Man in a van

Thursday 2 nd August. I have been waiting to hear from a Czech guy about doing workaway at his farm. I sent him my telephone number and where I am staying but I he has not replied. I am supposed to be going there today. Now, I am wondering if I should go at all if he does contact me. If a person can’t be bothered to get in touch, are they worth giving your time? If he doesn’t contact me, I must make quick plans about where to go. It’s another hot morning but at least I have the shade of a tree and the breeze that sometimes wafts in from the river Vltava. This morning there were many rowing boat crews on the river with small motorboats following them. From the motorboats, voices through megaphones bark instructions. I am surprised how fast these crews can row; they are clearly not doing this for fun. Friday 3 rd August Jan did contact me and said he could meet me at five, at the campsite. I told him I must leave the site at two and would wait for him by the river...

Sunday 29 th July Yesterday, at the suggestion of Honsa, I took his scooter to see some ‘wonderful countryside.’ I’m not sure how far away it was in kilometres but it seemed a long way to take the scooter. Nevertheless, I set off with some directions and a map. I knew it would not be easy because I would be travelling along country roads and couldn’t be sure of the signposting. And I found myself off course at Liperovice, the town I had visited before. The sun was beating down and I realised my bear arms were burning a little. I managed to find a superstore and bought some sun cream and some lunch – rolike, cheese and non alcoholic beer. I headed for Terezin which was 4km away where I knew there was a shady park and I could have lunch in relative cool. Afterwards, I set course for the region Honsa had suggested. He said it was mountainous but actually it was just hilly, with some nice villages. It wasn’t anything particularly special and when I heard the sound of thunder a...

Friday 27 th July. Today I went to Mladá Boleslav, where the Skoda factory and museum are situated, about 25km from Nosalov. It was a beautiful drive along near empty country roads through golden fields of wheat, already harvested. However, my pleasure came to an end when near the town, the road was closed – another road closed! It took me and Kate quite a while to find out way back to where we were going. Then came the task of parking near the museum. There was a car park outside but it was closed because of a display of modern Skoda cars in the car park. I drove around for some while looking for somewhere to park but ended up parking two or three kilometres away and walking to it. The display in the museum was very good, with some beautiful old cars. Such a pity modern cars don’t have the same style. After, I crossed the road to a shopping mall – strange to enter modern life again. My purpose, to go to the Vodafone shop regarding the German interception of my ...

Thursday 26 th July I woke up just a daylight was beginning to show through the air vent in the van. After a while I decided I needed a pee and went outside; the quiet and stillness of the morning was profound. I went back to the van to try and sleep more but it eluded me. Around 4.30 I gave up trying to sleep and got up to make tea, and eat the last of my cornflakes with the not so fresh cow milk Jana had given me the day before. I knew Honsa would leave early for work, so I decided to wait for him and tell him about not having lunch or dinner yesterday.   About 6.30 I heard the sound a tractor, it was Honsa. When he came out to get on his scooter, I went to chat with him. I explained to him as tactfully as I could that Workaway means exchange of labour for food etc but his need for food was different from mine. He agreed saying they eat early and late with not much in between. He apologised and offered to give me money to buy some food. I declined this. A little wh...

25 th July I came back to the house yesterday, and Honsa and Jana were away in the forest, so I had free time. Communication has always been an issue regarding travel. At very least one needs a phone for emergencies but more broadly, use of the Internet helps you to do so much, especially arranging one’s next port of call. In hindsight, I wish I had set up a phone contract before I left the UK but instead just bought a sim pay-as-you go. This has proved almost useless and too problematic. There is too much to tell about this but I’ve had an English sim and telephone number, a Dutch one, a German one and now a Czech one. The biggest problem has been getting enough data. In Germany, staying with Angelika, I told her I needed a sim because I had been travelling without the use of the phone for some while and if something happened I would be stuck. She told me about Aldi-Talk and insisted it was very good. I was reluctant to get a sim from Aldi but there seemed no choice. Then...

24 th July I woke early and of course it was a new day. My feelings of sorrow had vanished with the night. I made coffee, ate cornflakes and had a cigar; the campers were slowly arousing. Slowly the sun was rising above the pines bringing itself to bear on the campsite. I went for a walk. The forest was so still, air soft, sunlight sifting through the branches on the trees, lighting up the patterns of the rock. I wandered around taking photos and feeling at one with tranquillity around me. In a small sunlit glade I practiced taichi; no one disturbed me. I felt at peace. Afterwards, I found another track and followed it through the hills back to the campsite.

Monday 23 rd July I texted Honsa and told him my plan and that I would be back the following day, and left after I had finished putting all the insulators on the fence posts. When I got to the beautiful camp-site nestling between high sandstone rocks and woodland, I was desperate for a crap. It was good to use a proper toilet and also empty out my chemical loo. Now it was time for a beer. I walked to the nearest village, Kokořín, and found a restaurant; I had pork with cabbage and dumplings, very traditional, it was good but too much. Time to walk off the food filling my stomach. I walked up to the hrad (castle), high on the hill. It was closed for the day and so I just wandered around the high rounded stone walls amongst the forest. On a large slab of eroded soft rock, people had etched their names and also love hearts. A girl in her thirties was also alone; she too was walking around the base of the castle. I didn’t want to seem that I was following her but it was the ...

Sunday 22 nd July Time has been passing quickly and it’s difficult to account for each day looking back. One of the tasks given to me was taking care of the children while Honsa and Jana were doing other things. We were down at the goat pen and the children were happy to play in the dirt. Mariann, the boy, who is six, found a grub in the ground and both children were intrigued with this small wriggling creature, passing it one to the other. Mariann and Zorka are very content children, they don’t argue, complain or cry. Friday, I helped Honsa take down a wall of the largest goat pen. The reason for this was he was going to use the tractor to remove all the manure; there is tons of the stuff. Afterwards I got a bigger task to undertake – clean out the other adjacent goat pen. This was more enclosed and the tractor could not be used. The pen is much larger than the pig pen and was going to be quite a task; one year of built up straw, shit and goat pee. Honsa gave me a pit...

Thursday 19 th July To my surprise, Honsa announced that we would be going to the cinema again in the evening; we would go to see Don Quiyote directed by Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame, and this time the children would be coming. Last time they were at Honsa’s mother. We arrived just before the start and again the cinema owner was to give a speech about forthcoming films. There is little more I like that a good film and this was nothing like a good film. I can tell pretty much if I am going to like a film with a few minutes of the start and with this one it was about sixty seconds – I knew I was going to hate it. It’s a long time since I have watched anything so bad I endured it for an hour or so and then told Jana I would be back in a while, and left the auditorium – I didn’t go back. One of my favourite films is The Life of Brian by the Monty Python gang but this film didn’t come anywhere near it. I was to have a long wait outside, the film went on for two hours t...

Wednesday 18 th July I had come to do Workaway with Honsa and Jana, and today my work started, with cleaning the pig pen. It came as a bit of a surprise that this should be my first job but I got on with it without complaint. It wasn’t so bad, of course smelt but you get used to it. When I finished I asked Honsa if I should sweep it out but he said it should be jet washed. Jet washing pig pooh in a small enclosed space is not a good job. I had had a shower earlier and now I needed another one but I didn’t get it. The shower Honsa and Jana have is definitely worth a mention.  It's located at the top of the stairs. Honsa and Jana only occupy one main room on the first floor, the rest of the large house/barn is in varying stages of construction or neglect.  Later in the day I came into the house, walking up the stairs when I heard Jana’s voice, I looked up and she was drying herself on the small landing after her shower; I made a hasty retreat. The ...

Tuesday 17 th July Jana had gone out early to do some work in the forest – both are involved in conservation work and it is Honsa’s main job. I went to have breakfast with Honsa and sat in the same chair to eat my breakfast and drink coffee; they don’t have a table to sit at. For breakfast I had crunchy muesli and Jana’s homemade yoghurt with blueberries; it was very nice. Honsa’s English is not quite as good as Jana’s but we could communicate well. He is a very thoughtful and gentle man. He offers me a choice of activities today because he has to go to his office, and then go to a meeting, so he could drop me off, either to go for a hike in the forest or to go to Litomerice, a very town and explore that for the day. I elect the latter. I wasn’t up for a four hour hike. Honsa also told me I could visit another town nearby, Terezin. Terezin was not only a very large old fortress, much of which is still intact, and the town is situated in the middle of it, but which during...