Czech

Tomas has been in London for four years now, he is from a village near Prague. “The Soviet and Polish army, they both come into Prague in 68. And the Americans, they supported us but they just stayed outside the city, kilometres away, when Russia was taking Prague. America came but did not fight for us.” His uncle and aunt wanted to leave the country in the late 60s, they crossed over to Austria first where they had to wait 8 months, to be accepted by either Australia or Canada. Finally they were taken by Canada, “to Saskatchewan, you heard of Saskatchewan? It’s bloody cold there.” These would have been stories told by his family; Tomas was born in the late 70s. “A lot of people went, emigrated… and its fucking crazy man, you go and you don’t know if you’re gonna see your family again… yeah it was difficult in Czech…”

He is having problems with his boss where he works in London. One day it is stressful, “And I shouted at him – You dicksucker!” “From that day people at work they don’t smile at me properly you know? Because I say that word to a gay person.” “And the thing is, when I said the word that is exactly what I was thinking in my mind, that he is a gay bastard!!”… “Maybe you have to change yourself you know, to the situation, I am Czech and we are maybe racist country, I don’t know… in this country they expect different.”

Earlier he was telling about going back during vacations to his village (“30 minutes from Prague by car”), and going to the pub: “I know everyone there, I grew up with them, I can sit at any table in the pub” then correcting himself “well not at every table, not at the table of the Gypsies, but all the other tables.” Someone he knew as a boy had been found out by his parents that he was gay. “They gave him pills man, his family. They tried to correct him. Now he’s taken so many pills he’s crazy.” “It’s communism you know, they think all these things are disease, it can be corrected.”

People weren’t allowed to leave the country. “This guy from my village, he tried to escape to Germany by car. He drived through the border, the fence you know? And the guards they started shooting at the car!” ” And his children were in the car too..”

“We used to hunt, birds and all kinds of things, to eat.. at fourteen I got a gun and I went to hunt. Before that I had a catapult, ha ha, breaking windows! I was caught one day, they came to school the next day and told the principal.. when I was 11,12 maybe.. yeah I had a German catapult, good one.”

Food was cheap. “Yeah it was not bad maybe, communism in some ways, they gave everybody a flat too..” “But you have to work man fuckin’ ‘ell, more than one hundred percent, you have to work one hundred forty percent maybe, everybody has to work, not like here like you guys!” “They put you in jail otherwise! If you have a qualification but you cannot find a job for some time then you have to take whatever job they give you, you have no choice… you have to work because otherwise someone else is paying for your bread.”

“Now its democacy… the social democrats they are better man, but now its the conservatives in power. And the parliament, its between three parties.. what you call it? Coalition? Yeah, so now one party always say no to everything.” “And now they want to get money from us for going to the hospital man! The social democrats kept it free, from the communism days you know?… My family we are all against the conservative… we will see, the election next spring..”

“Havel was our first prime minister. After democracy came. He was good guy. Not gonna be any good guy like him anymore.”… “All his plays are from his life man! When I read his plays they are all people sitting at the pub drinking beer and talking! Because the life of Havel was like that before!”

For one year at nineteen he was in compulsory military service. “We had it till my year, and then..” counting on his fingers “..for two years after that. Then it stopped.” “You have to run, man, every morning, from seven in the morning, it’s hard.” “Running wearing a gas mask.. it’s not fun I tell you.” He was in the “Morrsa”, morse code, Division. “All day you sit with the headphones on your ears man, like this”, hands cupped on ears. “Chik-chik.. Chik-chik-chik.. Chik-chik-chik..” “..and you have to write down the message. Sometimes in the message it is coded ‘Tomas’, and then you have to call up the office and tell them. That is how they test you man!!”.. “It was a waste of time man, one year, we’re not gonna have a war in Czech Republic you know!”