Princess Max

Some people are fiercely independent and thus reluctant to let other people do things for them. I, on the other hand, am easily distracted and would get nothing done if other people did not look after me. I am often called ‘Princess’ for a variety of reasons; I believe this one is the most prevalent.

The first time other people really started to comment on my problem was just over 3 years ago when I was moving to England. My friend Marie had recently returned from Spain and was staying with me for a few (6?) months. Marie took on the job of packing up all of my stuff, sending bits of it over with different people who had been to visit, sneaking the heavy stuff into another friend’s shipment to England that was being paid by her employer, giving surplus stuff away, etc. The general consensus amongst my friends was that if Marie had not been there, I never would have been able to move to England at all and I would still be stuck in the same flat in Vinohrady.

When I came back to Prague 15 months ago, I moved in with friends temporarily (for details of that situation, please see my post of Tuesday, 12th April, “On being extremely spoiled”). Although I have been looking to move out for about 10 months, I have only been to see 2 flats. One of those viewings was arranged by Monkey, but I did arrange the second myself (actually, the landlord found me). I am going to see another flat tomorrow, this viewing also arranged by Monkey, and I think this time I am really going to move. (Monkey has already seen the flat and he has started negotiating with the landlord on my behalf.)

Of course all of my stuff is now stuck in England (because Marie went back to The America), but Gareth arranged for storage in his dad's garage and Jono hired a van and helped me move everything.

I was supposed to buy a laptop when I was in The America in August. Monkey did the research for me over the internet and found the best deal, but that computer was never available and I did not manage to get an alternative. Computers are much more expensive in Czech, which means that I was being rather stupid. But I was very busy. Monkey has kept on top of things, he says that prices are coming down here and today he found me a viable option. He has called the computer man and is negotiating a deal for me.

This all means that pretty soon I will have my own flat and a new computer and therefore a renewal of freedom, privacy and independence (and a need to budget).

So thank you to Monkey and to everyone else who has looked out for me over the years. You are too numerous to name, but you know who you are.