Foreigners Police and Supermarkets

Today we thought we would try and tackle the Foreigners Police. They are notorious here for being nothing but a pain in the arse. Long queues, unhelpful staff, delays and red tape. So to try and help ourselves, I looked up as much as I could on the internet and got all the papers together I could in readiness. We checked with our solicitor and on the net where to go, which is Prague 3, Olsanska. So we set off this morning firstly on the metro, then tram and walked a little way after that. Petra went into what she thought was the building and asked where we should go, and the staff said….. “Prague 4!” It turns out that they now deal with EU citizen residency applications in a different location over the other side of Prague. As usual, this doesn’t seem to be known by anyone else accept them. We took the opportunity of having a member of staff in front of us to ask exactly what we needed to have available. Marriage certificate, passport, Petras ID, 2 photographs of me, confirmation of accommodation, and my EU NHS medical card. All of which I have except the confirmation of accommodation, by this they mean a rental contract. We don’t have one of these because we are staying at the flat of a friend. I got Petra to question this telling the employee that we are staying with a friend until we buy our own flat. Glad I asked the question, because she produced another form, which will cover this eventuality.

So we decided to postpone for a day or two on the Foreigners Police. Besides this, Petra had a couple of interviews; she has been really busy with these.

Supermarkets, ok, I expect them to be a little different to ones back home, but a couple of things I cannot explain. In the local one we go to there is everything you can imagine, including DIY, Motorcare and Clothing etc. You can easily walk around with your trolley grab 4 new tyres for your car, a bench saw maybe some overalls and paint, chuck them into your trolley and make your way to the checkout. However, if you want a battery operated toothbrush, a whole different story. They are locked up like a fortress and there is a sign on the cabinet that you have to find a telephone and call for assistance. So we did, and a young man came running with his bunch of jailers’ keys, to fetch a toothbrush from the cabinet. So, not really thinking anymore about it, I attempted to take the toothbrush off him and put it into my trolley. Oh no matey, I was sternly told I must pay for the item immediately! Not wishing to upset the locals or draw any more attention, we followed the lad to a till and paid for the toothbrush. From this little episode I concluded that more battery-operated toothbrushes are stolen in the Czech Republic than any other product.

Another most disconcerting practise is the selling of fresh fish straight from tanks in the store to the customers’ trolley. Basically, you pick which carp you fancy eating for your tea that night after watching him gently and hypnotically going about his business, the minute you pick one out, it is scooped from the tank, whacked on the back of the head and wrapped in paper for you to take to the checkout. The part I disliked most today though was seeing the poor carp still wriggling a bit whilst the happy shopper continued down the aisles grabbing the last few bits from her list. You can’t really get fresher that that!