Hammered Into Bits

I don't think I've had two days as bad as this past weekend in the last nine months.

I'm so mad at so many different things right now I'm really at a loss for words. I have absolutely no idea where to start.

Let's go back to Saturday afternoon, 16:15, when my coworkers and I were about to board the tram and head over to the T-Mobile Arena to see HC Sparta's playoff game.

The tram was so packed I could barely get on. I was still standing on the steps just inside the tram doors when someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and a gruff-looking man flashed a badge at me and demanded to see my ticket. So I fished it out of my jacket and handed it over. First mistake.

You see, the Prague transportation system requires you to buy a ticket for 12 Kc (about, oh, 60 cents) that's good for 90 minutes on a weekend from the moment you validate it. And each tram/bus/subway-station has validation machines. The problem here, you see, was that the tram was so crowded I never even saw one of those machines (recall that I was still stuck at the tram door) before I was asked to show my ticket.

So I was asked (not so politely) to disembark at the next stop, where he was joined by another "controller" (both in plain clothes; this one also missing a few teeth), and they demanded that I pay a 400 Kc fine on the spot. When I refused (naturally... would you just hand over money to two strangers?), they demanded to see my passport. I refused again, of course, and asked to see their superiors. That's when they got nasty, rejecting my demands and proceeding to threaten me, claiming that "you no pay now, you in big trouble sir" in that horrifying broken English. Seeing that I could talk no sense into them, I held out as long as I possibly could, and then a cop car showed up.

Just my luck, though, that neither cops in the car spoke English. So I set about trying to explain to them my situation in German, but I only got as far as "fahrkarte" (ticket) and "kein Validation" (no validation) before they started pointing fingers and telling me to "zahlen" (pay). Hell, they didn't even check the two guys' ID. At this point I just wanted to get them off my back, so I fished out the 400 Kc (which amounts to 20 dollars... they think they're so hot just because it's a big number in their corrupted ex-commie backwater country's currency) and handed it over. If you ask me, it felt more like buying them off or getting robbed than paying a fine. I didn't even get a proper slip or receipt.

Well, by the time they stopped harassing me and let me get on my way, I had missed another tram to the arena, so when I finally arrived at the game 30 minutes behind my coworkers, I had no ticket (Dane held onto all of them) and no way to contact them from the outside. I spoke to one of the security guys manning the entrances, and he managed to sneak me in at the first intermission. But when I reached the section I thought our seats were at, I saw four empty seats, so I started wondering if they made it to the game at all. Not wanting to watch the game on my own when they could be out there looking for me (for all I knew), I left after the second period and went to leave a note at their hostel before I checked into mine for a good night's rest.

A good night's rest which was so rudely interrupted at 01:30 when I awoke to the sound of a couple making out on a bed in the opposite corner of the dorm room. I tried to shift around in my bed, just so they'd realize that I was awake, but that didn't deter them one bit. It was rather difficult to fall back asleep with the girl moaning while the guy was groping her.

Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, 17:15, an hour before my train back to Zürich departs. I had just gotten off a full subway car, and was on my way up the staircases to change metro lines, when I reached for my pouch to check that I had everything. I froze when I found my pouch to be unusually light, and fell into shock when I realized what was missing: my dad's old camera that I had brought over to Europe. You know the feeling when you find out something's seriously wrong: Eyes bulging, heart stopped, shallow breaths, mind blanked out, frozen in one place like a statue, caught in your own world while everyone just go about their business around you.

So in my panic, I went back to the platform and searched for it, I went back to the station where I got on, and I must've looked ridiculous peering over the edge to see if it had spilled out of my pouch and found its way down to the tracks. In the end, I became convinced that someone had nicked it out of my pouch on that packed subway car; there had been a couple suspicious characters pushing this way and that, and my jacket hadn't been zipped up, and if it had merely fallen out I should've heard it crack on the ground or even kicked at it.

Needless to say then, I came home not a happy man. I called my parents to let them know what happened, only to be met with more bad news. Apparently Zoom Airlines called over the weekend to let me know that the flight I had booked from Paris to Toronto has been cancelled. I could either switch to another flight 3 days prior or 4 days later, or I could get a full refund. So my parents decided I should fly Air Canada with them, which means $825 rather than Zoom's $600. Losing money left, right, and center here. (P.S. Just checked Zoom's alternative flights and now banging my head on the table: Apparently I could've flown for something like $425 if I settled for leaving earlier or later.)

To add insult to injury, I discovered on Monday that my right shoe, having endured another gruelling weekend, had ripped open at the heel. Now I have to go shopping this weekend and buy a new pair. More money wasted.

I guess that about sums it up. Now I'm completely terrified about the trip to Italy in May, not the mention going to Budapest next week. Dad's sending me an even older camera so I can still take some pictures, but I suppose I'll buy him a new one (maybe an Olympus C-5500?) when I get home so he doesn't have to lug that Nikon D70 around all the time. He suggested that he would like the Canon EOS 20D, but since the reason I wanted to buy him a new camera was so he wouldn't have to carry a huge DSLR while doing outdoor sports, fat chance he'll get this one.

Anyway, it took me three days to write this one entry, but another one should follow soon with football news and analyses.