"I have two birthdays. The first is the usual kind, being expelled, screamin' and hollerin', from a very comfortable and a warm place. We've all had those even if we don't really remember. The record shows that mine took place on June 1st 1951 in Prague, in a little central European country then called Czechoslovakia.

The second birthday was a more understated event that took place exactly 18 years and 3 days later and I remember it clearly. I left the vile womb of communist banality and flew to friendly, hip, cosmopolitan London, England, in search of, well, something better, more exciting and fulfilling. Breaking all ties and with only a slim chance of ever going back, I had a rare opportunity to start with a blank slate—a new person.

An almost four decade long journey through four different countries followed, and along with modest successes, there were assorted screw-ups, cultural gaffes, lapses of reason, embarassing faux pas and other oddball happenings. Some were committed by me, some by those I met along the way. Except for a change of some names and a date or two, these stories are all true.

They are the Bouncing Czech Tales."

Karel Kriz
Mission Viejo, California
Prague Ruzyne Airport Safety Protocol
and
Dancing with the Stars
The First Year in London, England
or
From Rags to Riches And Back Again
(in Four Parts)
The Odors of Communism
Luncheon with the Black Watch
or
Entertained by the Troops
The Worst Job I Ever 'ad!

...coming soon

  • Scottish Culture and Other Natural Disasters
  • Das Hammer und Das Bierkeller
  • Door-to-Door Selling or How to Get Fucked with the Pants on
  • Lost in the Pyrenees (on the way to Gaza Strip!)
  • Jack the Ripper and the Bleedin' Feather
  • Pasadena Mayor's Wife Flirts with the Caped Crusader
  • Svenska Fest Djuren (Swedish Party Animals)
  • Natural and Un-Natural Stage Disaster Compendium
  • Grand Canyon Encounter of the Fifth Kind
  • Sleeping with Women's Liberation Army
  • The Roast Chicken Rustler
  • An Open Letter to the Mayor of Los Angeles:
    How to Solve that Pesky Traffic Problem ("zees vil neveerr flai")
  • The CIA Connection
  • The Infernal Jeep
  • How to Start a Riot in Santa Barbara - A Handy Manual
  • No Sex, Please, We're English
  • His Grace's Equestrian Mishap
  • The Virgin Voyage to Catalina Island
  • Auld Reekie Tales
  • Introducing Czech Cuisine to Hollywood
I welcome feedback of all kinds. Messages of appreciation, encouragement and constructive criticism are always accepted with thanks and responded to as time allows.
Flame-throwers, insult-merchants, saber-rattling trolls and lonely grammar/syntax/spelling maniacs are encouraged to get a life and will be generally ignored.

© 2007 Karel Kriz and Bouncing Czech Productions