Břetislav SobekHe graduated at transportation secondary school. He worked for the Czech railways (ČD) only for a short period of time. He worked for a cement plant in Mokra-Horakov near Brno most of his working life. The cement plant changed owners four times during his lifetime. Last time the owners became Heidelberg Cement, a German company. He was responsible for all train trailers and an expedition of cement. The number of the train trailers was gradually rising as the company kept buying up competitors. Working for Belgian owners was the most pleasing. They didn’t want everything to be to the letter as Germans. During his frequent business trips, explaining warranty complaints to Germany, Germans kept complaining about torn sacks with cement and other problems. The goods weren’t packed and transported in a desired German style.
His superior was a great man. He worked in Afghanistan and earned a lot of US dollars. Then he was helping out the cement plant so as to operate properly. He achieved it by buying western goods in the US dollars for the plant during the communism. They had a problem as employees (I don’t remember it anymore.) They took it to the court and won the lawsuit. Their director stood for them and they didn’t experience any troubles at work after that.
His grandmother remembered the First World War and told him about it. Her brother was shot a few months before the end of the war. His body was never found and nobody heard about him anymore. People complained about and swore at politicians even during the communistic regime mostly in pubs. He compared it with the situation today when we talk about these issues at pubs.
He was on the way to visit his girlfriend (His wife deceased.) It is enough for him to feel joy at this age when she calls him and asks “Are you alive?” His girlfriend lives in South Moravia in an area where he studied the secondary school. He perceives it as a return to his youth.
I’m happy when she asks me if I am alive.
