Monika Proche

"We took a train to Znojno; it was called the Dyje Express. Many people want that train back; it was the perfect service. I went with my young son and he sprained his ankle. Walking from the station, I was carrying him and Roman went to meet us. We couldn't call each other to tell what happened; there were no cell phones or anything. As we were walking, suddenly a police car pulled up. They threw my husband on the ground and asked for his ID. He just told them, 'You took it from me yesterday, I don't have it.' That was the first time I really stood up to them, and not meekly. I replayed it to my colleagues today and they laughed hard. I just started shouting at them like: 'What do you think you're doing? Don't you have kids too? What's our kid going to think? His leg is injured. Now get in the car, don't show up again and give Roman his ID by the end of day.' I basically didn't know what I was doing, but they actually brought the ID back in the evening. It was some person other than those who busted us, but it was unpleasant."

"One day - it's a strange story but this is how it began - my friend [Helena] and I went to Prague. We hitchhiked via Liberec, which is weird, and we went to Prague from Liberec. In Prague, my friend got off the metro early and got lost. I'm giving you all the details because it's a funny story. Searching for her, I eventually got to a Plastic People gig. You know what I mean? That's just unreal. Now, three months later, a teacher knocked on the classroom door back at school. He was one of the toughest [teachers] and I could see the terror in his face; something was obviously wrong. I went outside and there was Helena standing there. I told her to just tell the truth; we didn't do anything wrong. I knew I couldn't mention the Plastic People. We were taken away to be questioned. We were sitting there with the prostitutes from Děčín. I remember that because they asked us if we did that too... It was an unreal experience for me."