I was in Prague yesterday for a day - I saw young children walking home from school alone

Some seven year olds, some possibly younger.

I saw them in the evening walking on the sidewalk as out taxi took us to our hotel for the night. I'm in Plzen now for the arrival of our most recent grandchild; expected at any moment.

It made me harken back to my own childhood 60 years ago when we all walked back and forth to school in our neighborhood, and played out in the streets, without a care in the world. I feel nostalgia for those times and a bit of envy to see that there's still places in the world where that is possible. I'm glad our daugther chose to settle here, mary a Czchek, and raise a family, her application for US residency long forgotten with a 20 year waiting period just to get her application heard. Yes, 20 years. But no matter. she's now in a good place to raise a family and I'm glad my grandchild will have a chance at the type of happy childhood I once had.