The secret pond

The first day I came to live here, I went for a walk, mostly with intention to pick up the nice white jug, but once I was out, I thought I might as well explore the surroundings. I walked and walked and found out that there is everything I need here. There is the police, post office, food shop, cash machine, even a fitness centre with Pilates lessons (but I was too shy to go in). However, the most striking and surprising thing was the lake. Yes, I moved next to a lake without actually knowing that there is one!! The moment I first saw it, I was so happy I almost ran into it to find out more.

So now I know. It is a 5600 square meters big pond with reeds and white water lillies, ducks and moorhens and toads and there are willow trees and walnut trees around it and carp in it. I also saw a spider web and I believe that if I walk around long enough, I will also find some actual spiders and snails. The banks are steep, but I managed to find a depression in the ground into which my bum fitted exactly, so at least I could sit. And the wind blew and the water surface waved and the reeds waved and the grass waved and my hair waved and my thoughts waved with it and it was beautiful and it felt so good and I would have stayed there for ever if only I didn’t need to pee so badly.

Homecoming present from the neighbourhood

The first time I came to spend the night at the new apartment did not start greatly, but eventually I managed to take my computer and a backpack filled with pillow and blanket ready to spent the first night at my new home. The weather was incredibly hot and I couldn’t wait to be indoors. I walked from the bus stop, around the lawns and under a walnut tree and around the recycling rubbish bins... and there it was standing. Someone put it on the pavement next to the glass bin.

A white porcellain jug with blue flowers on it, nice, shiny and completely undamaged. I decided to drop my things at home and come straight back to pick it up. And so I did. It is mine now and although it does not necessarily match the interior of my room, maybe one day it will find its place at my parents' place or somewhere else, but any place is better than a rubbish bin.

Natural bits and pieces

I just wrote a long and detailed post about our trip to Slovakia and managed to delete it afterwards. Grr!! So here are some bits and pieces of our wonderful nature instead, which will surely not please my Mum who says that details of leaves, snails and drops of dew are all nice, but she would like me to take some actual photos. Pche!

Rock in the woods - frog - patterns in the wood - stream in Vtáčnik mountains

Views of ruins of Trenčín castle - view from a rock under the castle - Palcmanská Maša lake

Sometimes it's OK to scream...

On  Sunday I taught a child at work the difference between red and blue tap.

As I went to the toilets in the restaurant, I spotted a little girlie standing behind the door next to a sink. The water was running and she was standing there with wet hands in the air and a few tears were rolling down her cheeks. At first I though: This kid is wasting water! So I went to turn it off and meanwhile asked her what is wrong.
"The water is hurting mee-e-ee!" she sobbed. The poor kid turned the tap on, but managed to move it all the way to the left and then tried to wash her hands in the steamy hot water and when she couldn't, she just stood there and cried and suffered quietly while her teacher waited for her outside the toilets.

So I explained the difference between red and blue and what they mean, we turned the tap to the right, colled the burnt hands down in  cold water and washed the hands properly. Then explained it all to the teacher, who wiped the tears away and explained: "Oh Honey, why didn't you tell me? You have to let me know when something like that happens. Sometimes it's OK to scream, you know?"
Yes, sometimes it is even necessary. Unless you want to suppress your pain and boil your hands.

Summer trip to the UK

Once again I went to the UK to visit A and his family. We had a good week, even though we both had things to do, but we did have a lot of fun, well, because... because we are both slightly crazy :)

England is great - teas, cream teas, sandwiches, bagels, muffins, cupcakes, gardens, accents, fish and chips, fast moving clouds, puddings, sweets, digestive biscuits, roast dinners, red phoneboxes, post offices, double-decker buses, beautiful houses...

... and also England has something that Czech republic nor Slovakia do - HOBBYCRAFT! It is an awesome store, but very tempting to buy things that you actually do not need. Trouble with this is - as soon as you buy something that you find "nice", it pulls you into an entirely new craft that you have to try out and makes you buy more... I spent seven quid there only on buttons, which inspired A to try to make some wooden buttons, which turned out rather nicely... (more about them later)

Well, I had a good time :)