Chris Johnstone I came to Czechoslovakia in early March a few years after the Velvet Revolution. I almost froze to death on the streets of Prague and was driven near to insanity by the hot water pipes at the private flat where I had rented a room. Not deterred, I returned to Brussels and the heart of Europe. I returned in the following years, preferring a calm spa resort to the bustling capital. After seeing some EU directives coming round for their regular five year revision, I thought it was time to leave in 1999. I had picked up a smattering of Czech at the local Czech Centre and it was at Charles University’s month long summer school in Prague that I was offered a job on a local English-language paper. I have not looked back… well not too often.