There is an old Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus who fashioned their wings from feathers and wax in order to fly. Icarus flew too high, too close to the sun; the wax melted and he fell from the sky. The story should probably tell you not to aim too high. But I think it is all about a set of flimsy wings.
There was a bit of this icarian thinking when I arrived in Prague and found out that the Trabant we were supposed to use for our trip to Mongolia and beyond consisted of a freshly painted bare chassis and a pile of spare parts scattered along the floor of a car shop. Well, you can see it for yourself.
The myths and legends are supposed to be about achievements. My myth seemed to be about something totally different - a daily grind of assembling the car as quickly as possible in order to get going to Mongolia. But perhaps I am wrong and all the myths are about the silly little problems and how to solve them. These problems worn you down and make you think that flying with the feather and wax wings is just a plain stupid idea. Which it probably is.
Since we cannot work on the car during the day as the car shop where the car is stored needs the space, we are putting in some night shifts. When I say we, I mean I and Hynek who goes with me on the trip. But this is Czech Republic where work often isn't about work, but also about talking and drinking. And so the work results are a bit slimmer than in some "just grab a burger and get back to work" countries.
That is only one side of the coin though. If you go with the flow your work might progress way slower than say in Canada or Germany, but you might find enough people who would come to help you to get the project going. In this, it reminds me of Mexico. The Mexico of my first Baja 1000 where I was very worried that the race car might never get finished, but in the end the car was ready with the help of numerous friends of the team members. And a good car I must say.
So here we are supposed to get some help too. Apparently, the owner of the shop and a few friends should come this Sunday and we might speed it up a bit. That would be a nice development. I think you all know that we are trying to raise some funds for Mi Casa Esperanza, a shelter for battered women in Mexico. A Christian shelter. And so I would expect Denis, who heads the shelter's capital projects might note:"I will pray for you." I, not being much into the prayers, can only say:"I hope it will all work pretty well in the end." Which, after all, might amount to the same.
There was a bit of this icarian thinking when I arrived in Prague and found out that the Trabant we were supposed to use for our trip to Mongolia and beyond consisted of a freshly painted bare chassis and a pile of spare parts scattered along the floor of a car shop. Well, you can see it for yourself.
The myths and legends are supposed to be about achievements. My myth seemed to be about something totally different - a daily grind of assembling the car as quickly as possible in order to get going to Mongolia. But perhaps I am wrong and all the myths are about the silly little problems and how to solve them. These problems worn you down and make you think that flying with the feather and wax wings is just a plain stupid idea. Which it probably is.
Since we cannot work on the car during the day as the car shop where the car is stored needs the space, we are putting in some night shifts. When I say we, I mean I and Hynek who goes with me on the trip. But this is Czech Republic where work often isn't about work, but also about talking and drinking. And so the work results are a bit slimmer than in some "just grab a burger and get back to work" countries.
That is only one side of the coin though. If you go with the flow your work might progress way slower than say in Canada or Germany, but you might find enough people who would come to help you to get the project going. In this, it reminds me of Mexico. The Mexico of my first Baja 1000 where I was very worried that the race car might never get finished, but in the end the car was ready with the help of numerous friends of the team members. And a good car I must say.
So here we are supposed to get some help too. Apparently, the owner of the shop and a few friends should come this Sunday and we might speed it up a bit. That would be a nice development. I think you all know that we are trying to raise some funds for Mi Casa Esperanza, a shelter for battered women in Mexico. A Christian shelter. And so I would expect Denis, who heads the shelter's capital projects might note:"I will pray for you." I, not being much into the prayers, can only say:"I hope it will all work pretty well in the end." Which, after all, might amount to the same.