Work trip to Prague, Czech Republic - 25th to 28th June 2006

The day after arriving home from Glastonbury, it was straight back off to another place that could be considered to be hell on earth. There is no mud, but Heathrow Airport can be a pretty awful place to spend time sometimes. This was one of those times - there is a particular set of gates in Terminal One which have "extra security", because the airport authorities are too incompetent to stop outgoing and incoming passengers from mixing together. Security only starts when the gate is called, and there is only one metal detector for everybody to walk through. This time, it took an hour to get through this extra security, and the scrum to reach the front of the "queue" looked something like this. If I were an airline boss, I would be livid at the fact that BAA treated hundreds of my customers like that - it really is a disgrace, and for London's main airport to be such a shambles is a really bad reflection on the whole city and country.

Anyway, off to Prague, where I used to go very regularly, but hadn't been to for about the last five years. I was there to talk to some clients, and some colleagues too. A beautiful city, and some time off into the bargain for sightseeing.

One big thing I noticed whilst in the city, was the extent to which Czech people have started abandoning many of the things they used to do. For example, many people now drink wine, spirits, and imported beer - this in the country that makes the best beer in the world, and where you couldn't even buy imported brands 10 years ago. I saw lots of people in bars drinking cocktails, Chilean wine, and Stella Artois - a big change from a few years ago, and what was a nation of massive beer drinkers.

Similarly, there are Chinese, Greek and pizza restaurants everywhere, and Czechs eager to eat in them - you can get most foods in Prague now, except for all that much Czech stuff. Obviously, people are enjoying more disposable income than they have ever had, but it seems a shame that the place is becoming less "Czech", as people indulge a desire to do more "international" things.

One other big difference that I noticed since my last trip, was the number of English speakers, and the standard of English that they spoke - the nation has been at school learning English for much of the last five years! As well as making everything very easy for an English speaker, it is surely helping the country secure international business, and helping the people here advance themselves and improve their standard of living.