to life, limb and career prospects. As for your delay, that's a notorious traffic bottleneck - you can wait 20-30 mins in a heavy rush-hour.
If there's an event likely to cause big delays, Prague transport usually re-route trams - in that case, probably via the next bridge over the river, so you would probably only have had a 10 min walk on level ground to the next useful stop.
You'd have been better investigating some of the myriad bars adjacent to Malostranske Namesti. Anyway, your post started me thinking, so.......
There are still strands of anti-capitalism at work in Cz - the slightly reformed communist party regularly clocks up to 20% of the vote in elections. There's quite a lot of greenism about, perhaps stemming from what seems a semi - mystical enthusiasm for "The Nature" (entails lots of tramping through the woods, and more comfortably, weekends at the country cottage, both involving a fair amount of campfire sing-songery - all very idyllic) Cz has a rich countryside - fruit trees often grow by the roadside, there are hundreds of ruined castles, lakes galore and huge forests.
Anti-Americanism exists too, which is quite regional - in Plzen, they've never forgotten it was Patten's army that liberated the city in 1945, so the USA is more highly approved of there. Many have integrated well, but the initial flood of tens of thousands of actual Americans - corporate employees, entrepreneurs, tourists,artists, chancers, etc,etc, after the wall fell, tempered the enthusiasm of many Prague locals.
Prague is a big university city, and has student activists galore, united by their utterly normal desire to be "agin the system", and probably also, the need to disagree with their parents, who, if they were of the professional classes, would have had much more to complain about in the communist system than would those of the labouring classes. Also, capital cities tend to attract young malcontents - unorthodox appearance/behaviour gets less attention/censure than in small towns. (not possible in the old days - you needed permission to move) None of them were born under communism, they would have to be nearly 30 to remember,so their dreams are untempered by experience.
In general though, I think the socialist tendency is more deeply embedded in the older manual workers - jobs for life and iron goulash-bowls were the rule, so there's a nostalgia factor. This was one of the more prosperous of the peoples' democracies, Russian tourists regarded it as "the West" and from visits to both countries in the '80s I could see why, on the streets and in the shops. Life was not too bad for the workers - nobody worked too hard, many people had 2nd homes in the country and if you put your name down to buy a car, then Skoda would get it built for you in a couple of years. (Then you could sell it for at least double the price to someone who didn't want to wait 2 years.)
In Cz, there are 1950s heavy-industry towns,often grafted on to an existing mediaeval village. Once the wall came down, these towns had no economic point - huge locally-based workforces were laid off.(Look up "Kladno")
Cz was always good at light industry/electrical goods,so new industries have naturally appeared, but they often need different skills and locations, so some towns are still "dead", with large residual populations from the old days. State benefits are not generous here, many older workers were materially better off under communism and regard it as a period of security and stability - the "good old days", hence the still popular C.P.
Sorry to have so much to say, but "Whither Lefties In Post.Com.Soc" is a big subject!
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