haonowshaokao

Only two weeks left now. I may as well just revert to a student / tourist lifestyle now, eh?

I woke up at ten on Saturday morning, had an omlette, watched a documentary about the clash and headed for Prague, to have an afternoon bowl of soup with Amanda. She asked me what was ahead, in terms of Saturday night. I said I thought a big one was overdue and in order. She asked me if I’d want to go dancing. I asked if she’d ever seen me dancing. She said “no.” I said that was because I didn’t dance.
After an opportunistic sunbathe (my first ever tan is approaching) in the park and the burning of a CD I got home to rest myself and gather some energy. What an old man.
Then the Blind Eye didn’t live up to anything at all. Nobody had turned up except Bob and Michelle and they’d had a zanax each and weren’t exactly talkative. Things looked up when Tom, Chrissy and some girls turned up. The girls were vaguely annoying, in the way only English girls can be, but to their credit they did have Bumped into Julia and spoke to her about this blog and my replacement. She said very politely that all I do is get drunk, which isn’t really very accurate, though I will concede she has a point. Still, what else is there to do? I spend an equal or greater time reading and listening, but feel it out of place to branch into arts criticism. I don’t have much time for self criticism either. I’ve spent enough time doing that and consider it at best masturbatory and at worst tedious and dangerous. So I’ll stop now.

I called Johnny on the way to Akropolis and we all went and hung there,. The main room was open for a change, but dull as hell, so we all moved to the smaller bar, where some proper techno was going on. A lot of people in Prague don’t get dance music and I’m through trying to explain. All you have to do is feel it, and I did. I danced for a few hours, mainly on my own. There could have been nobody else there. A regular feature at Akropolis is a beardy guy with a jaws harp miked up. It may sound strange at first, but after ten minutes you’ve forgotten he’s there and after 20 his playing has become an essential part of the music.
I was into everything enough not to notice that all my friends and acquaintances had gone and that it was 4.30 by now. I gave it another half an hour, ideas for how I could write about it tumbling around in my mind, inspirational ideas, then thought I should better leave and get a pen while I was at it.
Tom was still on the steps. He didn’t have one. Neither did the guy at the petrol station, though he tried to sell me one for 69 crowns. I would have got one from somewhere if the tram hadn’t come immediately and connected to the metro and bus like lego. Within 40 minutes I was home, a light drizzle covering me and the dancefloor revelations having slipped out of my brain somewhere around Palmovka.

On Sunday I felt like hell, and went to IKEA with Amanda. I like places like that usually (and I’m really not proud of it, but why deny) but there was too much furniture for a hangover.
I wonder what life is like in England?

We finally got off on our trip to the Zoo today. The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze, and we at least managed to see a few animals in the two hours we had there. We will return next week and get up early enough, etc. Then we can at least see some meerkats. It is only a quid, after all.
On the way back one carriage of the train had failed lights. Nobody was getting on it. What pussies. Your one chance in a lifetime to sit in a pitch dark subway train as it speeds through the city and you all pass it up? I don’t understand people sometimes.
Now we’re going to get some mexican food I suppose.

A dull day, as are most this week. But tomorrow we’re going to the zoo, which is fairly unusual at least.

Today I went along with Hamish and Amanda to visit Chelsea at the hospital she is staying in, in Bohnice. It was alright, not too bad at all really, a lot better than the place she was in last year and she seemed to be pretty much fine. She was in there with a 14-year-old girl also called Misa who had got into a fight with some policemen, but had no mental problems at all. She was covered in bruises. It was quite a sight. Pretty horrific, but this is Eastern Europe, however much we may kid ourselves, and there is a lot more of this stuff than we notice day-to-day, even living in Zizkov.
We stuck around for a while and Hamish wolfed down her unwanted steak while Chelsea just ate sweets, then it was time to go so we went and had a beer.
Now for a night in. For a change.

Tally so far:
Sunglasses lost – 14 pairs
Umbrellas lost – 7 or so
Pens lost – Approx 1000
Student loan cheques lost – 1
Scruples lost – punchline.

Trapped on the metro last night with a few hundred hockey fans who liked jumping up and down. A scene from hell if ever I’ve seen one. Next to me stood a hockey family – the ten-year old kid wore a t-shirt that said “Skunk weed – the spliff with a whiff.” I ask you, parents these days..
Then I went to the Blind Eye & was persuaded to stay for more than one beer as expected. We thought of going up to Akropolis to join Johnny, who’s been banned from BE by Noah for no apparent reason, but they were playing UK garage and charging for it too. Again I missed trams and got home ridiculously late.
Woke up this morning to find Martin casually defrosting the fridge, which happened to be full of my food supplies, all highly perishable. I have no money to buy any more. My compensatory breakfast, a hot dog from the metro station, dripped fluorescent mustard all over me, my last clean t-shirt and my bag. Got to the old house in time to pick up stuff, but a phone call revealed Hamish wasn’t coming. Then I searched in vain for a video I need. It has gone, along with my records.
Everything went downhill from there.
I need a beer.

The weekend is back. I think I must say that every week. Ah well, it is. I’ve been having a quiet one and will probably continue. That’s about it.