A Series of Fortunate Events

I'm extremely lucky to be a Celebrant who conducts the full range of ceremonies, namely weddings, funerals and namings. 

I often conduct weddings for a family who know me through my funeral work, and vice-versa. It's an honour and a privilege to be in such a position, as you are someone that a family can turn to whenever you are needed.

All of these Humanist ceremonies are united by a common theme, in that they are centred on the people that the ceremony is about.

An important part of a Humanist wedding is the story of how a couple met; not only does it make the ceremony unique, as the couple are unique, it's often very funny and serves to unite the past and and the present.

This next story though isn't about a wedding I conducted; it's a story about how a couple met in a funeral I conducted for one of them. It's a great story that shows how much serendipity can play a part in our lives, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I know I'll enjoy telling it.

Let me firstly take you back in time, to a misty evening in March 1949 in the beautiful city of Prague. 

The famous Charles Bridge which dates back to 1357.

Historically, it was a period of great turbulence.

World War Two had not long ended and the scars it had left were still fresh. 

All over Europe, countries were starting to pick up the pieces again after six years of terrible warfare.

The Czech Republic, or Czechoslovakia as it was then part of, had fallen under Communist Rule in 1948 and the Iron Curtain was being drawn across Eastern Europe. 

This new border, between East and West, meant former allies in the fight against the Nazis now viewed each other with suspicion and distrust. 

The Czech people were to have a very uneasy relationship with the Soviet leadership in Moscow, culminating in the brutal suppression of a period of attempted political reform in the country, known as the "Prague Spring". If you want to know more about this, then this Wikipedia article is a good place to start:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring

I won't say anymore about this here, except that if it hadn't occurred, the people involved wouldn't have had cause to move to Scotland, and I would never have met them. More serendipity I guess, for me at least.

Our story begins properly with Vaclav (pronounced 'Vatslav'), a young man who was in Prague serving out his National Service with the Czech Air Force. The evening in question, he decided to head to one of the many cinemas in Wenceslas Square.

Wenceslas Square in the late 1940's. 

(Note: Those of you who have been to Prague in the last few decades might be surprised to hear that Wenceslas Square in the evening wasn't always a place where Stag Parties of drunken British men allow themselves to be lured into seedy establishments with the promise of cheap beer and "private dances", but then get charged £500 for a round of four beers and threatened with extreme violence by Czech gangsters if they don't pony up. Or so I've been told...)

That same evening also finds Carla, a young lady from Prague working late in her office. 

The only reason Carla was there was she had been asked out on a date, but she didn’t fancy him so she worked late deliberately to avoid him!

The phone went and it was someone asking for a colleague; during the conversation, Carla was told that she sounded nice, so one thing led to another and she was asked if she would like to go to the cinema in Wenceslas Square later that evening.

Carla was intrigued, but retained the presence of mind to ask "How will I recognise you?" 

"Look for me in a leather jacket” she was told.

She rushed home to get changed, but her mother was very sceptical and told Carla that she was being silly and that she shouldn't go out to meet a man when she didn't even know what he looked like.

However Carla was a very strong willed young lady and ignored her mother's advice.

When she got to the cinema though, her heart sank as she realised she had been setup to be the butt of someone's joke. Standing together in the foyer, were three men all wearing the same leather jackets! 

Carla thought, "I’m not having this" and didn’t let on she had arrived but at the same time she didn’t want to go home as she knew her mother would laugh at her, and that just wasn't going to happen.

She decided to head to another cinema and walked up to the ticket booth. Arriving at that booth at exactly the same time was our Vaclav.

There was bad news though; all of the tickets for the next film were were sold out. 

Watching this was an old man, who had bought two tickets, but his wife hadn't arrived and the film was about to start.

He said to Vaclav "I have tickets you can have, but I won't sell them to you unless you buy both of them, one for you and one for this young lady".

The man then gave Vaclav a bit of advice; “after the cinema, take this young lady for a coffee, and before the year is out, there will be a wedding”. 

Vaclav was to call this man “the magic man” because his prediction became true when Vaclav and Carla married only five months later. 

A newly married couple in Prague, 1949...

By the time Vaclav passed away, they had been together through thick and thin for over 65 years, a quite remarkable testament to the love, friendship and companionship that they shared.

I had the honour of conducting Vaclav's funeral and this story was told to me by Carla in person, with such incredible warmth, charm and humour that I've never forgotten it. It helped that I'd visited Prague a number of times so I could relate to what she was telling me. I also impressed her with my knowledge of her native language, in particular my flawless "Krusovice Cerny". 😀🍺

So 'Na zdravi' Carla, to you and your family who have made Scotland your home and who brought this and other wonderful stories with you to share.

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