Dateline: Warsaw

It's been almost two months since I left my post at the People's News Agency but I receive regular updates from Stepan, who pastes them together, ransom note-style, with letters cut from yesterday's edition of Blesk. (I keep telling him he could just email me, but I think he enjoys the intrigue.)

The latest news is that the new management in Poland (is it just me, or does the thought of "Poland" make you laugh uncontrollably too?) has failed to pay the Prague Bureau's rent and internet for the past five months. The internet provider has sent the bill to a collection agency. This means there's a very real possibility that Stepan will arrive for work some day and find his "things" (a half bottle of Jim Beam and an RWE Transgas sun visor) piled on the sidewalk in front of the building.

Should that happen, I've told him he's welcome to come and work from my home office, although we'll have to take turns at the computer and I will not provide secretarial services or bottled water. Tap water is good enough for me, it ought to be good enough for him. And besides, the Jim Beam will kill anything that might hurt him.