c/0 I.C.L.
Pankraac 11,C,1579/31
Objeckt 14, Sekceb
Praha 4
Sunday 18th 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 26th-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 1st 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 2nd 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 (10th 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 (12th) 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 17th) 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.
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