Patience

In August of 2002, there was a big flood in Prague.  A hundred year flood, they called it.  We’d just purchased a flat in the flood zone, Helena was pregnant with our first baby and we wanted to get out of Zižkov (Czech speakers please forgive the lack of a haček over the capital Z; it’s a keyboard issue), away from the traffic, the noise, the graffiti.  We were ready to move and then the flood struck.

Prague Flood, 2002

That was actually good luck on our part, as by the time we moved in, they were already making improvements to the building.  The downside was that they were making those improvements for about a year.  There were huge piles of garbage in front of the building for at least the first six months.  It was about 3 or 4 months before our closest tram stop was operating – we got quite used to the walk up the hill to Palmovka.  Then, it was another couple of months before that before we had Metro service again.  It was a long time, but you could always see incremental progress.  Like watching the leaves unfold in the spring.
So, I don’t quite understand why people in some areas think that their recovery is going slow.  The destruction there was far more than a piddling little river flood, which means the rebuilding will have to be even more extensive.  Homes, whole neighborhoods will need to be rebuilt.  But a lot of people have got their lights back and most of the subway system is running again.

I’m not trying to trivialize it, I’m sure that people currently without a roof over their heads or sleeping in a shelter wish the recovery was going quicker.  All I’m saying is hang in there.  It will all be rebuilt, better than before.