My story
Some months ago I decided to change my life and I moved to a village. I know that for somebody it can be very difficult to imagine to live in a village especially when you spend whole your life in a town. But after two months out of town I can say that it was very good change for me. I have devided my life into two parts. I spend my working life in a town mostly in Liberec and village is my private life. I got used to comuting to work for longer distance, I got used to having breakfast in my car and I am getting used to enjoying my free time in a village. I know that I am at the beginning of my new life, but I like it very much. I can change my opinion after some time, but I think it will not be neccessary, because I feel that I have no ambition to become a famous and successful person, I just want to enjoy my life in the countryside. (to be continued)
1. Comuting
Last time I wrote about comuting to work from home when you live in a village. I wrote about having breakfast in my car. This time I am going to write about other possibilities during comuting home from work. Last week I ended my work little bit earlier so I went home when there was still light. The weather was sunny and warm. When I was going through a wood I decided to stop there and go mushrooming. I parked my car near the road and I went to the wood. I did not have a basket with me, so I put the mushrooms into my cap. After twenty minutes my cap was full. I returned to my car and I went home. My girlfriend made delicious mushroom cake from them. Life in a village is great! (to be continued)
2. A day in a village
We all know how difficult our life is nowadays. There are a lot of limits and they change very often. So it is not easy to plan your work for a long time. Last Monday I had only one lesson through Skype and I did not want to do nothing during the rest of the day. I decided to spend the day with some other activities. At first I prepared dough for bread then I cut all flowers and put the soil into the garden. There was quite a big pile of old flowers after my cutting so I took a wheelbarrow and went with all flowers to a special dustbin for biowaste. After that the dough for bread was ready and I put it into the oven. The bread was ready after 45 minutes. After that there was time for my running. My track was about 4 kilometres long and it took about 30 minutes. At the end I must say that sometimes it is not so bad to have a little bit different programme than the other standard days. After this day I really felt the village life without usual town stress. It is very nice to know that there are more possibilities how to spend our time. (to be continued)
3. St Martin´ s goose
On November 11, there is St Martin´ s day and it is connected with having goose for lunch. This year it was on Wednesday so we decided to move it to the nearest Saturday. We invited our children and we started to prepare it. Unfortunately we didn´t arrange properly who would buy the goose, so on Wednesday afteroon there were two geese in the kitchen. Fortunately there was enough space in the freezer for a goose. On Friday I was sent to the supermarket with a shopping list with things for the goose. When I came to the supermarket, I found out that a lot of people had the same idea and the place was extremely overcrowded. But I was brave enough and I managed to buy everything - flour, cabbagge and of course beer. My girlfriend prepared the goose one day before the action and the goose spent in the oven whole night. After twelve hours she overturned the goose and poured it with brandy. The result was wonderful. The goose was delicious and homemade dumplings and cabbagge made the quality even higher. It was very nice to have good meal with young generation together. A proverb says that from the colour of the goose backbone we can see what the winter can be like. The backbone of our goose was brown with some white spots. It means that this winter should be rather muddy with a little snow. We will see.
4. Evenings in the country
When I lived in the town, I usually spent evenings with TV. When I moved to a village I did not stop watching TV, but I found out different possibilities how to spend evenings. I have already written about my running. I usually go running after my work when there is dark. It is very interesting to see that our eyes can adapt easily to the darkness. I am even surprised how much light there is when the moon shines. I don´t know if it is connected with running, but when I return home I have no mood to watch TV. So we usually play some games as cards, dices, scrabble or we just read a book or a magazine. I don´t miss TV at all. Of course it is not possible to enjoy evening without something good, so we usually relax with a glass of wine and some cheese and vegetables. When there is really cold weather outside we also have a shot of spirit. I like long winter evenings in the country.
5. Christmas in a village
This year I spent Christmas Eve in the village for the first time in my life. In the morning I went for my children to Liberec. We had soup for lunch with together with my girlfriend and her children and we unwrapped some presents. Then I took my children back to Liberec and when I returned back we went for a walk with my girlfriend, because her children decided to prepare the evening. I must say it was very pleasant to go for a walk before we started to fill our stomachs. When we returned home, the table was ready for Christmas dinner. We had dinner with my girlfriend and her children and her parents. We had carp soup and then potato salad with a carp and vine sausage. After that we moved to the living room and we found a lot of presents under the Christmas tree. So the rest of the evening we spent with unwrapping our presents and drinking some spirit and eating Christmas cookies. It was very nice time without any stress and hurry.
6. Village duties
I know that our life is full of duties. Since childhood we are taught to have some duties. I remember I didn´t like my duties when I was a boy. Drying dishes, going with a dustbin, making order in my room. Everything seemed to me as useless activities. Now I can see it in different way. I can say that in some duties I can see the sense of my life. For example heating the house. In town people have gas or electric heating where they can start everything by switching a button. In our house it is different. For heating we have a boiler which must be loaded with wood. And it contains work. Everything starts in the morning when you have to clean the ash from the boiler, then you have to set up the fire and prepare some wood for the day. The whole action takes about a half an hour. But I like it. It is good for movement and I think that it is better than going somewhere to a fitness. When the boiler works it is neccessary to add some wood every hour. When you learn it you also learn how to use the rest of the time efficiently. So life in a village keeps people active regularly. I know that it is not interesting for everybody, but I like it very mu
7. Cross-country skiing
Last week there was snowing for some days. I was surprised that the snow didn´t melt after some hours. At weekend I decided to try to go cross-country skiing in the valley which goesm our village to castle Kost. At first I went for a walk to the valley to check that there was enought snow for my skiing. During my walk I could see that there was enough snow for my 30-year-old skis, so after lunch I took my skiing equipment and I went cros-country skiing to Kost. The valley is about 1.5 km long so I went through it twice. During my skiing I met about ten walkers and two horses. Next day it was snowing again, so in the middle of the following week there was even more snow. Every morning I enjoyed my journey to Liberec with snow everywhere and on Wednesday evening I went crosscountry skiing directly from our house because the conditions were really great.
8. New viewpoints due to skiing
Last time I wrote about my village crosscountry skiing. This time I am going to add some more experiences from this activity. Last week there was a lot of snow everywhere around our house. So I went crosscountry skiing nearly every evening. One evening when I was returning home from work, I noticed one skiing track in the field at the end of our village. That was great challenge for me. I decided to try it that evening. The track led to the nearest village through the fields. It was very nice, because when I was in the middle of my track I found out very nice view around. I found myself on a small hill but it was enough to have wonderful view. I could see Ještěd on one side, Trosky on another side and Humprecht on another one. Everything was covered by snow only some lights were shining from some houses. The sky was full of stars and there was silence all around. I found this magical point thanks to my skiing activity. In summer it wouldn´t be possible to find this place, because there grow some agriculture plants. So I found another positive point of winter.
9. Skating on a pond
There has been cold weather since last Sunday and there has been quite a lot of snow. After some days with temperature below zero we decided to test the ice on one pond nearby. After work I took my skates and ice-hockey stick and we went to the nearest pond. The pond was covered by 10 centimetres of snow. It was clear that we had to start with cleaning the snow from the ice. After some minutes there was enough space for some skating. I must say that it was wonderful feeling to skate after some months without ice. Later we cleaned more space from snow so at the end there was a circle for skating and we prepared a competition. My girlfriend´s niece had to skate around the circle as fast as possible and I had to skate with the stick and puck. Of course I lost but the difference was not so big. But the result was not so important. The most important was that we enjoyed it and we had a lot of fun. I am sure that we can repeat it tomorrow and I am looking forward to it very much.
10. Village Mondays
Every Monday I work from home. It means I don´t have to go to Liberec or any other places. I just get up and I have breakfast. Then I take my phone and I start working through it. This programme continues to early afternoon. Between the video lessons I have some free time. As it is winter, there is a lot of ice hockey on TV. So I spend my free time by watching various matches from various countries. It usually starts with a match from Slovakia. It is not so high quality, but it is better than nothing. Then there is a match from Sweden. These matches are usually dramatic to the end. After lunch there is a match from Russia and then there is a match from NHL from the USA. When you watch a match from this competition you can see why it is the best competition in the world. It is fast and full of very nice actions. I would like to see a match in NHL life sometimes in the future. After that I go running because there is no chance to go skating. I am sure that this watching can help me in my own playing in the future. I hope it will be soon.
11. Village spring
I know that everything is different this year, but it seems that usual spring nature is back here. I can see it everywhere. Everything started some days ago when I discovered some snowflowers in our garden, then I found it on some trees along the road and I can feel it every morning when it is already light when I get up. I also like looking around when I drive my car, because I can see that even fields change their colour slowly. It can sound strange, but every afternoon when I return home I enjoy the look of spring nature and I feel new energy from it. So when I arrive home, I have a small snack and we go for a walk with my girlfriend. Sometimes I take a binocular with me and we watch various animals as does, fallow deers and hares. I like watching the animals and enjoying the silence all around. It is something magical and it is really very relaxing.
12. Easter
I know that it is said that Easter is celebration of spring. But I must say that I did not like it when I was a child. I was too shy to visit girls and beat them. When my children were small I changed my point of view a little bit. This year I got some new experience from Easter. At first I went for knittles for Easter stuffing. As the Easter was quite early, it was quite difficult to find some knittles. I had to go far from our village to find enough knittles for a lot of stuffing. After that I decided to knit my easter stick. At first I had to find a willow tree with branches. When I found a tree, I found out that I had no knife with me, so I had to find a sharp stone to cut the branches off. When I came home, my girlfriend showed me how to knit it. Everytime I thought that it would be pretty difficult to knit an easter stick, but the reality was much easier. After half an hour I had my first self-knitted easter stick. I needed eight branches for the stick and one branch for tighting it. Now when I can knit an easter stick, I think I can become a grandfather and teach my grandchildren how to knit it.
13. Spring around the village
After Easter we started to go for a walk with my girlfriend very often. I usually take my binoculars and we watch nature around. After some walks we know where we can see some red deers and hares. Some time ago we discovered a couple of swans by a pond nearby. Last weekend we walked around the pond again, but we found only one swan there. After a while we found the second one. It was on the other side of pond in high grass and it was sitting on eggs. When we came home we looked for some more informaton about swan´s eggs. We found out that small swans can be born after 35 days. So know we have new programme of our walks. We are going to monitor the swan and we are looking forward to seeing small swans. It is very interesting to see nature full of life after winter. Eventhough the weather is not so good for spring, I feel new energy after every walk around our village.
14. Morning cycling
Today I had a day off. It meant that I could relax or do nothing. I was thinking how to spend this day and in the evening before I decided to start the day with cycling. I got up at 6.30, I had a cup of coffee and a piece of cake and I prepared a small refreshment and I started my trip. At the beginning I did not have a plan where to go. When I left our village, I decided to go to Vyskeř. It is about seven kilometres far and the second half of the way is quite up hill. When I came to Vyskeř, I decided to continue to Žehrov because there is a very nice way. I must say that it was really wonderful to ride a bike before eight in the morning. There was nearly no traffic and the weather was getting warmer. When I arrived in Žehrov, I decided to go to Branžež and then to view tower Čížovka. When I reached the view tower, I took a selfie and I continued to Kamenice and Střehom. When I came to Osek, I was not sure where to go next. I could go to Libošovice, which was the nearest vilagge, but I changed my mind and I went to Kost. From Kost I went home through Prokop´s valley. I returned home after nearly three hours. When I got into the house, it started to rain. It was nice end of my trip. I think I will repeat it again.g
15. Mushrooming
Autumn is here and it means there is time to go mushrooming. I know that I am not a big experts for mushrooms, but I like mushrooming. I just like walking in a wood and when I find a mushroom I feel extremely happy. This year I have been mushrooming several times. I go to the same place everytime. I usually go mushrooming when I go home from work. I leave my car near the road and I go to the wood. As I have no basket with me, I have strategy to pick up about five mushrooms and go home. Everybody thinks that mushrooms grow somewhere in deep wood far away from road. I have different experience. I usually find the first mushroom some meters from the road. When I have three mushrooms, I return back to my car. During my way back I often find other mushrooms, so when I return to my car, I have full hands of mushrooms. Whole action takes about twenty minutes. When I come home, my girlfriend prepares the mushrooms for dinner. I like it very much. When I find more mushrooms, my girlfriend makes mushroom sauce. It is delicious. I like this time very much.
16. A bird feeder
In December there is usually first snow. It is very nice when the countryside is covered by white snow. I like going for a walk in snow. Your steps make very nice sound which can be done only by stepping your shoes into snow. But not everybody is happy from snow. For example birds are suddenly without food, becasue it is under snow. And that is the time for a bird feeder. There is a quite big bird feeder at our balcony. Every day I put there various kinds of feed, because every kind of birds likes something different. So after last year research I know that blackbirds like apples, love birds like nuts and great tits like sunflower seeds. When I have time, I like watching the birds´ breakfast. A blackbird usually comes as the first one. It is a very brave bird and it stays in the feeder for quite a long time. One blackbird can eat a half of an apple a day. Then a great tit comes. At first there is only one. It is an explorer for the others. When there is no danger, the other great tits follow the first one. So after very short time the feeder is overcrowded. At this moment a love bird appears. It is a very patient bird. It usually waits till the great tits are full and fly away. Then it gets into the feeder and eats the nuts which are left there, because the other birds don´t like them. After that the feeder is empty and I know that I have to put some food next day.
17. Village mornings
I know that when we don´t have to go to work or when we don´t have any duties, we don´t like getting up early. I have the same feeling, but sometimes I persuade myself and I manage to get up at 7 o´clock and I go running. I usually run around 3 kilometres which takes me about 25 minutes. After that I have a shower and I have breakfast. When the weather is nice, I have my breakfast on our balcony. And that is my best time, because I did something for my body and I can enjoy my time with good food and a book or a magazine. I must say that after 30 minutes I have so much energy that I start some work. Usually I bake bread or I do something in our garden. This year we planted 10 plants of grapes. I am surprised how fast they grow and it is very interesting to watch how nature is magic. When I finish the work in our garden, it is time for lunch. I pick up some potatoes and other vegetables and I make my lunch. After lunch I usually fall asleep for 20 minutes. I love this time very much.
18. Culture in a village
Last Friday there was a ball in the village. A year ago I decided to organize a small dancing action for our friends and relatives. I called it Reading Ball, because it was in March and March is month of a book, so I connected dancing with reading. I am sure that you would like to know how it is possible to dance and read at the same time. There is my answer. This is not reading a book or a magazine. Reading means drinking. So the bar is a library and people can go there during dancing breaks and they can "read" what they like. For example when you like nature, you can "read" Tullamore Dew, when you like autobiography you can "read" something about Johnie Walker. As it was very successful action last year, we decided to repeat it again. One week before the action we started collecting the things to the lottery, so our living room was full of small things for lottery. But at the end I think that it was again very nice action. This year there was a reading quiz before midnight, so it was good to "read" something to know the right answers. The action finished after 2 AM and there was time to go home. I must say that it is very good combination to walk after dancing. We arrived home around 3 AM and we went to bed immediately. Next day we did nothing because we had no power. I think it is sometimes neccessary to spend a day with doing nothing, because it can bring a lot of new ideas later. It means that I have already started to think about the next ball.
19. Village celebrations
Last Saturday there was celebration of 670th anniversary of foundation of our village. I must say that I could not imagine what it would be like, but I can say now that it was very nice and well prepared. Everything started with morning mass in the church. I visited it eventhough I am not a believer. I was surprised by low number of visitors. Even age of visitors was quite surprising. Most of them were in age of 70 and older. I was also surprised that majority of visitors were women. It seemed that church is not interesting for men or they don´ t have time to go there. From the noon visitors could visit local kindergarden and they could compare the present conditions with the history. During whole afternoon people could visit local library where they could hear some information about the history of the village. There were also lots of historical photos and older residents could describe the details of them. It was very interesting to listen to them and their experiences from that time. The main programe was in the centre of the village. There was a stage made from a truck and the road was full of stalls with tables and benches. You could buy various refreshment from the stalls and you could enjoy live music. There were three bands during the action. At the beginning there was a brass band, which was interesting mostly for seniors, then there was a band playing country music and from 6 in the evening there was a rock band. When this band started to play, a lot of people started to dance. They played with short breaks to 2 in the morning. I think that everybody enjoyed it and will remember it for a long time.
20. Feeding animals.
Last week I had special programme in my free time. As my girlfriend´ s parents went on holiday, it was neccessary to feed the animals who live with us. At first I got a special training when and how to feed rabbits and quails. Then I was shown how often to feed pigeons. After successful passing the training they left for holiday. It meant that every morning and every evening I had to give some hey and oat and water to rabbits and grass and wheat and water to quails. After feeding them I had to collect their eggs. The complete feeding action took about 20 minutes. In the afternoon I prepared some corn for pigeons and opened their cage to fly. When they got out from the cage I changed them water and added some wheat. In the evening it was neccessary to close their cage. It was very nice experience for me. It showed me that people in a village are never bored. And the result of my feeding? I collected over 40 eggs in seven days and only one rabbit and one pigeon died.
21. A trip to history
After Christmas there is usually more free time that we can spend in various ways. We usually visit our relatives and then we try to go somewhere. This year we didn´ t plan any trips. We just waited for the right oportunity. And it came! One day we decided to go to the cinema in Jičín. The cinema in Jičín was reconstructed several years ago, but it is still rather small cinema which I remember from my childhood. When we arrived there, we found out that the movie which we wanted to see starts one hour later than we thought. So we decided to go to the centre of Jičín. It was a very nice walk. I learned some things about the castle at the main square which was build by Valdštejn, then I found some nice information about the tower and at the end of our walk we saw a shoe workshop of Rumcajs. I could really feel a smell of history there. When we returned to the cinema, we found out that it celebreated 100 year anniversary from its building. There were a lot of photos from the history of the building and we could see that the reconstruction returned the building back to the shape when it was open for the first time. This trip showed me that it is not neccessary to travel far to see very interesting things which happened long time ago and we can still see them.