Posledni tri tydny s vresem... / Last three heathers weeks ahead...

Omlouvam se za mezeru v toku informaci, i kdyz jak jste si jiste vsimli, fotografie tecou porad plnym proudem:-) Po navsteve konference v Edinburghu, ktera by si zaslouzila vlastni prispevek, a snad na nej casem dojde, se tu moc veci nestalo, az posledni tyden, kdy jsem si poridila kolo, a o vikendu me sem priletela navstivit mamka se sestrickou. Diky obema udalostem mam ted novou hromadu fotek, kterou vam sem ale budu moct pridat az se dostanu na rychlejsi internet, cili asi v sobotu. Do te doby vam musi stacit tenhle obrazek, dokumentujici cinnost, kterou jsem v poslednich trech mesicich stravila nejvic casu...sazeni vresu, pokud to nekomu uniklo:-) Nastesti uz nezbyva dlouho...potom se s vami tesim na videnou ve Dvore, Budejovicich, Praze..nebo pripadne jen dal ve virtualnim svete internetu...

Let me apologize for the gap in information flow here, although as you hopefully noticed, pictures were flowing all the time...:-) After visiting Edinburgh congress, which will hopefully get post on its own at some point too, nothing really happened here. Till the last week, when I bought a bike, and last weekend, when my mum and sister came to visit me here...thanks to these two events I have stacks of new pictures, but you will have to wait till next weekend when I will get to faster connection again...Until then this picture of me doing the job I spent most of the last three times with, planting heathers for case somebody didn't notice yet:-))))) must be sufficient;-)

International Primatological Society Congress, Edinburgh

http://www.ips2008.co.uk/AboutUs.html

To je misto, kam se prave chystam. Dostala jsem bohuzel jen dva dny dovolene, takze jsem uspesne prosvihla prispevky vsech tri kamaradek, pravych nefalsovanych primatolozek:-) Presto se tam s nimi vsemi doufam potkam, na coz se moc tesim, stejne tak jako na Edinburgh samotny, kde jsem pred sesti lety (!!!) stravila krasne tri mesice...samozrejme nesmi chybet navsteva zoo, kde jsem mesic pomahala na oddeleni primatu...jak stylove...:-) O vikendu se potom presouvam do Glasgow. Tam me doufejme ceka navsteva zachranne stanice pro zranena zvirata, kde pracuje Airlie, moje skotska pritelkyne z Afriky. Tak se teste na spousty obrazku!

That is the place where I am heading today. I got only two days of holidays unfortunately, so I had "successfully" missed talks of all my three friends, who are already there, cause they are the proper primatologists;-) But I am hoping to meet them all there anyway, really looking forward to...As well as to visit of Edinburgh itself, I had spent three amazing months there six years ago...and obviously I can't miss the Edinburgh zoo, where I had been volunteering with primates for one month...how appropriate:-) On Saturday I am gonna move on to Glasgow, hope to visit the rescue and rehabilitation center for injured and handicapped animals, where my Scottish friend Airlie works. So you can look forward to loads of new pictures!

Muj zivot na brehu jezera Awe / My life on the bank of Loch Awe

Cerveny puntik...Misto, kde pracuju a bydlim

Zluta linka....5 mil, ktere musim ujit pesky na hlavni silnici (2 mile do nejblizsi vesnicky Fordu, kde ale neni vubec nic), odkud se muzu dostat do jednoho ze dvou vetsich mest...oranzova - pul hodiny do Lochgilpheadu, hodinu do Obanu

Ruzovy puntik...pestirna azalek, kde jsme pracovali dva tydny, kazde rano cesta kolem jezera, nadhera...

Red spot........my working and living place

Yellow line...5 miles walking to main road (2 miles to nearest village Ford, where is nothing at all though), from where I can get to one of two bigger towns around, orange coloured - half an hour to Lochgilphead, one hour to Oban

Pink spot...azaleas nursery, where we were working last two weeks - every morning drive along the loch, amazing...

Up-to-date from 5.7.08

So I was wrong. There is more to this work than I thought. Company has other three sites, where they are nursing azaleas and gentians except the heathers, and last two weeks they were taking us to the site on the other side of the loch, where we have been planting azaleas. Not that it would be such a big difference;-) Except planting the cuttings, as the shoots taken from maternal plants are called, we were also taking them from the maternal plants ourselves, another change:-) So I guess there is still gonna be few things we will be able to do...Otherwise not much happening, except of loads of rain...and me getting bit fitter, climbing the surrounding hills, along the pathways made by little sheep hoofs...Calming green wherever I can see...Very relaxed. Not spending much time at the loch though because of the midgies, those tiny but feisty buggers...So much smaller than mosqitoes, but so much more annoying...Like from some horror movie, swarming around in huge amounts...The only thing which can save you from going crazy from them is so called midgi net, which you put on your head and then don't see too much, cause it is green, kind of green fog around you...But nevermind...Today writing from Oban again, and to give you some idea I will try to put few pics to Picasa Web album again...
Yours Heather (and now Azalea too;-) Fairy

Moje nove mobilni cislo / My new cell phone number

Takze zatim sazim male vetvicky vresu do malych kvetinacku, a odpoledne trochu plejeme plevel z dalsich vresu..Higland Heathers jsou nejvesti pestirnou vresu v cele Britanii, takze mysim, ze mi za chvili ze vseho toho vresu pujde brzo hlava kolem...ale nastesti je kolem ta naherna priroda, ktera mi tu hlavu pekne procisti...dneska jsem chytla stop do Obanu, nejblizsiho vetsiho mesta v dosahu, kde maji internet, ale drahy, jako ostatne vsechno, takze to bylo poprve a naposledy. Ted uz jen moje cislo, na ktere muzete bez obav smskovat, bude vas to stat stejne jako v ramci Cech, budu se tesit;-) 00447 827 387 261...is my new cell phone number where I am looking forward to read sms from you, guys;-)

Londyn / London

Malem bych zapomnela na mou zastavku v Londyne! Sesla jsem se tam s prateli, ktere jsem potkala v Africe, a bylo to moc fajn. Vzali me zadarmo do londynske zoo, protoze tam delaji dobrovolniky, tam jsem se vzdycky chtela podivat na ksukola, tolik zvlastni a proslavenou nocni madagaskarskou poloopici, ale jeho pavilon byl jako naschval zavreny. Alespon jsem tedy videla novy vybeh pro gorily, ktery je docela slusny, ale jinak je to velice prumerna zahrada. To je ale vseobecne znamo, stejne jako to, ze ale investuji velke prostredky na zachranu zvirat ve volne priride, coz je pravdepodobne mnohem dulezitejsi...No, potom me jeste vzali na obed do thajske restaurace, a pak uz me posadili na autobus, a do Glasgow jsem jela pres noc... A ted jsem tady, dve hodiny od Glasgow, v pestirne vresu..

I would almost forget about my stop in London! I have met great frineds of mine who I was living and working with in Monkeyland, SA, and we had most lovely time together during one day... They took me to London zoo, where I always wanted to go to see an aye-aye, the lemur known from Durrel's book, but his house was closed that day unfortunately. But at least I have seen the brand new enclosure for gorillas, which is quite cool. Otherwise the zoo doesn't reach out of average, which is known, but what is also known is, that they work a lot for conservation in nature, which is far more important anyway...So like that. Well, then they took me for a best lunch ever to Thai restaurant and after that I left by an overnight bus for Glasgow...And there I am, in a heather nursery..

First and probably last message from Scotland for longer time...

...because internet access is only on their computer and in the lunch time twice a week, which means almost no pictures (without my computer it would take ages...) and just very few news...But so far so good - accomodation in caravan is quite comfortable, even with heating and tv, so in comparison with Africa it's luxury;-) I have my own tiny room and there is another room where the couple is staying, English girl and Dutch guy, who are almost the only people I can talk in English with, so it is not gonna get much better...My coleagues in work are otherwise from Russia and one girl even from Slovakia, which is almost the same language as Czech...But surrounding is truly beautiful, as I expected, and just few minutes of walk gets me into such silence, that i can hear my breath, which is amazing...The lake is really just two minutes from my caravan, gorgeous...Little bit colder then I expected, we are quite high in the mountains, but luckily I took enough clothes in my huuuge back pack, so I will be fine:-) So that's about it for now, take care and have a good times wherever and whatever you are doing! Love you all.

My plans are getting shape...

At last I found a job. In one week I am leaving Czech republic for Scotland, to work for Highlands Heathers Plant Nursery in the district Argyl and Bute near Lochgilphead, two hours by bus from Glasgow. Taking care for plants on the bank of Scottish lake...pardon me, loch....Well, not sure if it will be that romantic as it sounds, but I considere it as quite reasonable way to earn money for my next journey to Africa. If all goes well, I would like to stay there till mid October. Then coming back to Czech for couple of days and my flight ticket for Johannesburg is reserved for 3rd November already..I am not gonna stay in Joburg for long though, and I hope my way from there through Bloemfontein, Free State, where is Neels waiting for me now, to The Crags near Plettenberg Bay will be as quick as possible...And there is Karin and her monkeys and lot of work at her rehabilitation centre waiting for us already, can't wait. But at first my good old Scotland...