We had an exciting beginning to the New Year here in Brandys Nad Labem. There have been odd bangs around the place since we arrived two weeks ago, a bit like England in November. But, at close to midnight it really go under way and lasted for, we estimate, at least 20 minutes. There were rockets going up at the town square, plus at other sites all around the town. We have a very good view of it from our apartment. Eventually it mostly died down and we went to bed at about 0100HRS. I took quite a lot of video, but have yet to process it and prune it down to a short clip giving a sample of what the fireworks were like.

I have been obsessively checking the weather sites in search of snow predictions. There was a possibility of snow last night, but I tried to not get my hopes up too high. I woke up at about 0410HRS and found that there had been a light fall of snow. It lasted until morning, so I got photos of it at night, but also in daylight. It is now about 1300HRS here, and it has all melted.

I rang sister Marie as a special New Year’s Day treat to myself. Using Skype minutes, of course.

Stephen has been writing to Della and Tony and his family. I will include his emails below as they give things from his perspective.

First: the one to his family

“Hello Everyone

Last night, NYE, was marked by sporadic fireworks for most of the evening, leading to a full gush as midnight approached. There was the main event at the town square, but individual groups seemed to be in competition to keep the momentum going. We got a good view from our fifth floor window, and we are 25 km East of Central Prague. And then in the morning some snow had fallen.
It is two weeks now from my attack. I still have a feeling of some rib cage strain, which makes me take walking and sitting movements a little tentative. We really now have put the “trip” on hold until this discomfort disappears. I am sleeping ok, but there is some discomfort in lying on my left side and changing position in bed. Progress is disappointingly slow, but after 12 weeks on the road, there is room to just do iPad work, what would we do without the Internet and our iPads???
Before the attack we had booked some tickets and we went through with these, but I had to go in and out by taxi as the 90 min bus and metro ride would not really have been possible. Curiously we have a taxi driver living in our apartment block so we use him, but it is $50 a ride so has to be used sparingly.
The photos
The couch where “it” happened, note iPad.
From my theatre box, waiting for Smetana’s Bartered Bride at the National Opera House
Susan waits for a Children’s Christmas concert to begin at the State Opera House.
The street view when we crossed the Elbe to explore the twin city to where we are living (Brandys nad Laben). Note the onions.
Love
Stephen and Susan”

Then the one to Della and Tony:

“Dear Della and Tony and Yaxuan
We wish you a prosperous and happy new year!
We are now in Prague in the Czech Republic. It is now 12 weeks since we left Perth, and almost three weeks since we left London. London is a wonderful city. It is where I , Stephen, was born and I feel very at home there. We were able to find some houses where some of my ancestors lived. I also met up with two cousins. The English countryside is beautiful and during October we were able to get out and Explore. We decided to travel to Prague by bus. This trip took 22 hours and came through the Channel Tunnel. We needed to bring our own food as there were only three 15 min stops, apart from the 35 mins coming under the channel.
Last night it snowed so the first day of the year is a little white. This was after many minutes of fireworks at midnight which we can see from our 5th story apartment. Our apartment is about 90 mins by public transport from the centre of Prague. So far we have visited the theatre twice, as the theatre is reasonably priced, unlike London.
Thank you for photos of Yaxuan, she is making wonderful progress. You will be very proud parents. Sorry to hear about the traffic delays, I think for big cities public transport is the way to go. London has a very good network of tram, bus, tube and railway. And there is good documentation to help one use it.
The photos:
Autumn colours in London
Walking at Farthing Downs, Surrey
An English Pub near Farthing Downs
Travelling in the top of a red London bus on the way to the British Museum
One of the many footpath signs, which make walking such a pleasure
Czech Republic, the river Elbe, 15 min walk from our apartment.
At the apartment, they have a connection with California.
So, it has been a very long trip, it will be good to get back to Perth, and some warmer weather.
Love from Stephen and Susan”

I wasn’t able to include the photos in the copy and paste, so will upload a few separately. Stephen takes photos on his (inherited from me) iPhone 5.

On the couch

Stara Boleslav

Farthing downs

Part of George’s ‘pitch’ when asking us if we would like to exchange homes with his stepson David in Brandys N.L. was a free meal each week at David’s uncle’s restaurant – De Parade. It seemed to be a good deal to us, especially as David organised the hire car for us.

We had a meal there the night before David left, and found it is quite sophisticated, with an interesting menu, including menus in English. Last night was the first opportunity we had to actually go there for a meal on our own. Pavel, our waiter, speaks good English. He initially gave us menus in Czech, which was polite, as we may have spent some time here and be able to read it.

We enjoyed the evening and although we are spending all of our time together somehow sitting face to face in another setting made it easy to talk.

The restaurant building is at the centre of this photo – slightly pink. It has the time and temperature in neon on the rounded corner, very handy.

This morning we went to the local Tesco for shopping. Stephen still can’t lift things and when we had to transport our shopping into the building I did a system of bringing in one bag at a time, as I was worried about hurting my back. Still, everything happened as we had hoped, including getting onto the roundabout just outside the shopping centre, which took me ages.

Today was grey for much of the day, but from around 3.00 p.m. it has become clear and sunny. It certainly feels much colder than yesterday. We are hoping very much for snow.

I was talking about snow with Jenny today, and she told me that Brian and Wendy arranged transport so that Matt could go to the Carlisle Boxing Day Family Gathering. I had tried to organise it last year, but Brian wasn’t in town and the house where it was being held did not have access. Brian must have found out about it and took the trouble to organise it this year. I am so very grateful. No wonder Matt couldn’t answer when I asked him if he had seen his Aunty (meaning my sister who went to see him on the Sunday after Christmas).

He was probably thinking ‘well, I had Aunties coming out of my ears, really, not to mention Dad and step mum, my brother and sister, and cousins galore’. How could he answer my question with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, which is all we have. The staff member who was present was relief staff, so didn’t know. We even didn’t ask the right question of Alaena, whose speech is very clear. The question we did ask, about Marie’s visit, she was able to answer.

So, it has proved beneficial to have Jenny on Facebook who was able to fill me in. I told her how delighted I was to hear about the Boxing Day family gathering for Matt. They have been having this event on Boxing Day for as long as I remember. I used to take Matt in the early days, but then also like to go to the Boxing Day lunch with Stephen’s family. A lot of families only get together at Christmas, so even if he only sees the extended families once a year, at least it helps him to feel part of the larger family network.

So, we have lots of food – fortunately Stephen’s condition does not affect his appetite. We are hopefully eating a bit less now that we are not doing lots of walking, but it’s still nice to have good food, including fresh fruit, on hand.

I’m going to try out the special electric baking device that David showed us before he left. His oven is pristine – even though I have cooked one casserole in it. I find the induction cooktop can take time to heat up and difficult to adjust even though I have downloaded and read the instructions. We shall see if this device is the answer to cooking a couple of chicken breasts and vegetables.

Yesterday morning we had a good FaceTime session with Matt in his room. Then quite a good telephone conversation with Mum.

Last night we went to the National Opera Theatre (the previous night was the State Opera Theatre). We felt it was a good idea to see this opera in its authentic place – the Czech Republic. It was a fairly good production, but not top class as we are used to seeing in the Metropolitan Opera films at Luna and Cinema Paradiso. The cast had a rather nice modesty in taking their final bows – don’t ask how I picked it up, but it gave the final moments a nice feel.

The theatre itself, is, of course, quite beautiful.

We had a meal at a nearby cafe beforehand. Stephen did his best to embarrass me by trying to get out of paying too much. I did order the cheapest meal on the menu! Our waiter was initially confused by his attitude, but Stephen then did his best to be friendly and saved the night from being ruined for me.

We travelled back and forth by taxi as Stephen is still not feeling up to going into the city by public transport. He said that we will stick closer to home for the next few days whilst he is getting his strength back. Still, he seemed to be better last night than when we went to the concert the night before.

The reason we had stools in the back of boxes was because of the theatre being booked out and wanting inexpensive seats. However, now we know how uncomfortable those seats are we will endeavour to get better seats if we go again. I was able to sit on a raised platform at the back, and thanks to having considerate neighbours in the box, still able to see quite well. Being short I need a proper seat, preferably with arms, and nothing is worse than sort of hanging off a seat for hours on end.

Converted my photo to black and white, or is it monochrome?

The top photo was taken this morning at with the A7RII and Minolta 70-300mm lens at 300mm(Using Sony A to E Mount adapter). I was braced, but still managed to get this photo on quite an angle. I think it has been straightened enough.

Yesterday we phoned Mum and had FaceTime with Matt. Robyne took Mum to the family gathering at Bec and Grant’s house, and even took her home again. We spoke with her briefly, just to wish her Merry Christmas. I had been in touch with Robyne earlier as she sent photos.

We had the FaceTime session with Matt. Part of the time he appeared to be watching the TV, which did not get switched off. He was in the lounge room. Not entirely satisfactory, but lovely to actually see him after two weeks. We will contact both again tomorrow morning as it is the normal day.

Apart from that we rested all day. Restaurants were closed, so we ate at home and had a walk later in the day.

Today we decided to go to the concert at the State Opera House by taxi, there and back. Stephen still has pain in the chest area, which he feels is muscular, but feels odd in a way. We had a call from Allianz and he spoke with the nurse. She said that he could have really stretched the muscles during the seizure – it’s easy to hurt yourself because you don’t feel pain at the time. He had a bit of this in hospital, but it seems worse. After coming home from the concert he had to stay as upright as possible because he was in a lot of discomfort.

Stephen asked the question again: ‘am I likely to have another seizure, or has this been a one-off’. To which he got the usual answer: ‘we don’t know’.  We will continue to wonder if it will happen again and be watching anxiously for any sign of a pending fit. This will wear off over time, but it has only been a week since it happened and we are not ‘there’ yet.

We had a bit of a problem with the taxi because we forgot that, apart from Tin, Matt’s taxi driver, they can’t necessarily respond on time. He was late, but still got us to the concert with a little time to spare. To make up for it, he was waiting in the car for us at 1800 hrs, which we had set as the pickup time.

The concert was lovely, the choir has been going for about 80 years (looked like with the same conductor – joking of course, but he was quite old). It wasn’t miked and excessively polished as it would have been if the choir had been American or Chinese, but all the nicer for it. They sang extremely well and it was quite a varied concert, with a girl playing the violin accompaniment to a couple of the pieces and the pianist doing a Mozart solo.

There were lots of little children in the audience – I imagine they particular enjoyed the dancing at the end, with children from about 14, I guess, down to about 6 years playing different roles. The choir appeared to be mostly young teenagers, which certainly helped the sound, but meant that there were only three boys as by that age voices would have broken.

Three girls did have mikes to do announcements – in Czech, German and English. That was rather fun though we had more luck comprehending the German than the Czech. The Czech written language can sometimes be interpreted, but we can’t pick up anything spoken yet.

I couldn’t get a good shot of the outside of the theatre as it is on a busy road and there was nowhere to easily cross it. So, this will have to do.

We had noticed a Museum Cafe on the map close to the theatre, and were delighted to find it open. We spent an hour there having coffee (me) and hot chocolate (him), and enjoying the atmosphere.

Then home to have dinner and relax. I’ve had a very sore back for about three days so am trying to sit properly so that it can recover a bit.

We have spent the day at home. Stephen can find moving around causes pain in his chest area. We speculate that it could be caused by the muscles clenching during the seizure – he may have some bruising. It’s not constant pain.

We took a walk around the block so that he could see the hospital where he was taken initially on Saturday. It is quite small. It’s comforting to have it so close. Our walk probably was 800m to 1km, and he was glad to get home again.

We watched a movie, not very memorable, and the final Episode of Homeland Season 5. The episode resolved a number of issues, but left the way open for more adventures for Carrie.

I cooked a casserole (no slow cooker here), and the meat turned out quite tender as I had hoped.

And that is that.

The featured image was taken last week when we took a drive down to the river and walked along a path. Brandis Nad Labem.

Today looked like being the last day we could do any shopping. De Parade, our preferred restaurant has already closed for the holiday season, so we thought we had better be prepared to have our own Christmas food, just in case other restaurants are closed on Christmas Day as well. It meant a visit to Tesco which is a large supermarket located at bit out of the village.

We set off in the car without using the TomTom app on my iPad and after a while realised that we had missed a vital turning. Just as we were thinking of finding a spot to stop and set up navigation when we saw a Tesco on the other side of a roundabout. Well, what luck. It wasn’t the one we had planned to go to, but no problems – it offered pretty much the same stuff and a little Chinese restaurant where we had lunch. No English or Chinese language spoken (apart from dialect which we wouldn’t have a hope of understanding), but we could order by numbered pictures. As well, we were given a tiny bottle of Chinese wine. Stephen is not allowed alcohol, so it will be might treat at tea time.

I did the shopping whilst Stephen sat in the restaurant. It took quite some time to find everything we wanted. I bought printer cartridges for the printer in our apartment as it said it wanted a new black cartridge before it would print. But, I have spare colour cartridges as well because I wanted to try printing out some of my photos. I forgot to lighten them for printing, so a couple are really too dark, but I still like them.

There were a few stalls in the carpark selling live carp (of course), Christmas trees and local meat and bread. A couple of stall holders had their caravans or camper vans on site as well, this appears to be a normal thing – and must certainly add to the overall comfort in cold weather.

We have sat around for the rest of the afternoon not doing very much. Stephen still doesn’t feel very well and I just feel very tired indeed, probably from spending a few days at the hospital with Stephen.

We have two concerts booked straight after Christmas and Stephen hopes to be well enough to go.

The photo is from our walk across the bridge to Stara Boleslav on Saturday, before Stephen had the seizure.

Or at least to our little apartment in Brandys N.L. We needed milk, so went out to get some basic stuff from the Penny Market. There was a stall with tubs of life carp in the car park, so that was interesting for us. They are huge beasts. The stall owners had a caravan set up with power and water, plus water running through three large tubs for the fish.

I caught a taxi at 9.00 a.m. this morning. Stephen had already advised me by text that he would be discharged today, but he didn’t know the time. We spoke to the young doctor who confirmed that he would have the report ready by 2.00 p.m. He was right on time and spoke to us for a while about Stephen’s condition. He has recommended a different medication, we are not sure what it is for, so will check up. The report is in Czech, so we will have to do a Google translation to understand it completely. He mentioned the ban on driving, which we already knew about.

Stephen said he is feeling better today, with little or no nausea and no headache.

I rang Matt before I left, but he had gone out to visit a neighbour with Hidde. When we eventually rang it was about 8.00 p.m. for him, but he was still happy to hear from us. We just used Skype to talk with him, not doing a FaceTime, partly because it costs more on the 4G, and partly because it would show the hospital. We will have a proper FaceTime on Christmas day – morning for us and evening for Matt. Hidde recommends apple cider vinegar, a spoonful in a glass of water, if you eat too much Christmas lunch as it helps with digestion.

How do we feel at the moment. I am grateful that the problem appears to have resolved, although the doctor said that everyone is different and he could not say for certain that Stephen would not have more problems. We had a call from the Allianz nurse today who was very kind and helpful. She said they will phone again in a couple of days to see how Stephen is going.

Wednesday morning, 23rd December, 2015

Stephen seemed to sleep well, but reports his body feels a bit ‘sensitive’ – perhaps the after effects of the clenching of muscles in the seizure.

We have a beautiful sunny day here in Brandys, I can’t see any clouds at all from our side of the building. We don’t need any heating as the sunshine on the windows is warming things up beautifully. Anyway, with the temperature at 9 degrees outside it isn’t especially cold. No hope of a white Christmas – alas.