The Culveys… Czeching In - Dec 2005

As promised, we are back to finish off the year with a ‘bite size’ update compared to the recent war & peace on 2005! 

When we left you last Summer was coming to an end and the BBQ was finally being packed away…well they are well and truly packed up as Winter is here!

 Anyway, Mum & Dad C along with their Chauffer Rob C arrived from Berlin during the Autumn for a week. It was the first time we had seen Rob in quite a while so we did all the tourist bits and sampled plenty of the local brews. Rob tootled off back to Berlin after a couple of days and Mum and Dad spent a few days amusing India and listening to her shouting ‘NO!’ to every suggestion Mum made!! 

While they were covering the baby duties, Tan did a runner back to the UK for a friends wedding, and to continue the hunt for Mr Perfect!! 

 We’ve been contemplating getting a dog for a while now and we made the first step and visited a breeder over in the East of the country. India loved them, they are a small family breeder who insist on having a relationship with potential owners, so we were on our best behaviour! Luckily we got top marks and we’re on the list! India was a star with all nine dogs and chased them around the garden all afternoon!! We have made the final decision but may go for it later next year. 

Remember, remember the 5th of November!! I wish we had, we invited a gang of friends over for a Firework party but didn’t manage to remember to get the fireworks until that day….needless to say we couldn’t find any!! It was a bit of a flop on the firework front as all we could muster was a few sparklers! Still we all managed to make the best of it!! 

Around the middle of November we saw our first snow, this coincided with a fleeting visit from Uncle Chris and good friend Jo. The 3 day trip was packed with eating and drinking as you would expect, a little too much of the drinking for some…don’t worry, the secret is safe with us!! 

As we hurtled towards December we made a quick trip back to the UK to have an early Christmas celebration with the Culverhouse’s. Everyone was there from new arrival Alice to Great Grannie (4 generations!). We did the full celebrations, turkey, funny hats, bad jokes, and even a few presents! After a few days, Lyra (yes Lyra) drove us back up to Northampton, I flew home and Lyra & India spent another day catching up with friends. 

A couple of days after arriving back in Prague and it was time to pack up and move….. 2km’s down the road! All went pretty well, a couple of power cuts added a bit of spice, but by the weekend we had an enormous pile of boxes waiting to be sorted. It seemed like a daunting task but thankfully we had Dad P and Jenny here to lend a hand, well keep India distracted anyway!  

By the end of Saturday we were flagging and needed a pick me up, luckily we were invited to a St Nicholas do at Anna & Harry’s. The evening started with dinner provided by each of the guests from there local traditions, very nice but meant we ate far too much! Then it was on to the serious business of competitive Pictionary!! With 5 different nationalities present there were some interesting drawings going on, and winning meant prizes, we came home with a clay duck and comedy windscreen wipers!! 

Still next day it was back to the boxes, but within a week Lyra had pretty much got the house straight. We are now really settled and very happy with the new house, it has all worked out great. We have a shared indoor pool too, which is great and give’s us no excuse not to be getting fit!!!! 

Last week we finally got the chance to dust of our cocktail dresses and tuxedo’s and went to a ball! It was a British Chamber of Commerce party and Tesco had a couple of tables so all the Brits partied the whole night through (well till 2ish!) 

Does anyone remember Candy Dulfer? Yes you do, the sax lady that did the great track ‘Lilly was here’ with David Stewart many years ago! Well she played in Prague last week! As she is the only living Dutch Pop Star we had to go with our Dutch friends and pay homage! It was a great gig actually, and boy she can blow! 

Being the weekend before Christmas we took Tanya into Prague for an early Birthday celebration (her birthday’s the 24th, but everything is closed here on that day), Prague was looking great with the snow and all the Christmas lights in Old Town Square. We took a horse and carriage around the city, India loved it, especially waving like a true princess to all the passing tourists! Then it was off to Pravda, one the city’s finer restaurants for a slap up meal! Tanya had a great time and enjoyed being able to act like a princess too (they make a right pair!) 

So Christmas is only a week away, we have a good few inches of snow, the tree is up, the girls are singing carols, and I’m stressed about actually surviving until Christmas (not really, work is actually going well!) 

Well to ensure nobody has any excuse not to call us over Christmas here is our new address and numbers… 

Address:   Sadova 458, 252 43 Pruhonice, Czech Republic 

Phone:            

Dan’s Mobile:   +420 724 008 211              

Lyra Mobile:     +420 721 235 949               

Home:            +420 267 750 751 Email:             lyraculverhouse@hotmail.com              sungbukdan@yahoo.com   

Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope Santa brings you everything you hoped for!! 

And a Happy New Year!!!  

Lots of love, Ly, Dan, India, Tan, and that ever growing foetus xxxxxxxxxxx 

P.s   A save the date notice – India’s Second Birthday Party is planned for Feb 4th during the afternoon, we’ll update you on details soon