Hello from Prague
Merry Christmas everyone :)
Eventful trek :) With us on the road this time was Mandybob (Amanda Stuart Thompson) Road to Change Project Manager. Amanda has been working with me on the project for nearly a year now. She filmed and edited the wee video on our website and then she and I spent three months in the Glasgow office (donated by Fleet Alliance) setting up the first mile event at London’s Nation Theatre and various other details to get the walk started. Yvonne allegedly sleeps four but we quickly discovered that living in a tin can is very ‘cosy’ for three adults on an epic journey out in the middle of nowhere…Have you seen Apollo 13?
The weather took a sudden harsh turn. Snow fell and lay a foot thick in a matter of hours. The wind picked up and turned the falling snow flakes into tiny Ninja Stars that seemed like they were trying to cut my face off. I wondered if it was just going to be like this for the next few months but something seemed odd about this instant extreme weather. The crazy wind was pushing me in front of traffic so for safety we decided to call it a day. Trying to sleep in Yvonne was impossible as the gale was rocking the four-tonne van all night. Next morning it was perfectly calm. I noticed a Facebook message from the Kid’s Home we had visited in Lithuania asking how I was doing in the Hurricane. :-/ Hurricane? Ohh…
Facebook is an intergral resource for support, company and contacts on the walk. (…and weather updates) Krystyna, a friend of a friend of a friend, (who’s parents live in Poland) got in touch to say they’d like us to stay with them when we passed through Strzelin. Danusia and Bogdan are an adorable wee Polish version of my Mum and Dad. They don’t speak English and we don’t speak Polish but they had an Polish/English Dictionary and there was a lot of miming going on…but the conversation started flowing when Bodgan broke out the home made booze :) We actually stayed two nights, as I am supposed to rest every seventh day. I usually just keep walking but the whole team agreed that while we were in the area it was important to visit Auschwitz. I feel unable to comment on that experience but I would urge all of you to make time in your life to go there. Krystyna even arranged interviews with two local newspapers Strzelin and her cousin Andrzej came over to translate. I always feel slightly bad for anyone who translates for me, as they never seem quite emotionally prepared for the words I’ll be expecting them to repeat. Still, after feeding and hosting us for a whole weekend, we left with bags more food, Danusia’s home-baking and a few bottles of Bogdan’s homemade wine. Bogdan even walked with me to the next town. It was like walking with my own Dad. I was quite moved by that, and their warm hospitality. I felt like I had been home for the weekend.
With 112km to go the holes in Yvonne’s roof were dripping on team moral. It would usually take me three days to cover that distance but it had been a long year and everyone had worked so hard I figured I should pick up the pace and get the guys out the van. In just two days, I reached Prague and the end of the walk for 2013. The second I staggered into the old town square, I hugged Mandy and Stig and was suddenly hit by a wall of deep exhaustion. It felt like my blood had turned to water. Luckily the holidays meant all offices were shut, so all I had to do for a week was try and gain some weight back. Alexandra, from the British Embassy in Prague, was away for Christmas so leant us her beautiful studio apartment. Mandy taught us how to cook a goose and Stig taught us how to drink absenth…So many folk sent presents it felt like Santa had found us. Among the parcels was a wee envelope from Lithuania. The children we visited there had made a card and painted a Snowman on it. They told me they wanted to help me finish the walk so they raised as much money as possible. Inside the card was a wee five Euro note. Howling, I took a bottle of Bogdan’s wine into the bath and lay there for two hours recovering…
Yvonne was broken into. Nothing was stolen. I figure when the thieves realised the state of our living conditions they tidied up a bit and scarpered…
Hogmanay (New Years) was perfect. Amanda and Stig went out and painted the town. I sat with my guitar and thought of you guys. A wee video I posted received 46 shares in just a few hours. It’s impossible to feel lonely when I’m constantly overwhelmed by the incredible support from back home and from everywhere the walk has taken me so far.
Road to Change events in Prague have included a visit to their Ministry of Social Affairs, which was interesting but as their Government is about to change it didn’t feel like the ‘Change’ I was promoting is even on the horizon. I can still try to encourage progress here via the European Parliament…Good week for nation awareness though. A TV crew appeared everywhere I went, we were featured in a number of local and national newspapers (links below) and we were invited to visit a number of Children’s Residential Care Homes, run by Klokanek (Czech for ‘Baby Kangaroo’ :) The one safe in the pouch) When I walked across France (seven months ago) I was initially surprised and amused when I heard a child speaking French. Since then I’ve heard kids speak in twelve languages so now I’m actually suprised when I hear a kid speaking English. In the first home we entered a little guy called Tomas ran up and said ‘Happy New Year!’ I couldn’t believe how fluent his English was, until I realised he had just practiced a few key phrases. A minute later he came over again and said ‘I love you’. Bless him :’) I can’t wait to adopt kids (but I want to get married first) so I find meeting beautiful kids who need adopted right now isn’t something I can just walk away from easily. Having said that, we nearly left with a puppy…Thankfully, she was only four weeks old so we couldn’t actually take her with us but the kids really wanted us to…
Stig’s wee Gran and Aunty appeared in town, all the way from Sweden :) They took the whole team out for dinner then came home with us and cooked even more food, plus his wee Gran had already smuggled tubs of home-baking with her on the flight. I think I managed to gain back a few pounds :)
Prague has been a welcome rest and I am so grateful that in my life I got spend a Christmas here, the Christmasiest city in the world, (It’s like a vintage Whoville) but I couldn’t leave without paying one last visit. Now don’t panic, I’m not going to get all religious. I do not consider myself Catholic but I was raised as one and I grew up in a house full of statues. The Child of Prague was a prominent character of my childhood so, maybe for my mum’s sake, I went to see him. If you’ve not heard of it, ‘The Child’ is a tiny statue made in the 1500s which has apparently been somehow credited with a number of ‘miracles’, often relating to children or child birth. I guess it’s fitting that on my 10,000 mile walk to stop Child Sexual Abuse I should encounter the most famous statue of Christ as a child. Nothing magical or spooky happened. I just looked at the wee man and (seeing as I was there…) in the spirit of things I guess I said a prayer. Not a fancy old one, I just asked him for a miracle. We’ll see…
Next stop Vienna :) Heading to meet the British Ambassador before we set off but I’m rested and I’m ready. I love everyone who sent things and everyone who sent wee messages. Thank you all so much!!!! Please watch the amazing video my best bud Tom edited for me. It’s a crowd of mates and family wishing us Merry Christmas but there are some famous mates in there too :)
So 2014, the year of Change. 19 cities to go! Better get walking…
Thanks for reading :)
Matty x
Road To Change in:
Local Polish Newspaper in Strzelin
Christmas Video From Home
Hogmanay Video from Matty
