Social Issues 'n' Stuff with Skawiński

So here's a selection of snaps a certain snap snapped while he was perusing the Czech Republic (and briefly Slovakia). Hard to believe it's been a month already but time flies real fast when you're having fun. And I will say that the past several weeks have been very happening, filled with stuff pretty much every day. Not that that's a bad thing at all.



My friend Tark the hyena just posing around at CeSFur, just casually being a hyena which he is a master of. One amazing thing about this con is the bonfires we had pretty much every night. Nobody did stupid crap, everybody enjoyed it with lotsa of campfire songs (mostly in Czech) and free sausages. Easily one of the highlights of the con. And Kofola. Lots and lots of Kofola which is like the Czechoslovak answer to Coca Cola. Only that it's far more superior.



To get the main con hotel we had to go around a lake and cross a field as our rooms were out in the guesthouse (thanks to our late booking). That said the guesthouse was awesome, especially the bottom floor reception room where we could throw many late-night parties without anyone giving a flying fucksickle.



And this is Brno. The view from the hostel room where myself, Xolani and Tark stayed, to be precise. Brno is the Czech Rep's second largest city, an often overlooked place owing to the draw the capital city of Prague has. Nevertheless, Brno has still tons to offer, and one place of note is surely the absinth bar we went to on two occasions. You can smoke inside and the bar is well stocked in the best absinth brands. W00t!



Brno is definetely not a major tourist trap but thanks to that you do get more of a genuine feel of the place. One major point is the prices and they are far cheaper than in Prague.



And speaking of which, here's some Prague, namely the Dancing House which is probably one of my favorite landmarks ever. Just as the Czech Rep itself, slightly quaint but appealing in every way. Plus I really do prefer modern buildings so that was an instant winner on my list anyway.



Some of the other bits me and Tark saw over the last few days in the country was the Old and New (pictured) Synagogues. Prague still has an active Jewish community so these are in regular use (one had a bar mitzvah going on the other day so we couldn't go). Thankfully while browsing the synagogues we were already sober and not stoned anymore. Yes, in the Czech Rep it is legal to smoke pot and possess up to 15g of this stuff. We shared five times less but nonetheless that amount of wacky tobacky was more than enough.



The Czech Rep has a similar modern history to that of Poland, particularly around the time of the communist regime. One of the plaques on the way up to the Hrad (Castle) comemorates student protests from the late 1940's against the self-imposed communist dictatorship, which cost several innocent lives. And that's well before Prague Spring on 1968.



I rate this trip extremelely highly. Czechs are a very laid back people and more mixed ethnically than you'd expect. Spending some more time over there has made me realize I really want to get to know those people and their country more. And rememeber, never dine or drink in Prague 1. Those are Western European prices. Go a few streets down to Prague 4 at least, that's like 2/3 cheaper.

Well, the time spent in the Czech Rep (and briefly in Slovakia) was easily one of the best holidays I've taken in a long time.

One thing to point out is that I kinda regret not having ventured out to the Czech Rep back when I used to live in a neighboring country, it's such a marvellous place. Moravian highlands remind me of Bieszczady, the mountainous region in Poland where I was born, so that instantly struck a chord with me.

Starting from Bratislava, via Skalsky Dvur (CeSFur), Brno and finally Prague, this was one worthwhile holiday. Definetely revisiting that part of the continent. Time to sort the pics I've taken and write down a more detailed report. And remember those nights in the absynth bar in Brno where you could smoke indoors.

Promise, no bad puns on how I'm going to check out the Czech Republic :P But yeah, Tuesday afternoon myself, Xolani and Tark are on our way to the Czech Republic, via Bratislava in Slovakia. After one night in the Slovak capital, we're headed off to Brno, Czech Rep's second largest city, from where we'll be making tracks to Hotel Skalsky dvur to attend CeSFur furry convention.

Been really looking forward to this trip and it also happens to be the longest holiday I've had in over four years (ELEVEN whole fucking days of it!!!). No work, no nothing, just fun and hopefully some summer warmth.

After CeSFur we're going back to Brno, where we're staying for two days and browsing local sights. I got my sights set on the Moravsky kras nature reserve featuring one of the most complex cave system in Europe with impressive karst formations all around.

Then for the last three days, sadly without Xolani as he has to head back to Liverpool, we're relocating to the Czech capital Prague. Might seem odd but one of my main points is to ride the Prague metro. I just like public transit...but besides lots of other touristy things such as beer BEHEROVKA and local herbs naturally. So hehehey, see you all on July 3rd ^^

Last Thursday we actually finally got some warm weather (sadly, not for long) but I took the opportunity to venture out to the dunes on Formby beach, snapping up some good snaps. Did the same on Saturday, where I actually took a longer walk round the back from the woodland side, so you can see how the greedy dunes keep gobbling up trees and stuff.







I hope for more such days so I can go out again and take more snaps. I am a shuttercroc after all and abundance of nature round here in Merseyside is quite amazing, wanna explore more of it ^^

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't comemorate one special anniversary, one of those days in the year where I am very proudly Polish. It is, after all, twenty-six years to the day that Poland had its first free elections in post-war history. Even though I wasn't around to see that memorable June day of 1989, I can well relate to it being the beneficiary of the changes this has brought upon country.



The gradual fall of communism and the advent of democracy and freedom had been captured in this one day where you were able to put an "X" on the ballot paper where you wished, and it actually mattered! It also shows how precious these hard-fought freedoms are, and how easy it is to forfeit them in the name of a false sense of security. Free speech is the the greatest good, even for the price of being offended. So here's one for that.

Hee, last Wednesday was one of those times when working in the gambling industry really paid off. At work we've been offered free tickets for the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, offered by one of the clients. Seeing I've never been to a live snooker event, I thought it'd be worth taking advantage of.

Holy hell, was it ever! It's not like the events are rowdy (lol), but I hadn't realized watching snooker live can be so much fun, and atop of that so easy to understand. I mean you only really need to figure out the points systems to get the hang of it.

The game we were able to catch was a quarterfinal match up between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stuart Bingham (you can watch it and try to spot me out here). It was a see-saw battle, with each taking turns in leads, even Ronnie was not on his best form that day. Then again Stuart had some lapses of focus too, in particular due to some dingus and their phone going off right before he was to take a shot :P

Sheffield and the Crucible were amazing, and I am over the moon we went there. If there's any other snooker tournaments in the area, I can say I'll take interest in those. It's a mostly quiet sport, but nevertheless keeps you on the edge.

So living in Liverpool has this nice perk of having a very wide selection of beaches at your disposal. For a highland-born hillbilly such as moi that's pretty bizarre, at least at first, but then I am really keen on this new addition to the landscape around me.

Along with our guest last weekend Hamakei, a local buddy Tark and Waspford (Xolani), we headed to the beach in West Kirby, located at the mouth of River Dee on the nearby Wirral Peninsula.

The sky was PRISTINE and for the first time this year (for me) it actually felt warm. Bought some fat and juicy Polish sausages as well, and with the addition of a grill kit, supplied by Tark, we even managed to get a barbie going. Drink, food, and a lovely location on one of the dunes gave perfect exposure to the sun (yay for crocs!) and a panoramic view of the whole bay area along with Hilbre Islands.

Later on we even walked across to Little Eye, which is accessible at low tides, and listened to some 80's music while drinking the one and only Special Brew...such a fun day. And even some crazy drunken Scousers took pics with us :P

Having had my experience with beaches being local, I can say I am totally in for this. I love the sun, heat and bustle of a beach...one regret is that you can't really paddle in the sea over there since usually it's just way far out (unless at high tide). Then again, I will find some places for seabathing...and own them like a croc should. Dang, I am liking Merseyside more and more XD

Just half an hour ago I saw the third eclipse in my lifetime. The two previous ones were in Poland, with the first that I recall from sometime around when I was a little snapper.

I'm sure if you live in Britain you would've heard all about this amazing astronomical event, but the reason behind this post is to

( share picsCollapse ).

First time I've ever taken snaps of a solar eclipse myself, going totally makeshift, and instead of lenses using just my pair of sunglasses. They are decent quality so the trick worked :D

Also one other point, and you won't hear that often. Clouds helped today too as towards the end there was a thin veil of them covering the sun and filtering out the painful and sharp radiation, so you could actually see the eclipse with your naked eye. I will remember this for long!

So having lived in Liverpool for a month and a half now it's pretty much become all normal, the routine is now pretty set (not that it's hard to set since I work from home) but there's still the really amusing bit which is the Scouse accent/dialect.



Showed this video to a friend of mine from Quebec and it wasn't much of a surprise he struggled to understand Jamie Carragher's football/soccer chatter. This is more or less how most people here talk, and naturally those with better diction and pronunciation are easier to catch, but then you get the hardline Scouse traditionalists where you pretty much need someone to translate.

Not that it bugs me, even the fact that Xolani tries to corrupt our guests with his Scouse talk, if anything it adds to the uniqueness of the place. Merseyside is quite the experience even for the sake of the unusual dialect, containing Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish influences.

Can't wait till my mom hears this when she pays me a visit in summer. I'm quite sure she'll love the place, it has so much to offer.

It's been two weeks of living in Liverpool at the heart of the People's Republic of Scouseland. I can say it's been very tiring but more or less enjoyable to be moving in here, with Xolani.

Our neighbors seem dodgy as none of them opened up when I knocked on the doors to ask about our water meters but that's pretty much the only spat. Oh, and one huge fight some dozen of teenagers had out in the street the other day :P

Otherwise, it's been alright! I painted the whole apartment and bought some furniture - now it's starting to look more like a place you might call home. Really happy with our new futon - none of the higher-end furniture stores had anything remotely similar, only some spendy middle-class sofas and couches, but thankfully Argos came to the rescue!

Fucking table set was a four-by-four bitch, in particular assembling those damned chairs which are still kinda lame but will do at least for now. Now we no longer have to stand eating.

Oh, and the lovely allergy I got due to some gunk in the carpet after the previous tenants - thanksfully Xolani was able to get a steam cleaner from his mom's and it seems like it's killed off all those little funky fuckers in rugs that have been giving me a very hard time.

I have to take some snaps to show you all where we live! Had a few visitors over the last few days, including avon_deer. Was great to see my best pal again, we even got to catch some NHL hockey on tv. Fun times and I am very happy to call this my new home.