Jean Graham's Blog: In a town full of carps & colourful houses

If this is the first time you’re reading this blog you might not know that I’m Czech. And you might not know that until the age of 18 I lived in a small, very small village in the country. Because my village was so tiny, I had to get a bus to school every day. And because I went to the grammar school, the bus rides were even longer than what they were for all the other kids. A few weeks back Shaun & I visited this town. It was the very first time Shaun visited it, it was at least 5 years since I’d last been there. And let me tell you, what a strange feeling that was!

Vodnany is a town of about 7,000 people. When I was a child, I used to think it was the busiest, most bustling place in the world. For a village kid like me, it was the big town. In my head it was noisy, dangerous and dirty. Little I knew that 8 years of living in the UK’s second city would result in such a change of heart for me.

Even though we arrived on Friday night (c'mon, who does not drink on Friday night, right?), the town was incredibly quiet. So quiet it was kinda freaking me out to be honest. And it got even quieter over the two following days. You could count the people we saw on fingers of one hand. Everywhere was so clean like you wouldn’t believe. And have the houses always been so colourful & fancy looking? I could honestly lie down on the bench in the square and sleep there without even the slightest tinge of worry that someone is going to nick my purse. It almost looked like a paper town - one of those that are built just for tourists and we obviously got there out of season. Yet it was August, and yet - this town has been standing there since the 12th century.

It’s funny how perspectives change when you learn that there’s something bigger & mightier than everything you knew until then.

Do you think I would find Birmingham dead small if I moved to Tokyo for a couple of years?

Has this ever happened to you?