t was early morning when I arrived in the sleepy village of Loučná nad Desnou in the Olomouc region of Moravia. It was so early that I couldn’t check in to my hotel yet. I decided to take a walk around the village. It was a very typical Czech village, which was similar to other ones I had visited on this trip.

I had learned a lot about Czech villages by visiting them and also by watching Czech movies on television. Life seems calmer and slower in a Czech village and there are often some unique or unusual people living in them. Every time I visited a Czech village, Ilooked for the unusual person.

When I came across a huge lake near the village I was so excited. According to the map, it was called Dlouhé stráně. I had seen a lot of men fishing in Prague who made it look like fun. Most of them were dressed from head to foot in military clothing, even the fishermen on Náplavkain Prague. They drank beer in cans and ate rolls with ham and a soft cheese called Lučina.

Before I left Prague, I had bought afishing pole and other fishing equipment, and arranged to get a fishing license. Today, since I had some time to kill before I could check in to my hotel, I bought some beer, ham, cream cheese, and rolls.

I sat by the lake for a couple of hours and fished, drank beer and ate my snack. But I was really disappointed because I had been fishing for two hours without catching anything.

I’d been sitting there for three hours when a policeman came to talk to me. He told me that the lake had no fish in it because it was a hydropower plant. He didn’t arrest me, but laughed at me a lot.

He drove me back to my hotel and told me there was a better river nearby where I could fish. However, I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to hide in my hotel room.

On the bright side, at least I was the unusual character in the village that day.