The day before, May 13, 2012, Martin and I agreed that we would go to Worship. Unfortunately, the next day I waited until 2:50 PM to see whether Martin would come online on Jabber, because even though I hadn’t worked out the timing exactly, I had a feeling that we had just run out of time to meet up comfortably and make it for the whole Worship, so I sent Martin a text: “so, what’s up?” :D.
We agreed to go there by train at 4 PM, meaning I would get on at 4:31 PM in Ropice. Neither of us had eaten anything yet that day anyway, so at least we could grab a bite and get properly ready. Of course, I left late, so I was running along the way when dice picked me up on their way to Lidl. I wanted to get out already in Ropice by the St. Joseph’s House, figuring I’d easily make it now without running, but tit decided they would take me all the way to Lidl and I would walk from there to the station in Cesky Tesin. And so it happened.
I got there, and 2 trains were leaving from platform 3 towards Jablunkov/Trinec, one an express and the other a local train. Then there were 2 that might be going via Vitkovice, but only the one to Opava went via Vitkovice, and that one was at platform 1. The other one went to Studenka via Karvina. I went to buy a ticket and asked the lady at the counter which of those trains goes to Vitkovice. I was correctly told it was the one to Opava, but incorrectly that it was leaving from platform 3.
The lady showed me on her monitor that it really was platform 3, track 3, but she added that I should listen to the announcements. That was around 4:20 PM. I was waiting on the platform for Martin to arrive when I noticed a huge yellow “maintenance” train – or rather just a locomotive, one I had probably never seen before. So I went through the underpass towards the town center (I wouldn’t want to get in trouble for climbing over the tracks, and outside the platform on top of that – they might even say I wanted to do something to that train) and took a few photos, of course only over the fence: 👻 This link is deader than Flash Player. (this and more photos).
I went back, and the train from Karvina with Martin was already pulling in. We switched to an Elefant and within a few minutes we were heading towards Ostrava and Worship. What we talked about on the train, I won’t write here. We arrived in Vitkovice, Martin helped me buy a public transport/tram ticket and showed me where the tracks were, and about 3 minutes later a tram arrived. I don’t remember the number anymore, maybe 2 or 5. We rode 4 stops (Nadrazi Vitkovice, Most mladeze, Kotva, Kino Luna), if I remember correctly, and walked into the building.
Meanwhile, Martin had texted C. asking where they were, so we went straight ‘to the right place‘. We were a bit confused when we opened the door and found ourselves right next to the singers and their beautiful singing, so we looked for another door, but a second later we realized it was the right one, especially since some guy was just walking out of there while on the phone. Once we sat down, we both switched our phones to silent and enjoyed the sounds of the music. Somewhat unfortunately, a little girl kept running around there; my short legs had no ‘problem’ with that, but Martin’s maybe did – or so I’d say. The second distraction was C.’s laughter, but I didn’t hold it against either the little girl or C. – to tell the truth, it didn’t really bother me at all. At the end there was a collection, and I asked Martin how much he was giving. Later I explained to him that I would have given around 50-100 CZK, but I only had coins worth under 50 CZK and then my smallest banknote was 200 CZK, which would probably have “knocked me out”, so I gave the coins and hopefully even that helps them a little financially. At the very end they played a song by Heritage Singers with Czech subtitles, which I didn’t know, and it was Martin who told me the artist; he already had it so deep under his skin that he even sang along in English – for someone like me, who will probably never learn to speak English, that’s a real legend.
Oh, and I forgot about the spoken part by Petr Hrib. For a long time I had no idea what he was getting at, but in the end it probably made sense to everyone, since it did even to me. He split it into 2 parts, with just one song in between, namely “Good God Protects Me“. Afterwards I only took a brief look at C.; we didn’t even shake hands, all because I said I would like to catch the next train.
Outside, Martin “fired up the navigation” on his phone and it looked like we wouldn’t make it with 30 minutes left and 4 km to go, so Martin paid for my tram ticket. We waited about 15 minutes and of course rode the same route back. In the tram, I noticed a label on a cabinet saying “HV 600V“; we were about 4 seats away from it, so I asked Martin what it said. Martin put on his glasses and said it really was 600V. I don’t know whether that is a lot or a little; I’d say just about right. We got to the station and they were already announcing the train to Svinov and of course the one to Kuncice/Tesin, because those 2 trains pass each other here, at least every hour. While we were waiting there, I asked Martin what kind of train he thought would come.
Whether a CityElefant or an old “pantak”. We both thought it would be a pantak, but when the train appeared, I changed my mind to CityElefant because of the lights, even though I hadn’t seen the rest of the train yet. Unfortunately, because of his weaker glasses, Martin could only see the train clearly once it was within about ten meters, but still, well done! Again, I won’t write here about what we talked about on the way back. We got off in Cesky Tesin, I asked for a hug and Martin gave me one, then we walked together to platform 3, where we parted ways.
At Tesco I bought a baguette and set off home on foot, when in Ropice dice picked me up (just before that, mim called, and I almost didn’t manage to answer even the second time – I still had my phone on vibrate only).
And here is also a link where you can download or watch online all the Worships from 2012 and other years (it’s already in its 7th year): 👻 The domain expired like prepaid credit with Oskar.