barley field ready for harvest, Jince, Czech R The transition from London to the Czech Republic took most of the day even though the flight was only 2 hours. I sat between Karol dozing and an Indian lady listening to her iPad. I, the cool and very experienced traveller sat pondering the milk pak and my cup of hot tea. Oh I see, you peal the lid like a yogurt snack. Must be easier to just peel and pore at the same time. BIG mistake. Holding the pak inverted over the tea and pealing the lid means squeezing the flimsy plastic pak, therefore vastly increasing the latent pressure within. Oblivious to these matters of science I slowly peeled the film like lid. A perfect jet of white milk squirted to my right, completely missing the tea and baptised the apostle next to me. oops - done it again.
 Jince, Czech Republic |  Karol with cousin Meerka, Jiri's mum |
It's been about a decade since cousin Jiri at 25, made the long trip to Oz. I remember him at Sydney Airport smiling happily and none of us with a common language. He was with us for some months and while we went off to work and such he often went next door to Mum's. Mum's english is good enough - not great, but she taught Jiri English in no time - amazing all of us.
It was great seeing him again. He picked us up at the airport with his brother in law Costas. Costas, like me has Greek parents and brought up in another country. He's married to Jiri's sister and have 2 delightful kids, Nikki and Eli - boy and girl.
After we arrived in the small town of Jince (yeensay) we went for a walk with Jiri down the hill through the fields to his mum's place with her 2nd husband, Francis - big burly wood cutter. We sat outside under a grape vine next to the chook pen. The smell of chook was excellent. Memories of the old country as a kid came flooding back. Love that dirty rotting smell with the promise of an egg surprise if you look hard enough - and I did!
It was great seeing him again. He picked us up at the airport with his brother in law Costas. Costas, like me has Greek parents and brought up in another country. He's married to Jiri's sister and have 2 delightful kids, Nikki and Eli - boy and girl.
After we arrived in the small town of Jince (yeensay) we went for a walk with Jiri down the hill through the fields to his mum's place with her 2nd husband, Francis - big burly wood cutter. We sat outside under a grape vine next to the chook pen. The smell of chook was excellent. Memories of the old country as a kid came flooding back. Love that dirty rotting smell with the promise of an egg surprise if you look hard enough - and I did!
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I squatted down to take a pic of the chook pens and frightened a chook squatting in a small nook next to me. It left behind this nice warm egg - thanks mate!
 Karol with cousin Jiri and his sister Eva - Kostas wife |  Kostas with son Nikki, daughter Eli and wife Eva |
Our common languages at this lovely gathering were enough to discover each other's worlds. Costas and I talked Greek and when he couldn't find the words, would ask Jiri in Czech and he would tell me in English. It went like that for a while and then little Nikki jumped up and mimed magic tricks with bits of rope and coins - hilarious. Francis, Meerka's husband took us to meet his neighbour, Brunusak Frantisek. His passion has always been model planes. As a kid during the Communist Era nothing from the west was available, but magazines of the time showed what was in the other side of the wall. If you wanted something, you figured out how to make it. Brnusak went for it. He started with small balsa models. He now has a small company designing aeronautical gadgets like camera steadicams for radio controlled flying machines for the forces... I can't emphasis this enough. The man's a genious. From a wood shed like workshop he has built a series of excellent radio controlled flying machines. We walked down to a nearby field and stood on the lane next to it. He made them fly in huge figure eights, twirling, dropping with engines off, recovering at the last moment, and then zooming up through tight cork screws to find a gentle arc again and then glide into a perfect landing on the narrow lane at our feet.
as a kid i made balsa wood planes covered in stretched tissue paper - never like this!
After many beers with big burly Francis I crashed quite early. On the way to sleep I stuck my head into Jiri's private rooms upstairs. I could hear him with the boys sounding very animated. Spread out on the floor and spilling out of his huge safe was quite an impressive armoury..
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