16th February 1970

Brno

16/2/70

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you for the letter dated the 2^nd Feb. I am glad you have not paid the Daf garage bill- Tony is writing to them to say that so many things have gone wrong with the car whilst it was under the 3 month guarantee that we will not pay the bill. I must tell you the saga of our car- it is a very sad tale. As I told you before we had an electrical fault in the voltage regulator and also suspected the dynamo was malfunctioning. As Tony had 3 bumps in 2 weeks we decided to take it to Vienna for repair last weekend (6^th Feb) We left the car in the garage all week and Tony collected it last Friday. Then the car looked beautiful- no bumps, they had sorted all the dents and cleaned the car. Luckily the bill was covered by our insurance except the voltage regulator.(but we have not got the money yet). Tony drove to Brno Friday night and just near the border the car started making a scraping sound very similar to our old Daf when the clutch broke. So Tony was very disappointed when he arrived in Brno as the car had a new clutch just before we bought it. On Sunday he set off for Prague early as we had a lot of snow on Saturday night and the road s were not good. After travelling for about half an hour a big lorry went by and the windscreen broke. It was so cold he could not continue and came back to Brno. As he could not get back to Prague anyway he decided to drive the car back to Vienna today and leave there until next Monday so that the clutch and the window could be mended. I think we have had bad luck but Tony has lost all faith in the Daf. However several things have gone wrong under guarantee so we do not intend to pay the garage bill- I think they probably owe us money!!!

As you can imagine we are hoping our salary will come from England quickly until the insurance pays our bills we are quite hard up.

I should not worry about income tax codes as we did not pay tax on this month’s salary as they must know now we are abroad. We did fill in some forms for income tax when we left England.

I had a birthday card from Auntie Win and family- it was very nice of her to write and I have sent post cards to most of my aunties and auntie Kath Curtis but never have time to write many letters. I am glad Tony phoned you last week. I think we are all agreed on the holiday now. I am looking forward to them very much and I have been getting lots of brochures on different areas of CSSR. Tony and I are not sure where to go for our holidays – we never seem to have time to discuss things at the weekends.

I am very envious because when Tony was in Vienna last Monday (10^th) he went to the Spanish riding school and watched the training for 2 hours. He said it was very good.

This Saturday we went riding with my landlord. He was a steeplechase jockey in his teens and knows someone who manages a stable of steeplechasers and show jumpers. The horses were beautifully kept in clean stables with glossy coats.

One really appreciates living in a country without a class system. These people were not at all ‘horsey’ with their noses in the air and were quite willing to let us ride their obviously valuable horse (Not like Mr B and his ageing Arabs which he would hardly let you touch)

The horses were fabulous not like riding school horses, which of course they were not. We could only walk because of the ice but the horses wanted to gallop and were quite a handful. They were all big animals, mine was a show jumper and Tony’s a steeplechaser.  We rode for 2 hours and really enjoyed it as the sun came out and the countryside looked beautiful.

When we returned to the stable they looked quite hurt when we offered them money and would not take a penny. They ushered into a very nice club that had been built for the stable hands and riders (who seemed to be on equal terms with the manager). Out came the wine and the vodka and we spent another 2 hours talking. I have been invited to go there any time with Juri (my landlord) and may go tomorrow afternoon ( it is very useful finishing work at 3 pm)

Just imagine that happening in England!

On Saturday afternoon we ‘did’ Brno – the cathedral and the castle. For Saturday evening we had booked a table at the ‘Crown Elizabeth’ wine cellar. I must take you there when you come to CSSR. Did I tell you about it before? I went with the I.C.L. crowd the other week. It is in the old castle walls and has a big open fire with only candle light. Lots of atmosphere. Tony was very impressed. We discovered the local champagne which was very good but went straight to my head. I don’t seem to be becoming a hardened drinker in spite of all the wine and alcohol here.

Last week my landlord qualified as a veterinary surgeon and Jura and Jana were celebrating every night and I had to drink Cognac, rum, vodka and wine on different nights. I never drink much- one glass is enough for me and I excuse myself by saying I am English. Although Czechs drink a lot they are very rarely drunk and seem to know when to stop. Jura and Jana are very nice people and I really enjoy living with them. Tony says I will find it very boring in Prague after Brno as he does not have such close contact with Czech people as I do.

Tony is coming to Brno on Thursday to go on the trip to the World Ski Championship. He is getting very little time for work these days. He spends all his time travelling to and from Vienna. We have been watching the ski championships on TV on Sunday and I was wondering if you were watching the same program in England?

My Czech does not seem to be progressing very quickly and I do not have the time to do the lessons and whenever I look up a word in the dictionary I forget it 5 minutes later. I have enhanced my vocabulary to include horses and saddles and other essential words! I am also quite good ant interpreting menus and know the local restaurants menus quite well so I don’t starve.

Everyone is watching Ice hockey on TV and it is much more popular then football here.

Work is going quite well for me and I hope I will get another pay rise soon. Unfortunately my boss G. W. has been in England for a week as I would like to discuss courses on England with him and get some arranged.

Tony bought me several English books in Vienna and other I.C.L. people have a stock so I am surviving as far as books are concerned. My knitting is also progressing because Jana and her friend Nadia knit every night and I tend to join them so I am hoping I will finish before next Christmas.

I had better close now as it is nearly dinner time and I must do some Czech. I should be going back to Prague soon. I shall regret it in some ways as I have made a lot of friends here in Brno. Tony says I have become much more self confident having to live in a strange town on my own. I am afraid I am lazy and rely on Tony if he is there whereas I am quite capable of doing things myself. However I still feel I can’t live happily without him so I shall be very glad to be in Prague in March.

Give my love to pussy Nick. I am amazed how long he is living but I know he is very well looked after.

Lots of love to you all

Love e Gillian

The banking system was very complex. While we were in Czechoslovakia we opened up a Swiss bank account and had all our salary sent there. We also opened up a local Czech account at the Narodni Bank. We used this mainly for our local expenses but could transfer money in from Switzerland when required. It took most of a morning to get some money out of the bank involving queuing in at least 3 places, getting official stamps on documents from the finance ministry, and then returning to the bank. We took a book with us and settled down in the foyer waiting for our name to be called once we had registered our desire to withdraw some money. We had not realised that we could live tax free in a limbo between UK and CSSR and this eventually enabled us to save a good sum while we were behind the iron curtain. Another place with a Kafka feel was the alien police. We had to update our visa regularly and the police sat in offices in a long corridor. The doors of these offices were thickly padded from the very top to bottom and side to side (and no handle) and with a notice in several languages saying ‘Do not knock on the door’; chance would have been a fine thing. There was no queuing system so foreign nationals of all types from African students to Arabic workers to Western technicians waited in the corridor ready to spring forward as soon as a door opened which happened at random times. It was a gamble as to which door you chose to wait near. There could be no one in the office you chose and so after an hour or so without the door opening you would move to another door only to find the first one opened as soon as you left and a German business man jumped in front of you.

9th February 1970

Brno

9/2/70

Dear Mum and Dad,

Thank you for your holiday reply letter. I had one from Paula on the same day which was very nice.

.

Re your holiday; the last week in May- 1^st week in June would suit us fine-. You can have a week in Prague and we can all go off the second week to the mountains where Dad can fish and we can walk and talk. I feel quite proud of Czechoslovakia now and I am looking forward to showing you around. I have just been today to get some brochures so we can choose the best route to follow. You must do the following things to arrive here in time:-

 1^st of all get a valid passport (takes about 3 weeks)

Also write to the Czech embassy for the visa application forms.

When your passport arrives send this plus the filled form, plus 2 passport photographs to the embassy and you should get a visa within 2 days. Put tourism as the purpose of your visit. Don’t worry about anything between

arriving and leaving Czechoslovakia- it will all be arranged.

Money? Have you enough for the air fare? If not we’ll pay. I am really looking forward to your visit- bring the cine camera and we will have some good films to remember it by.

It was lovely to go home to Prague last weekend and find our things had arrived. I played the record player and curled up in a big red blanket. The table clothes were really fabulous but I am sure they were very expensive- we must settle out accounts when you come here- I would write you a cheque but I know I have no money in the bank in England.

Last weekend we went to Austria to get the car mended. (the wing was crumpled the other week). I flew to Prague on Thursday and got my multi entry exit visa on Friday and we drove down to Linz on Friday afternoon. We spent the night in Linz and then did some shopping on Saturday morning and then drove to Vienna along the river Danube. We seem to specialise in rivers- the Rhine The Neckar, the Vltava and now the Danube. We stopped in a lovely Austrian village and explored a castle. It was a sunny day and we could just feel the first hint of Spring. There were lots of dogwood bushes along the river and there stems were really red.

I was not very impressed with Vienna at first. It is quite a nice city but I think I prefer Prague.

We went out for a meal with another 2 ICLers and their little girl. Lisa is 2 years old and very like Nicky with a will of her own. I spent most of dinner time building houses out of beer mats for her.

On Sunday we ‘did’ Vienna in our ‘true Fifield family fashion’. Unfortunately the Spanish riding school was closed because it was Sunday but normally you are allowed in to watch the training sessions. We went around an art gallery (Art nouveau) which we enjoyed but the whole architecture is very heavy Austrian. We had a real Chinese meal at dinner time- but not so good as in England. After dinner we drove up to the Vienna woods which are very nice except for the fact that all the Austrians had the same idea and we were driving bumper to bumper.

Austria is very expensive- it must have cost £30 for the weekend. I am hoping it will be easier to save money when we are both together in Prague.

We left the Daf in Vienna and Tony is collecting next Friday and driving to Brno for the weekend. As the following weekend we are going to the Ski championships we will not have a weekend in Prague for 5 weeks.

We had a letter from Tony’s mum for the first time last week!!! However it seems his father has been ill and off work for 4 weeks so I don’t expect Mrs F had time to write. She did not say what was wrong with him but I expect it was bronchitis as his chest has been bad all winter.

I just started knitting my sweater again- by the time I get it finished it will be summer time.

Tony and I will have a week’s holiday when you come so you will only be on your own for 5 days and there is plenty to do in Prague during that time. Also Chedok do several day trips from Prague to the surrounding countryside including some very interesting castles. We should have 7 days motoring round the country. I think we will plan a route and book hotels as I know what Dad is like if he doesn’t know where he is going to be sleeping at night. If you have any places you would like to visit after reading about them let me know and I will include them in the itinerary. Perhaps you would prefer to stay in one hotel in Slovakia and travel to different places of interest? (My husband’s a bit of a touring maniac and I don’t really agree with this as I get so tired of travelling I cease to notice the countryside). I will try and phone soon but it is more difficult now neither of us is living in a hotel.

Is Nanny well again?

A big kiss for pussy Nick

See you soon

Love Gillian and Tony

You can see we did not write about the Russians in our letters or put in anything derogatory about Czechoslovakia and the communist regime. We were warned by MI6 that our mail would be read and anything political would prevent the letter from being sent. It was a difficult time for the Czechs.

The first customer Tony was introduced to was the IT Director of CKD, one of the largest heavy engineering companies in Czechoslovakia. A one-time Jewish owned company established in the previous century, it was now state owned. Situated on a massive site in the outer suburbs of Prague, it was like many Czech organisations with old & grimy buildings and manufacturing equipment. If buildings were painted at all they were a uniform dull cream colour, produced (we speculated) in some vast factory in deepest USSR making the same dull yellow paint for just about all the buildings one ever saw. The facility had gradually turned a dirty grey/brown with the grime of decades, and the machinery would not have looked out of place in late Victorian Britain.

The next surprise compared with working in the UK was the high level of contact we would have. In CKD it was the Director of Computing compared with dealing with a senior programmer in the UK. He was a delightful, competent and cultivated man, who spoke excellent English. In the  1968 he had been attending a training course with ICL in the UK when the Russian Tanks had rolled into Czechoslovakia. He was unable to return to his homeland, and with only very limited hard currency to live on, life looked bleak. ICL were very supportive and found him a job with the Calor Gas Company in the UK (somewhere near London Airport I recall) in their computer centre.

However, as it transpired, the many months he spent in England served him well. At the same time the many anti-Communist/anti-Russian demonstrations were being secretly filmed by the authorities in Czechoslovakia. By the time he returned to Prague, not long before we arrived, an extensive purge was underway of anyone who could be identified as an anti-authority demonstrator in 1968. The purge was known locally as ‘The Provings’. Starting at the top of Government Ministries, the Universities, and all major organisations, a harsh inquisition process was carried out, person by person. If the secret film & photographs taken during the riots & demonstrations could show that an individual took part, they were immediately dismissed from their job, however senior. Since the State provided everyone with a job, and it was illegal not to work if you were capable & offered work (ultimately punishable by imprisonment), it was not uncommon to find people who were professors or directors one day becoming road sweepers or forestry workers the next. Amongst the Czech people this led to old scores being settled as people eager to protect themselves would denounce others as anti-communist demonstrators. We were frequently told by locals that they did not talk about the ‘Prague Spring’, even to members of their extended families for fear of being denounced and losing their jobs. It was a stressful time for many families.

By being marooned in the UK with a plausible reason for remaining there for a period (having to work and save enough hard currency to buy a return plane ticket), my friend, the CKD Director of Computing who wasn’t in the country to participate in any demonstrations retained his position. But later we would meet others not so lucky.

2nd February 1970

Monday 2/02/1970

Brno

Dear Mum and Dad,

I have not posted my last letter to you because of a lack of envelopes. I have some in Prague but forgot to bring them to Brno with me. So you will probably get several letters together.

I am very glad to say our things have arrived at Prague airport and Tony has filled out dozens of forms to be able to collect them this week. I am looking forward to hearing our records again.

My room in Brno continues to be very good- Yana is a very good cook and looks after me very well.

Last weekend we went skiing- I hope you got my card OK. We went on a bus trip arranged by Chedok and had a sing song all the way there and back. The Czechs are good singers and sing in at least two parts which you would never get in England. Dad would have enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I never got as far as skiing because as I was walking from the bus to the hotel I slipped and fell down hard on my bottom. (well padded I am glad to say). However I bruised my tail and could not bend too easily so I decided it was better not to ski as you spend most of the first few lessons sitting down.

Saturday was very cloudy and snow was falling but there were two nice hostels by the ski slopes so I sat drinking mulled wine (hot and spicy) and learning Czech. Tony spent most of the first day on his bottom under fir trees as one of the most difficult things to learn in skiing is how to stop. A.R. and V.L. were with us and V.L. is a good skier and gave us some instruction.

The weather changes very quickly in the mountains and Sunday was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky. I saw two stags lying down in the snow with lovely big antlers. The trees were beautiful in the sunshine- the snow sparkling on every branch. I had a little time on skis to get the feel of it and I think it will be very enjoyable when I have mastered the art. Tony got quite good and could ski down a gentle slope turning left and right and stop at the bottom. It is a very strange feeling to have your feet extended about five feet, especially behind you where you can’t see and it is very easy to get your skis crossed which is fatal as you always fall down. As the snow was fresh at least it was a soft landing.

In the afternoon we walked up to the top of the mountain -5000 feet the highest in West Czechoslovakia but not very high compared with the Tatras. There was a wonderful view across Poland to the north and Czechoslovakia to the south. Coming down the mountain there was quite deep snow. It is a pleasing sensation to sink into soft snow and it was too dry to be cold.

When we came home in the evening (Tony stayed in Brno Sunday night) we were just in time for the Forsyth saga on Czech TV. It was quite strange to watch it as all the voices were dubbed in Czech but the actors were the same. The bus came back especially early to be in time for the program and even the ice hockey matches are played early on Sundays the Czech are so addicted to the Forsythes.

Today I feel quite tired after being in the mountains all weekend. Tony and I feel that being here is like being on one long holiday for although we work hard in the week there is always something new to do at the weekends. I think we shall have to have a quiet weekend doing the washing and housework next weekend. Thank you for your letter dates 19^th Jan. You seem very busy with all these dinner parties. I am glad you are all well and that Paula has an interest at last- I think it is very important for married women with small children to have another interest.

Tony had a couple of bumps in the Daf last week. One was when he was parked and the other was when he was driving round a large box which suddenly appeared in the road. (Things like that happen in Czechoslovakia) If he had a left hand drive car he would have been OK. However we are insured so there is no problem but I think we may need a new wing which we will have to go to Germany or Austria for. Tony is quite despondent with the car but I don’t think it is really that bad as most people have similar experiences because the Czech people are such bad drivers.

My Czech is improving quite a lot living with Czech people. Yana’s husband speaks no English so I have to speak Czech with him.

Give my love to all our friends. Hope to see you in May or June. Lots of love

Gillian and Tony.

After grappling with the initial flurry of communist bureaucracy, Tony started his work of supporting ICL Computer customers in and around Prague. Computers in those days were very large, not as powerful as a small PC today, and unlike present day devices the software and hardware were often unreliable. Supporting ICL customers in the UK was easy compared with behind the ‘Iron Curtain’. There one had only to pick up a phone (or visit) to consult one of the software writers or a member of an engineering design team to get answers or software ‘patches’ to remedy a fault. Try that when phone calls could take hours to book & connect, and the only other direct contact was a very slow fax machine (more often than not regarded by the UK recipient as a lower priority than a problem presented by someone in the UK breathing down their neck). Tony soon discovered that the need to be much more self sufficient. The ICL customers in Eastern Europe too had teams of their own staff (both hardware engineers as well as analysts/programmers) to keep their systems running.

And then there was the car accident referred to in the letter home. It happened at the wide crossroad junction of Dukelakych Hrdina and Veletrzni, outside a vast rectangular block of a building that we knew as the ‘Kovo Building’. Kovo was the State central Organisation (one of many in this vast five floor construction) where contract details were negotiated when we sold computers to any Czech organisation. After a fire in the 1970’s it rose, phoenix like, and is now the superb Veletri Palac National Gallery.

What we did not tell Mum & Dad, for fear of worrying them, was that the car crash was with a large black ‘Troika’ staff car of a Russian General! In those days, in order to make certain types of inspections of sewers in the road, the authorities had very large bottom-less cubic boxes about 4 x 4 x 4  meters (constructed of planking with no windows) that were lowered over man hole covers by a big mobile crane. Presumably these inspections required darkness. One such had been positioned at this particular road junction obscuring our view. Edging our way around the obstruction resulted in the crash with the speeding black ‘Troika’ that would have looked more at home in 1930’s Chicago with a Tommy-gun toting gangster leaning out of the rear window. Built much like a Russian Tank, it did considerable damage to the front wing of our little Daf, but itself had barely a scratch. An anxious Czech Policeman quickly waved on the Russian General. Our car was moved to a quiet back-street where I tried to explain how the accident occurred. Turning to point to the large wooden obstruction, it had gone, carried away by the mobile crane. My case was lost and I was lucky to get off with an on the spot fine in local currency (without a payment receipt!). I saw in my rear view mirror the money disappear into the policeman’s pocket as I drove away. So it goes.

Sometime later we were advised by a more experienced ICL engineer that if there were other local people around, the thing to do was to step out of the car and say that being a foreigner you only had hard currency. Then try to pay the policeman with a $20 US note. It was absolutely illegal for any Czech to take ‘hard’ currency. So, as long as there just might be a person in the onlookers who could report the policeman (never popular with the locals), he would be bound to refuse & wave you on. And it worked.

18th January 1970

c/0 I.C.L.

Pankraac 11,C,1579/31

Objeckt 14, Sekceb

Praha 4

Sunday 18^th Jan

Dear mum and Dad

I was going to write from Brno in the week but I phoned Tony and he said we had received some letters from you so I thought I would wait and read them first. In fact we have had 5 letters this week, the last took only 5 days to arrive which is very good. We were pleased to know there are Daf garage in Prague and Brno- just the right places for us.

I am glad my plants are flourishing- I’ve inherited some nice plants in our flat- 2 giant groups of ‘mother-in-laws tongue and several other smaller plants. The flat is extremely nice- one of the best we’ve seen, with two rooms. I tried the washing machine on Friday and it is very good- the clothes dry very quickly on the radiators. Czech washing powder makes the clothes very harsh but I bought some OMO in the Tuzex shop on Saturday.

On the question of post- please keep everything sent to us-journals and circulars but don’t bother to send them on to us-only the personal letters- though most of our friends know we have moved.

I am sorry Nanny is still not well. We are both healthy now and I have not been ill at all in spite of the fact the ‘flu has been raging in Czechoslovakia. All the theatres were closed in Brno because of it. Give Nanny our love and wish her a speedy recovery from us both. Also give Edie Bolan our good wishes.

Now we come to the problem of holidays- we thought everything was settles when last night we had the I.C.L. Czech manager and his secretary for dinner- our first entertaining in the new flat. He told us, over a steaming Holland curry, that I.C.L. Czechoslovakia is going to be reorganised. The resulting structure will be revealed at a meeting of the people over here on the 26^th-next Monday week. We had presumed Tony would continue his present job of looking after the customers in Prague and I would join him in March. However it looks as if Tony’s job might change and that we may be based in Brno. This would mean we would have to find a flat in Brno and we don’t know what the accommodation would be like i.e. if there would be a spare room. So at present we don’t know what our long term situation will be here or our ability to put up guests.

However Tony and I had the following thoughts on holidays

1. We shall have about 4 weeks holiday in total.

2. We feel by holiday time we will want to see a few surrounding countries.

If you could get 3 weeks holiday we could all go somewhere different like Greece or Turkey.

Alternatively Tony and I could have 3 weeks holiday away from Czechoslovakia. When you come here on a fortnight’s holiday we could arrange trips for you for the 1^st 5 working days and then have 1 weeks holiday plus 2 weekends touring parts of Czechoslovakia we have not seen. This would be cheaper as the first week you would be staying with us and the second week we could pay for everything. This would be very good if we are still living in Prague as there is so much to see and do in the city. I.e. we would have one week holiday while you are here and one week working. Do let us know what you think of these two suggestions. I will write and let you know when our future is settled next week (It is a great nuisance this reshuffle in I.C.L. as we are just settling into our flat and feeling Prague as our home. However if Tony can get a better job in Brno I don’t mind as Brno is an extremely nice place to live). I find it very difficult to negotiate things like holidays by letters. However you will probably see me again sometime this year as I will probably get on some courses in England the 2^nd half of the year. So I shall be able to see you at the weekends. Czechoslovakia is so near England by air- one does not feel cut off from the home country at all. I have not given you our flat address yet- you should still send letters to the Pankrac address if I were you as it seems to be quite efficient. However our flat is

c/o Mrs Zdarska

Psohlavcu 1209

Praha 4

Branik

Our financial matters were not too happy at first but now we have an advance on expenses and our salaries have come through so we should be OK.

Thank you for arranging the transport of our things. Yes, we did want everything. We don’t trust Mr W (from I.C.L.). We will make a fuss if our things don’t arrive soon.

This letter so far has been all about administration so I better add something about us and how we are doing. I think we enjoy it here more each week.

Last Saturday (10^th Jan) we went to the opera ‘Dalibor’ in the main theatre in Prague. The theatre itself is a work of art all painted and gilded with scrolls and statues. The opera was a bit heavy for me but the singing was good – I kept thinking how much dad would enjoy it. On Sunday (12^th) we spent the time between our two respective bosses V. C, the I.C.L. Czech manager and G.W. who is my chief programmer. At the moment I arrive at Prague airport at 6.15pm on Friday and leave at 12.50 on Monday so I spend quite a bit of time with Tony. Tony and I have a joke at the moment that the work I am doing in Brno is really systems work- I keep telling him he should have said he was a programmer and then he would be doing systems work too. However he feels he must move towards the administration side in order to progress in the company. I am certainly enjoying my work. It is quite different from what I was doing in England.- much better in fact. Tony is working very hard initially but again he is enjoying it.

In the week I went to a concert in Brno with very modern works- Stravinsky and a Czech composer Janacek and I really enjoyed it. I try to do an hour’s Czech lesson everyday but find it difficult to find the time.

Yesterday (Sat 17^th) we had V. C. to dinner which went off quite well and today we went for a drive South of Prague to visit Konice castle- which of course was closed for the winter. We did walk around the grounds and saw 2 squirrels one of them red. The grounds were beautiful with a big lake completely frozen over we shall have to go there in spring when the rhododendrons are out.

Our forthcoming events are quite numerous as well. Next weekend A.R.-who is the I.C.L. senior programmer working with me in Brno is coming to stay for the weekend. On Sunday we are going to have a house warming party as well as all the I.C.L. people will be in Prague for the meeting on Monday. The following weekend we will possibly be going skiing with one of the Czech girls I work with in Brno who will teach us the rudiments.

In February 12-22 we are going to the high Tatras to see some of the world ski championships- so look for us on the TV Dad!!!. I think it is the ski jump and cross country on the days we are going. We are going by coach- the trip is organised by the customer I am working for so there will be quite a party of us and it should be fun.

We certainly feel we are living life at a faster pace here there is so much to see and do. I am beginning to master shopping here. Luckily we have a big supermarket just up the road from the flat with laundry, hairdressers and shoe repairs nearby. In Brno I eat at restaurants or go to A.R.s flat for a meal. I rarely eat on my own as there is always someone from I.C.L. to eat with.

I posted Christopher’s birthday present on Tuesday. I hope it reaches England on time- there should be 2 parcels arriving at Paula’s- both for Christopher- I hope he likes the contents.

Tony has already bought me a birthday present- a very smart brief case in black leather- quite small and light and feminine.

There is so much I would like to tell you, it is very difficult to write it down in the confines of a letter. However we shall be able to chat all night when we see you again

Lots of love from

Tony and Gillian

Tuzex shops were a strange invention. They were small shops where you could buy items with ‘hard currency’, often tax free, using Tuzexs which were coupons purchased using dollars or other ‘hard’ international currencies. The Czechoslovak currency (the Koruna, or Crowns) was linked to the Rouble and was a ‘soft currency’ which was not generally Internationally negotiable. But many Czechs had family members who had left for the west and sent them Western ‘hard currency‘ money so Tuzex shops allowed these people to spend their dollars legally and for their part, the authorities were happy to gain the foreign currency.

The shops sold a variety of things, Czech glass, garnets, booze, cigarettes, Russian watches but also some western products like Nescafe and Omo. Particularly popular with some of our smoking staff members were the Cuban Cigars. Having been economically blockaded by the USA, Cuban Cigars were hard to come by unless you lived in Easter Europe which had become the main market. They were relatively inexpensive in the Tuzex shops. Interestingly, Cuba was one of the few places in the western hemisphere where (if you had the money), locals could take package holidays at what to us were very low prices.

The official exchange rate for the Czech Corona did not reflect its true value on the world currency markets if it were ‘floated’ at that time. People would offer, on the street, or in hotels, to change your English Pounds into Crowns at about three times the official exchange rate we would be given at the bank. Many of the expats living there augmented their salaries by using such unofficial exchanges. We never did as you could never be sure if the person offering the deal were secret police trying to get something illegal on your record so they could coerce you into working for them or eject you from the country at will. Also we thought it was greedy and unfair on the Czech people.

There were high class prostitutes in all the expensive hotels sitting in the lobby ready to ensnare unwary lonely foreign business men. They were called ‘Tuzex girls’ as they only worked for Tuzexs or foreign hard currency. Their aim was often to make someone fall in love with them so they could get married and move to the West. We had all sorts of approaches by Czechs to try and compromise us and had an annual talk from MI5 telling us what to be wary of. Some of our personnel were asked to take packages back to England for ‘Czech relatives’ and exchange them with mystery people on Clapham common, no doubt with a handy photographer nearby to record the event. Yes it did actually happen. Often we were befriended by people who had another agenda. Tony was courted by a Czech guy who regularly asked him to go to ice hockey matches and to accept gifts, and even to sell him our car. He also asked Tony to take something to London but he refused. 

Other colleagues were accosted in Hotels by beautiful women who immediately wanted to go to bed with them. One of our salesmen, a Hungarian by birth, a married man, was asked by a women who said she was from Hungary to go his room for a drink. She immediately started taking off her clothes. He opened the door to bundle her out of the room to find a photographer outside waiting to burst in with the room key in his hand. We used to joke about these attempts as it was the 70’s and many of the couples had open marriages and were not adverse to a bit of infidelity. We joked that if it happened to us we would ask for a copy of the film to show our family. The communists were surprisingly straight laced about such things.