After the Tour

A week is a long time in the blogosphere. But now it’s a case of service resumed.

With a small confession: I’ve been off the wine for several days. This, however, is not down to any measure of abstinence. The sad truth is that my travels took me to Prague, where the tipple of choice is beer. Lots of it. And it’s priced to go: half a litre of supposedly upmarket Pilsener Urquell, served with your meal, comes in at around 33 koruna, which at the current exchange rate is around one pound. Not even your local Wetherspoon can get near that.

Also, there is no excuse for Brits not to sample this pleasant city: finding anyone in a customer facing role who does not speak passable English is very difficult indeed. And the signage on the inexpensive and reliable transport system is translated for you.

Moreover, this is yet another place where they are vastly more enthusiastic about the EU. Posters everywhere point up the current Czech presidency. But then, many will still be able to remember being part of the Warsaw Pact. The EU may not be a thing of perfection, but there is a persuasiveness about supermarkets that have food on the shelves, and a freedom of movement and association both within a country and across 25 others.

And no prospect of war with any of those other 25 countries any time soon.