That was Monday

Well that was the first Monday after opening this blog. Why are Mondays the world over suffered by most working people? My Monday is actually the longest day of the week, starting at 7am and not finishing until 9pm, by which time the cats (all 6 of them) are desperately clawing their way in through any crack they can find (and there are plenty of those), the fire has of course gone out and the house is freezing.

English teaching is still the staple of our income, even after 11 years, but it's no way to get rich quick. I teach piano in a local music school three afternoons a week, which is much much more rewarding but not very well paid. All in all I drive about 450km per week. Sometimes I wonder pointlessly if it's all really worth it; I know many people worry likewise. Pointlessly.

Both children, Anezka & Malcolm, are down with colds and flu at the moment so they're staying with Grandma so we can continue going to work. Bara is a bibliographer in Liberec, a town about 15km NW of here. Her employees are very flexible and have no problem letting her take time off to deal with the various childreny things that happen, but it's not far from Christmas and all the expenditure that involves, so she decided to stay at work. The kids are supremely happy they can roam free in Grandma's house, albeit snuffly and damp round the gills.

Two deer were spotted outside the kitchen window this morning. They eat everything, including all the new little bushes we planted out in the Autumn, which I thought were safely hiding away under the snow. The photo was taken by mobile phone through a steamed up window, hence the rather poor quality.

It's getting slowly colder as we approach the annual freeze in January when temperatures generally don't get above freezing for over 6 weeks. Two years ago we stiffly creaked through a week of -20 degrees. Plastic bits of car snapped off, the front door lock froze solid and it was minus 6 in the bathroom one memorable morning - we do not enjoy the luxury of central heating, having two wood-burning stoves in strategic positions (too far from said bathroom).

Tomorrow begins again at 7 sharp at a glass bead manufacturer in Jablonec, the nearest town (about 4 miles away). They really make super stuff here; the glass-making craft goes miles back to the 14th century.

Tea time now - I'm starving, it's 10pm - so I'm off.