TRACK

Monday, March 10, 2008

PragueScape



As I was taking this picture of a roadside potato seller in my home village of Cerny Vul, I could sees an older man approaching me from my right. He was carrying plastic bags in each hand, and was wearing a large overcoat. He must have just gotten off the bus from the stop up the hill.

I didn't expect him to say anything to me, that's for sure.

"What does that sign mean?" he asked me, in perfect, if accented, English.

"It means if you buy three bags of potatoes, you get two bags free," I replied.

"What's someone going to do with that many potatoes?!" the man said.

"Yes, that's an awful lot of potatoes," I agreed. "I guess it shows how important potatoes are to the Czech diet."

"You'd have to have all of your friends over for a potato party!" he said.

Turns out he's a civil engineer living for the time being in Cerny Vul. I was dressed in my cycling clothes, which is why he said he spoke English to me right off the bat.

"You'd never be a Czech in that outfit," he said, which of course isn't true in the slightest.

I never did get his nationality.

He asked me what I was doing in Prague, and I told him I worked for Radio Free Europe. He was very familiar with it.

"Make people happy, and make people free," he said, as we shook hands and parted ways.

PragueScape is a photo series documenting the quirky, the delightful, the odd, and the unexplainable side of life in the Czech capital.

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