Tobogan - 44th week

OK, it’s eight o’clock on Sunday evening, so it’s about time that I wrote Toboggan. I’m sure something must have happened last week, although I can’t for the life of me remember what. Oh yes, we were all preparing for eBF 2016, that was it. So on Monday we had a big pre-eBF meeting. Since you were all there, I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you all about it. Even those who weren’t here were there, by the magic of teleconferencing. If anybody was neither here nor there, I’m sure you know all about eBF already, so I’ll leave it at that. Now, what else happened last week? I think it’s about time I checked my emails… Great, now I have something to work with more than my fading memory, thanks to Jana, Danka, Jirka, Ivča and Lukáš. On Monday the company suffered a great shock when the boss came in blue jeans. Jana spent the rest of the day explaining what had happened to the black ones. In the evening Danka did her traditional job a week before eBF of proof-reading all the texts and checking all the materials and making Hanka unhappy with each error she found. On Tuesday Lukáš played indoor football as usual, and suffered a serious injury when the ball hit him in the face, bloodying his nose and lips - it was like "Tuesday Bloody Tuesday" (a new song from U2 :-)), he says. Míša and Andy from the Moravian team spent Tuesday and Wednesday circulating information about eBF around Ostrava and surrounding areas. On Wednesday we held some interviews for a potential new German speaker for Houston. Let’s hope for better luck this time. Danka did her bit for charity by driving to a collection point with blankets, pillows and clothing, accompanied by Adélka on guitar, who asked her what they were going to wear now! During the week Iva bought more than 300 litres of drink and is really building up her muscles! We were paid a visit by Beatka and Maja: PHOTO. It was nice to see them both smiling and happy, as always. The Kaplans took a break from eBF preparations on Thursday by attending a concert of their friends Folk Blues Tour at the music club Pjetka on the waterfront: PHOTO. On Friday Jirka went to Žilina for short meeting about electronic signatures. In the morning before work some of the team played badminton, but one of the crew forgot to bring his shorts, yet heroically played on his underpants. To save his blushes, he doesn’t want us to mention his name, but this photo might give you a clue: PHOTO. From hero to zero! It was also Anežka’s 21st on Friday, so as is our tradition at NAR we congratulated her and were rewarded with the usual delicious spread: PHOTO. To be honest, if I was 21 again I’d also have better things to do than spend my evening baking, and everybody loves Marlenka  The boss and Danka changed the tyres on their cars, saving the best until last. It’s getting tough out there already! Juraj and Franta were hard at work with their spirit-level preparing SPOLU II. We couldn’t help but be amused that the two shortest guys in the company were doing the measuring: PHOTO. On Friday evening Iva went on her first ever wine-tasting. She promised me a photo if she survived, so here’s the proof: PHOTO. Happily, she survived :-) To be serious for a moment, a lot of people did a lot of hard work throughout the week preparing for eBF, and I’m sure all our hard work will, as usual, pay off. On Saturday, Danka, Adélka and her friend went to the cinema. It wasn’t a totally cultural experience, but a nice chance to relax from the trials of work and view the Christmas decorations in Karolina. Jirka and Eva went to the musical event Děti ráje at Ostravar Arena in Ostrava. Although it was very long at three and a half hours, they enjoyed it very much. I, as usual, took part in a race on Saturday, the Hornická desítka in Místek (not Frýdek). The running conditions were superb, and we were all happy with our times. Not content with that, I did another race on Sunday, this time up Velký Javorník, including twice up the 428 steps next to the ski-jump: PHOTO, PHOTO and PHOTO. The running conditions were pretty nasty this time, but we all enjoyed it, especially the beer at the top! In further sports news, Scotland’s Andy Murray became the top ranked tennis player in the world. Not bad for a country where deep-fried Mars Bar is considered a delicacy: PHOTO. Breaking news: “Me on my brand new chair in my brand new apartment. Lolololove it” (LINDA) PHOTO. Malcolm