The Feast of Stephen

I’ve been even more reclusive that usual lately, and I’ve decided to give myself a challrnge that may prove substantially more diffucult than writing a novel in thirty days — instead the challenge is to get out and see friends twelve consecutive days. Just being in Little CafĂ© Near Home working while people are around doesn’t count; I actually have to interact. In fact, I should probably make a rule that LCNH doesn’t count, or I can only count it once, or something like that. I’m making this up as I go along. The goal is to break my bad habit of finding reasons not to go out when friends invite me, and maybe even come up with my own plan from time to time.

Today’s kickoff was easy; I was invited to a family dinner. Historical trivia: “Good King Winceslas” is not a Christmas carol, but a boxing day song. The 26th of December is St. Stephen’s day. While there were no Vaclav’s (rhymes with Winceslas, who was Bohemian) at the dinner, it was still a festive (and belly-busting) affair. Mmmm… duck and knedliky (potato dumplings). Homemade cookies. No carp. One bit of bad planning: I wore my “nice” blue jeans. They’re nice because I don’t wear them much. I don’t wear them much because they’re a bit on the snug side. Not the right outfit for gluttony. Whatever the reason, I was a little concerned when I declined more duck that I might hurt my host’s feelings. I was stuffed.

It was a relaxed and pleasant dinner, some conversation in English and some in Czech, and then it was home to take a nap. (One topic of discussion as dinner wound down: the amount of time different animal species spend sleeping. It’s good to be a lion.)

So day one of Twelve Days of Social is a success! I really don’t know how I’m going to pull all of them off. New Year’s Eve I’ll be going down to the center of town, which I’m told is completely crazy. You know all those warnings on fireworks? They will be disregarded. “Wear eye protection” is a common piece of advice. Not really my kind of thing, but worth seeing once. (At this point it’s such pyrotechnic madness in my imagination that I’m probably heading for disappointment.) Anyway, anyone who reads this is welcome to join me. We can meet at the statue of Winceslas. (Did you see how I brought that back around to where I started? Not bad, huh?)

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10 thoughts on “The Feast of Stephen

  1. Throw me an sms and we’ll meet up sometime tomorrow for pivo, bro.

    There’s a joint at the Albertov stop (tram 7, 18, 24) that has toceni Chodovar and a restaurant near there with the only Budvar z tanku in Prague, so they claim.

  2. I suggest a trip through downtown, and on to Petrin hill for the big event itself – you get a much better view of the big firework displays, plus a view of the “unofficial” firework displays – which is most of Prague at that point.

    Plus the eye-protection, fire-retardant clothing is also a good idea.

  3. “When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even …”

    Here at Five O’Clock Somewhere, it’s deep and getting deeper. It’s not so even, but it’s getting that way. Right now there are a few humps — one over the propane tank, and several on your rock stacks. They look sort of like giant mushrooms.

  4. season’s greetings – both merry and happy – to the bloggcomm. In the spirit of the season I would like an update on pL jr.
    Your entry reminds me of the time you, John and I went to the largest, grandest, (rhymes with lamest, most over-sold) fireworks display on the west coast.

  5. Now, you’re going to have to give us updates … We’re all waiting with bated breath to find out whether you succeed in your mission. We know you succeeded with Day 1, but what about Day 2? Day 3? Your devoted fans want to know.

  6. Super cute. I definitely see a bit of Seeger in ‘im. Just a smidgen, but it’s there. And dude, your hair is medieval. You should be cast in the next Conan movie.

  7. I was trying to get into the film “Solomon Kane” with the hair, the character is created by the same guy who created Conan. No luck however. I did managed to get into the Italian Western we just finished here in New Mexico, so it did get me something anyway…

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