So much for that productivity thing..

So turns out I don't have a lot to write about. The end of another month and bringing it up to 2 whole posts. Wow.

Here's a thing that happened in Prague. Two weeks ago.

Only in Prague

To The Moon

Žižkov TV Tower, Prague, on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing*.

*alleged

*mutters over here in the 1st world*

So I've been feeling a bit down, a bit bummed a bit bla of late. Somewhere been the last week to 4 years or so. It's just.. shit isn't really working out. I mean it's not not working out it's just.. I don't know.

I mean I've got work, which continues to annoy me in one way or another, and this place, which is an improvement on the last but we still have to share and the hot water isn't heating up properly now and I'm worried we'll have a problem with bugs again. There was the problem with the plug but that's been fixed, for now but then the first time after that I try to take a shower the water doesn't even heat up properly.. it always has to be something.

And my charger isn't working, or working slow. It keeps working poorly, then better then poorly again. If it doesn't start working better again the power will run out and I won't be able to use my phone and what will I do then? I shudder to think.

Dammit..n n n... this bloody phone and its "keyboard" I mean you spend years.. or more like weeks really learning to type properly and really fast (well in my case it may have been days *is slightly smug*) and they invent these super phones that we suddenly all have to use for everything where you type with your thumbs clumsily on a tiny screen like some, man or something and they put the n right next to the space bar and it takes about 30 times to write the word "and".

They're just the things that are bugging me right now. Come back in a hour and I'll probably still be ranting about them, plus addd a few things, although they will be quite similar in nature to the existing list.

I admit some have it worse.

Overheard in Prague 4-7-19

(Presumably) American guy, walking by in group. "We're literally walking round in circles. I do not get the geography"

Well... I mean, it was the nuance, the way it was said, the accent and affectarions... emphasis on "literally" and "not"...

I mean you like.. had to be there.

.......

I'll get me coat.

Parade o' the monks

The Czech Republic (or Czechia as it's supposed to be officially called now, though no one here calls it that) is one of the least religious countries in the world. It's about 80% atheist, according to at least one statistic which may or may not be currently accurate, but the percentage of religiosity here in Prague is lower than the national average so in any case, especially in this city it's real low.

Still, there are tons of churches, statues of saints everywhere, and lately I keep seeing monks.

First last week one morning I saw one running for the tram, holding his skirts as he sped along. It was amusing but a small incident, almost not worth writing home about.

Then yesterday, after a sweltering day of 38 degrees, fatigued by doing tours all day, and then getting on the wrong tram, getting on the right one but getting off again because I thought it was the wrong one and luckily realizing it was the right one and getting on and taking a seat, I see this monk in long robes, black ones, in a heavy material, and I sweated just looking at him. Then he got on the tram and sat down beside me and engaged me in conversation.

He talked about his monastery, which is the oldest in Prague and has a restaurant and a brewery, of course. Asked where I was from, I told him Australia and he told me about some Australian woman he knows, we were interrupted by some tourists asking about the ticket system on the trams and he spent some time explaining it in broken English, which I had to correct later because he gave them some innacurate info, and then he took his leave after giving me a gift of a crucifix and a blessing. So the virgin Mary is now watching over me, I think.

And today I saw this.

Some kind of holy (or perhaps not so holy?) ceremony.

Feeling smug, but only a little...

I have done it. I've achieved a goal. Not a major goal, not one that's of any use, but it's one I set myself and I've done it.

Well I actually haven't done it yet, at time of writing, but once this is posted my mission will be achieved. If it doesn't get posted then there will be no public record of me (humbly) boasting of it so my red face will be mostly due to being out in this sun way too much.

Today (assuming this gets completed and posted successfully), I will have written 9 posts this month, equaling my total for the whole of last year. It's a modest goal, but happily, because it would be pathetic if I couldn't manage that, especially with the ease of posting photos and meaningless fillers, I have done it. I'm proud but just a little.

Disregard all of this if something happens to prevent the posting of this article, which you will anyway because you won't see it.

Sitting over here, sweating into my sweat..

We're having a hot old early summer here, in central Europe and much of the regions west of here, and east of here, oh yeah and south of here. And a bit north of here. At least I think so. Anyway who cares I'm here and here is hot!

Today we reach heights of temperature not yet risen to so far this summer and that part of June that officially is not yet summer yet. Been pretty hot since the turn of this month, but it's peaked in the early 30s til now. Today it's reached 36/feels like 37. Celsius of course.

Now, I know there are places where the temperature gets hotter than that regularly. I've lived in one of those places, but those places usually are by the sea and have breezes and bodies of water to hang out in, they usually have air conditioning in most buildings, and none of them are places where I work as a walking tour guide out in the city, where people will always turn up to do a tour no matter the weather, and somehow expect me to magic up some shade/shelter/warmth whatever is needed to rectify the problem, even if the city itself does not provide.

Today I am fortunately not working, so I'm lazing at home with a fan blowing hot air on me, trying to strategically place ice and cold water in places to make the air cooler. It's not making the air cooler.

The current temperature is a high, and the forecast says it will cool down to a more managable really hot for the next few days, but it will rise again to 30 something high, and feels like even higher... and I will have to work and won't have the luxury of staying in with a useless fan. It will be hard, and I will suffer greatly, but you know me, I don't complain. 🙄