Feeling blue under a blue sky

Thursday 12^th July

I have now travelled to Czech to visit my old friend Monika, we’ve known each other fifteen years. I first met her when I was travelling through Czech with the crazy notion I could start some travel business there. I had first fallen in love with the country some years previous after my son Kevin married a Czech girl and I visited for the wedding. Monika then was a free and easy young girl and she was excited when I told her my plans for a travel business around her country. As a consequence she travelled with me checking out good places to visit and hotels; she was my translator. Monika became close friends but that was all. She also visited me in England. Now she has a six year old daughter but is still single. She fell in love with this guy and got pregnant by him but then found out he was a compulsive gambler with huge debts; the relationship broke up before her child was born. Monika is a very attractive girl but with one problem, she can’t stop talking. If talking had world championships, she would be in the finals. Monika likes to talk about all her problems, past and present, and then talks over the same thing again and again. I listen patiently hoping she will run out of steam, or that I will find an excuse to do something. I hoped visiting her this time she might have become less of a talker but not so. I don’t know why but I often seem to find friends who are compulsive talkers. There was a lady who was teaching with me at a school in Guangzhou and there was a guy from Slovenia who I met in Nepal. We had this joke that I should carry a stone and hit him when his talking got too much.

Monika lives in a spa town, Marianska Lazne with her daughter and mother, it is a beautiful town in the west of Czech. It is cradled in a valley of rich woodland. Large old brightly painted buildings with magnificent designs are to be seen everywhere. Many Germans and Russians visit the town for spa treatments and in fact Monika works in a hotel which provides all sorts of weird and wonderful treatments, such as mud baths and massage using high pressure water in a bath. She says all the people who visit are elderly, seeking cures for the aches and pains.

Spa water for drinking

A priority when arriving was to find a bar where I could watch the semi-finals, Belgium were playing France and more importantly, England were playing Croatia. Fortunately a very nice bar is just around the corner. During the Belgium France game I sat next to a guy and every so often he made comments about the game, I just smiled and nodded, pretending I knew what he was saying. Eventually I had to confess “Nemluvím česky”, “I don’t speak Czech.” He replied, “Well why didn’t you say?” It turned out he spoke perfect English, largely because he is an air traffic controller. He comes from Prague, is married with two kids and his name is David, and he also loves England. The following evening, last night, he joined me for the England game and it was good to share the highs, England score and lows, England get defeated. David got really into the game, swearing a lot when decisions went against England. Afterwards, he suggested we go to another bar, one with some action we hoped but it turned out not to be, it was just a regular drinking bar. We played a game of darts, which we both were useless at and both got a little drunk. He wanted to talk with some girls, a good suggestion, but the only girls were chatting with men. I arrived back at Monika’s somewhat wobbly and completely disappointed about the evening. I felt terrible in the morning.

England lost

This afternoon the weather was fine and I went for a walk in the park and did some taichi under some trees; afterwards I took a beer sitting outside at a café in the park. It’s not difficult to buy beer in Czech, you can buy it almost anywhere. I read once that Czech people are the highest consumers of beer in Europe. I rang Monika to see if she and her daughter would like to join me in the park but she was going shopping and anyway, was tired after her day at work. I wandered slowly through the park and sat by a small stream, trying not to think of anything too much but not really succeeding. 

Although a lovely day, a melancholy cloud descended on me and I felt the pangs of being alone and also missing my girl from China. It’s difficult not to feel this way at times when travelling on one’s own, even though I am visiting people. But when walking around such a beautiful place you want to share it with someone. Next week I will go and do some Workaway, join some people who have a small holding in Czech, the other side of Prague, where they have goats and make cheese. I will do that for a week or two. It will be good to be doing some work, rather than wandering around feeling sorry for myself.

The town library

I do wonder at times whether I can keep up with all this travelling, how long can I do it for? When I was planning the trip, I never foresaw the loneliness I might feel; I don’t know why this wasn’t a consideration? My hope is I will find someone or some people to be with and a place to settle down.