Got up at about eight o’clock. Jan already up and walking about the garden being happy. Jitka in bed, looking like an old woman, asleep as I got a cup of water for Veronika. She tried to go to sleep for about an hour, moved to the second bed. She had short sleeps during which her muscles would tense and her teeth chatter and click. Eventually we both got up.
Went down to the lake and Veronika had a swim. We lazed around the whole morning waiting for Ezra and Barbora to get up. Jitka gave us ice cream for breakfast. Bobo ate most of Veronika’s. Eventually Ezra got up at 11:30.
It was a sunny day and Jan informed me that there had been a warning on TV about extra radiation from the sun today. People with heart-conditions should stay inside. Jan intended to make the most of it and slapping himself said ‘Italy.’ I had a ride on Jan’s bike with Veronika. We had lunch.
Went for a couple of walks in the afternoon. Read a few chapters of Emma. Sat in the sun on a sunbed with Barbora and Ezra. Went to the local pub. Some awful Japanese ninja, kung-fu, Samurai program on TV, called The Revenger with a Flute or The Fluted Revenger1. Drank beer and toasted Jitka who was looking tetchy.
Back to the house, packed, had tea, some very fatty sausages and some tomatoes. Walked to get the bus. Thought I’d lost my wallet. Went back, found it in the bottom of my rucksack.
Jan gave me a lift to the bus on the motorbike, a heavy shopping bag on one of the handlebars, no T-shirt on, not very safe, 60 kph. Caught the bus. Veronika slept on the way back. Took her to Muzeum, put her in a taxi. Caught the Metro home and crashed2.
Notes: Being ill in Czechoslovakia. Every foreigner going into hospital has a compulsory AIDS test. Barbora has had tonsillitis for a couple of weeks. She has been off work for a couple of weeks. She had only started work two weeks before that. In order to claim sick pay she has to expect a visit at home from her supervisor at almost any time during her illness.
The tourists are taking Prague. The streets are fuller. The prices are rising. You can hear English voices, American voices and see German numberplates.
This seems to be Revenge, also known as The Reed Flute, 1989. A very late Soviet film.
I remember this as a happy, sun-bleached day — like already living inside a faded Polaroid. There are no photographs I’m aware of.