So, still no news on the mortgage.
Today has been a day of research. After reading an interesting article in the New Scientist (what is the opposite of ‘oxymoron’ without being an obvious statement) I’ve done some research about NoMix technology. From what I can see, this is one of the many eco inventions in academia, and though the web site was informative, when I finally found it, there was no indication that it would ever become a commercial product offered for sale. It is currently undergoing testing in Switzerland by novaquatis (a project called Nova pp!) – and would not be ready for Novy Mlyn for some time. I’ll keep an eye on it. Read the rest of this entry »

We spent the weekend with Jerry and his family in their cottage. We had not been very sure of the invitation – it says a great deal about our level of Czech that at first Mike thought that Jerry was phoning to remind him that he danced like a chicken. However, when we arrived in Slabčice, we realised that it was simply a common Czechlish error.

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Things seem to be going slowly at the moment. It’s hard not being able to get to the house & I’m still waiting for responses from lots of people about lots of different projects. I try to work to my enthusiasms, but projects seem to be slightly adrift at present.

We think we’ve been invited away for the weekend! A guy we met at a bar a few weeks ago phoned & probably arranged for us to join him & his family at their cottage. Thing is, we’re not completely sure about it, only about 87%. Will have to wait & see what happens tomorrow.

A very odd coincidence: I did a search of images on  Google for ‘tulip cafe prague’ and on the first page is a picture of the guy who I am working for at The English Centre. No explanation as to why. Is Google far more sophisticated than I think. Could it be something to do with our geographical location? Mysterious.

The paperchase continues. In order to purchase a car, one of us needs a residence permit. I can’t as I still have my unmarried name on my passport (we need the marriage certificate to change this – and that’s in the UK).

M can, but needs to have an officially stamped copy of our rental agreement, the company formation documents for Passer s.r.o. and a letter from himself saying that he is an employee of his own company in the UK (I think officially translated and stamped as well). Once we have gathered said documents, we will go back to the foreign police and see if they like them. Then, all we need to do is find a car, organise our insurance – povinné ručení (maybe from UNIQUA – 800 120 020) & register it.

In the mean time, we’ll buy  another bike once M is paid.

Yet another incident fraught attempt to travel. This time via bicycle. We bought M a bike on Friday, so that we could reach the house (20km, no Saturday bus, no car because we don’t have paperwork yet). After 5 km it had started misbehaving – the bit the pedal was attached to had worked loose.

Luckily we were able to fix it – with the help of a stranger innocently working on his garden in a small Czech village. He even gave us the tool we needed! Some people are so nice. We managed to get to Novy Mlyn, though stopping every so often to tighten up the loose fitting. The countryside was beautiful (something we’re nearly taking for-granted now) and the journey felt like very good exercise (i.e. it is nearly constantly up hill from Tábor). Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a lovely week. The town looks pretty with blossom and new leaves on the trees. And every little restaurant is gearing up for the tourist season by constructing decks for tables and chairs on the pavements and around the square. I have even managed to drag M away from his computer on occasion!

This week I began teaching for the English Centre in Tábor. The lessons have been very enjoyable. I have met very interesting people, with varied & exciting lives. I’m really pleased about it. I was nervous, but I think it went okay – I hope my students got as much out of it as I did!

Quote from M yesterday ‘what kind of hell hole did we come from!’ – after yet again seeing something and saying ‘well you wouldn’t get that in England’.

Today we visited the foreign police in Tábor. They were lovely and even spoke to us in English. We needed long term residence in order to buy a car, however we need proof of employment and officialised copies of our rent agreement to get this. So, the upshot is that we won’t be buying a car this weekend.  Instead we are going to buy a bike for Mike & attempt to cycle to our house – it’s quite a long way, and quite a big hill – but if we take our time, we should be okay. This is eco friendly, however will mean that we can’t just ‘nip over’ there for a few hours in the evening after work.  It’ll get us fit!

Joke from yesterday – listening to bird song – what are they shouting about – “there’s a sale on at nestsRus”  M “everything’s going cheep, cheep, cheep.”

The purchase of a car is always going to be a controversial decision for the eco conscious.  I believe the best solution would be to buy a second hand diesel powered vehicle, and use biodiesel as fuel.  I really need to meet some local greens who would know how to go about such a scheme.  In the mean time, I am desperate to get to Novy Mlyn and start working on the project there.  In the mean time we will buy something old, then resell it once we have a greener alternative available.  And, of course, right now 500 year vision has no income to speak of.

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First of all, spurious pictures. Something I’ve not seen before – balls hanging in trees to celebrate spring:

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