Czechoslovakia 1989
Coming from Northern Ireland I had an image of Prague of Russian soldiers marching up and down the streets and people in fear of the communist regime. The latter image was correct, but there was no Russian soldiers and the fear of the communists was hidden behind smiles and bar talk, but evident all the same. We had a driver called Anton in those days, he would tell us not to talk too loud in bars about the communists as many members of the party were present and could report us to gain rewards.
Tuzex, Deutsche mark, British Pound and Koruna
In the British Embassy we were paid a living allowance, for some strange reason the Embassy decided to pay us this in four currencies, Tuzex, Deutsche mark, British Pound and Koruna, the Tuzex was a currency implemented by the communist party and party members were paid in this currency which could be used to buy western goods in special Tuzex shops, a reward to the communist faithful. The Tuzex was useful to us, we could exchange it with (normal )Czechs for a rate of three Koruna to one Tuzex so they could purchase western goods, the Deutsche mark was going on the thriving black market for thirty five Koruna to one Deutsche mark and the British Pound for a top rate of sixty Koruna to one British Pound, with beer prices at an average four Koruna this meant we got fifteen beers to one British Pound, happy days!
Top secret
As construction workers to say we liked a drink or two was an understatement, come the weekend we were out partying heavy in Prague centre, there were almost no westerners in Prague, the only tourists allowed into the country were Soviet block citizens like East Germans, Polish, Hungarian and so on. We were different, westerners speaking English, we attracted a lot of attention from everyone, people wanted to converse in English and in the bars we were very popular. However there was a darker side to the attention we attracted, the infamous STB (secret police) on several occasions followed us, or parked their car outside our house in the small hours of the morning, hoping we would lead them to some secrets about the Embassy, alas trying to get any sense out of what ten drunken construction workers were up to proved too much for them.
Changes
That all was twenty two years ago, here we are now, beer is on average about forty Koruna in the centre, the Tuzex, Deutsche mark have gone, the British Pound is a weak twenty eight Koruna to one and the City is full of foreigners from all over the world, the once almost empty Charles Bridge twenty two years ago is now packed every day, some changes are not always for the best J