this week has been pretty mental.
I've (finally) got a permanent desk in the office, having been 'hot-desking' (urgh - both the terminology and the practice) for the better part of 18 months. Usually that would involve plonking my laptop somewhere, scramble about to get stuff plugged in and then hope whoever's desk I'd purloined for the day/week/month wouldn't suddenly turn up unexpectedly. Sometimes they would, and then I'd smile sheepishly, scrabble around and extricate myself and apologize for interrupting their day.
Whilst I am excited to finally have a place where I can relax and not worry about being kicked out, I must admit that I'll now, at any given time, be capable of being located, and with that, have flow interrupted. Still, at least I can put some pictures of my non-existent kids and pets up. That's what people do in offices, isn't it?
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Last week saw the mighty Zizkov return to winning ways in a rare televised game against FC Zbrojovka Brno, the leading club from the second city. Quite a scrappy game was punctuated by one belter of a freekick from our centre-back from about 30 yards. Up to 7th in the league and next up this weekend is a trip perennial strugglers FC Vlašim about 70km to the South-East of Prague.
I've never been to Vlasim and have heard good things, especially about the castle park - said to have inspired Gustav Mahler to put chinese poems to music in
Das Lied von der Erde and the Château - but unfortunately, on account of both a friend's birthday and the small matter of the RWC Final, I won't be able to make it this time and so will content myself with a couple of photos from the internet. Perhaps I'll make it there next season.
The Château
The entrance to the Castle Park.
After that, we close out the first half of the season with a home fixture against Usti Nad Labem ('Usti-upon-Elbe') before the lack of undersoil heating at most second division grounds enforces a winter-break until probably the second or third week of Feb. The top division tends to run a little longer, so I'll probably get my fix by heading to Bohemians 1905 who are probably the most fun fans in the top division, in Prague at least.
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As for next week, a pal will visit me and we'll head into the mountains in the North for the weekend after a couple of days showing him my favourite spots in Prague. I might even remember to take some proper photos to share.
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