Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 September 2006 15:00:24
Is a beautiful and awe inspiring place, and I feel priviledged to have spent the past few days there. Wife's account (and photos) is fuller than mine. But one thing she doesn't mention is the Bohemian nature of things. You can tell it's a bohemian place because:
a) It's almost actually in Bohemia
b) Absinthe is legal
c) The beer is very good indeed and very cheap. 60p per pint.
d) The many interesting varieties of facial hair
e) The beautiful, stunning buildings
f) An extremely wide range of very good music
f) A general warm, liberal attitude towards things.
And it's made me remember my alter ego. There's a character in a Margaret Attwood book who is fairly straight-laced, but has a dangerous alter ego. Her alter ego's name is her own, but spelt backwards. The idea of this alter ego is that it is a fictional character from history living out the dangerous side of your own personality, the bit that you just don't let loose because of the social consequences. Her alter ego was Tnomerf Inot, and was the leader of a marauding Bulgarian tribe, ransacking villages at will.
My alter ego's name is Sklof Nai, and he is a 19th century bohemian travelling through the cities of Europe playing his guitar, living in shady dwellings and living off busking and playing bars for tips. His life ends early after contracting pneumonia and syphillis.
Sklof Nai would have loved Prague. And his much better behaved modern counterpart loved it too.