July 6
Dear Mum and Dad,
the past weeks have gone by very quickly. It only seems a couple of days since I wrote you the postcard last week. I am writing fairly regularly, with only one day either way, but perhaps it would be a better idea for me to try writing on Mondays. That way there’s always a chance you’ll get the letter by the weekend. At the moment it’s taking seven or eight days.
I’ve just finished six solid hours work for Milena. Had to write some hints on public speaking and on writing business letters, both with examples1. I also had to type out everything I had written. For the last few days I have been trying to sell tickets for our disco. Yesterday I escorted 740 bottles of beer up to the cellar in which we are holding the party. Ticket sales have been slow, only about 40 so far, but we expect enough people to turn up on the door to fill the place. I won’t organize anything for quite a while after this, there’s far too much stress involved.
On Monday I was in the studio for 6 hours supervising the recording of the Advanced Course material. The previous Friday I did three hours. My voice will be on the tape reading out one part in the dialogues I wrote and also some fake news stories I wrote as a comprehension exercise. One of the people I worked with on Monday had been a sportscaster for a television station in Mobile, Alabama. He is engaged to be married to a Czech girl who he met on the train on his way to Prague. They are currently trying to get exit visas etc. The Americans I worked with previously had also worked in television, as producers. I should be okay for a job in Mobile.
Next Monday the food price subsidies that the state has been providing will cease. There is quite a lot of panic buying going on at the moment. The longest queues I have seen since being here. Wednesday was the last full day of shopping. There is a four day national holiday from Tuesday to Friday. There are Czech flags all over the city2. In the last few weeks the number of tourists, especially American backpackers, has increased.
Havel has just been re-elected President, as expected. Ezra acquired English versions of several of his speeches from the Civic Forum Press offices. I was pleased to see that he hasn’t changed his opinions in any way since becoming President. They are almost exactly those outlined in Living in Truth and Letters to Olga. The Czech team went ingloriously out of the World Cup and many of them signed contracts with foreign clubs so won’t be coming back to collect the Skoda Favorits promised them by Havel. Skoda in Czech means “(It’s a) shame.”3
I’ve been working on my Czech for the odd hour here or there. The course I’m using is very grammatical but my grammar has improved a bit recently. I had to provide examples of tenses past, present and future, perfect and continuous.
I am looking forward to my English holiday.
Yours,
Toby xx
Young-Toby has almost zero experience of either. He is making it up as he goes along — which was the delight of the time.
But did a Czechoslovak businessman ever write a letter based on young-Toby’s fantasised version of Dear Sir or Madam, in reference to yours of the 4th inst.
Škoda Favorit, 1990 model.
