6th May 1970

Branik

6/05/70

Dear Mum and Dad

Tony and I are reunited again in our little flat- we went for a very nice walk this evening in the streets near us. The last 4 days have been just like summer- it has been very warm. All the cherry trees have blossomed. There is a large piece of common land near us with a silver birch copse and a cherry orchard.

I had a very good weekend last weekend. On Wednesday I phoned A.R. about work and she invited me to spend the weekend with her and her fiancée V.L. We had a holiday on Friday because it was May 1^st. So I went to Brno Thursday evening just in time to join in the leaving celebrations for R, who is returning to England. It was about 2 am when we got to bed.

On Friday we slept late and then hired a car midday to go to V.L.’s family holiday cottage at Hronice for the weekend. A.L. has just passed her driving test and wanted to get some practice in before she gets her own car.

V.L.’s cottage is fabulous, just near a small country town next to a river with wooded hills all around. The cottage is quite civilized with a fridge and 2 electric rings for cooking and a flush toilet and running water. The garden is quite wild and carpeted with cowslips, violets and wood anemones. We arrived Friday evening and went for a walk round town and had a coffee and then went to bed early. On Saturday we went along the river to a small spa which specialised in heart treatments (not for the treatment ourselves!) .

Here the spa water is quite warm. There were some interesting caves nearby which we visited. They are made by the hot water and gasses and quite different in structure from the normal limestone caves. They also contain semi precious stones like onyx and agate. There were extinct geysers- little volcanoes of rock where the hot water had forced its way out. The caves still contains a lot of carbon dioxide and if you go down too far you notice the difference as your  breathing becomes faster and deeper to compensate.

After our subterranean wonderings we went for a walk in the birch woods. The wild flowers were everywhere, wood sorrel, wood anemones and several species we don’t have in England.

In the afternoon I had my first canoeing lesson. Both V.L. and his sister are very good at canoeing and both take part in the national championships. They have a fibreglass canoe. I really enjoyed the experience but it is hard work, especially going up stream.

On Sunday we decided to go and pick up V.L.’s father. He was visiting his mother who was getting treatment for her rheumatism at a nearby spa near Trenchin. This involved driving through the Beskidy mountains. These are more like large hills about as big as those in the lake district with lots of swift clear rivers- good fishing Dad. There were blossom trees everywhere, little country villages and rolling hills with occasional rocky outcrops. We stopped and went for a walk at one point through a small village and into the hills. We found a lovely valley with a clear mountain stream, sloping hills which disappeared into the woods overshadowed by a large rock outcrop. It was so warm A and I lay down and sunbathed for half an hour whilst V climbed the rocks.

Another feature of Czechoslovakia in the spring is that each village has at least one family of goslings, little yellow fluffy things being shepherded around by mum.

When we arrived at the spa I found it quite interesting. It was like going back in time. The park was full of promenading patient and on the bandstand was a brass band playing Viennese waltzes. Again the scenery was lovely, a river flowing through a flower filled park with wooded hills all around. We returned to Brno Sunday evening.

I stayed in Brno on Monday to clear up some work I had to do there and came back to Prague in the afternoon only to find Tony had arrived on Sunday evening. He had driven back, picking up the new Daf at Schiphol airport on the  way. It is lovely- cream coloured car. I had it for the day yesterday and it is easy to drive with some improvements in design over the old one. However it is due for its first service already so we are going to drive to Nuremburg on the 14^th May and have a weekend in Germany to get the car serviced and do some shopping. Tony has ordered the Volkswagen but is waiting to see if we can have fuel injection with the low octane petrol here.

Last night I did the washing and I am quite tired tonight. I must find time to clean the gas cooker before you come. I will book the hotel in Slovakia and your day trips around Prague. Time is travelling quickly now- only 3 weeks until you come.

Looking forward to seeing you

Love Gillian and Tony

The health system in Czechoslovakia was free and comprehensive. The idea of sending people to a spa to recuperate was more reminiscent of Jane Austin days in England and there was something very old fashioned about the spa towns. The wild valley where the spa was situated had been tamed with concrete pathways and flower beds and of course the band stand. V’s mother was given a range of treatments in the spa baths similar to the sort of thing you can get today in UK if you go to Bath- and all on the National health in Czechoslovakia.

I did not mention the old couple who lived in half of V’s family chalet at Hronic. People were allowed to keep their holiday cottages after the instigation of communism but had to be prepared to have people billeted on them. The old couple who lived in the chalet were bent double after years labouring on a farm. Their faces were wrinkled and tanned and they looked really ancient. I was astonished when V told me they were only in their sixties. I can see why people did not live so long in days when the majority of the population worked the land.