A Scotsman in Prague

by John Szamosi

---

“I’ve been here ten years and love the place. Prague is a great city; sound economy, a unique culture, affordable housing and a decent selection of lager. Still there’s one thing living among the Czechs that captivates us expats more than anything else: there’s little or no crime here.

It’s day and night difference between Prague and Glasgow, where I was born and raised. Even burglary and pickpocketing are rare, and violence is nonexistent. People don’t raise their voices much less their hands against one another; it just ain’t in them. Civilized folks, all of them, no exception.

Bar fights, for example, a regular workout in Scotland, seldom if ever occur in Prague. I try hard to search my memory and can only come up with two. Those were bad, though. Bottles and chairs thrown, broken noses, people losing front teeth, blood all over the place, horrendous property damage, and at the end the earsplitting sirens of police and ambulance cars. But two bar fights over an entire decade ain’t bad.

Especially considering that I started them both.”