New month, new From A to Z this time with our English teacher, Mr. Wickwar!

 By Elen Michalíková

 You can look forward to reading Mr. Wickwar's skateboarding story or what he thinks about vandalism.

 ACCEPT… yourself. Don’t try to be someone you’re not, especially to impress others.

BREWING… B could be for Beer of course, but I am most interested in the art of making it! There are many stages in Brewing, from: planning a new beer; combining ingredients (grains, water, hops, yeast + other weird & wonderful extras - I’ve used chillies, vanilla pods, coffee beans, pumpkin…); fermenting the beer; to bottling & labelling it. Oh, and of course drinking it…

COFFEE… If you want to make your teacher happy, have a fresh cup of filter coffee ready on their desk at the beginning of p.0 :)

DAD… Michael Wickwar - a legend. Builder, Mechanic, Sculptor, Martial-Artist. Best Dad (and Grandad) ever!

 EVERYONE… must watch the film ‘Mask’ featuring Cher. Ask 11A, they’ll tell you all about it ;)

FEAR… not something you always grow out of! I’m most afraid of sharks, I have problems swimming in the sea, even in England.

GRATITUDE… I’d like to thank all my family, friends, & loyal fans.

HOME… I’ve had many - having a builder dad meant we moved a lot, mostly into half-converted barns. Maybe that’s why I ended up in Ostrava living in a partly-reconstructed old house!

 INDIE… A rather ‘blanket’ term but definitely covers music, films etc. that I’m into.

JUSTICE… for all.

KINGDOM… United. Sad what’s been happening there since I left 13 years ago!

LP VINYL… Another vice of mine. Nothing like owning a physical copy of an album, removing the vinyl from the sleeve, dropping the needle on it… I spent many happy nights playing records in bars around Norwich, England. Shame it’s become such an expensive hobby these days :(

 MARATHON… I keep meaning to try and run one. Maybe this year…

NECESSITY… Don’t forget the past form of the modal of necessity ‘MUST’ is ‘HAD TO’. Not ‘MUSTED’, which is what you have with a sausage.

OSCARS… Was anyone slapped this year?

PROGRESS… It creeps up on you. You can be up-to-date with e.g. technology, music, films, etc then WHAM you’re out of touch with no idea what a TikTok is or why everyone is called Lil’.

QUIZLET… In the beginning there was Kahoot and Quizlet. You had to choose your weapon, and mine was Quizlet. It hasn’t changed much, still does what it does well enough.

RIDE OR DIE… I’m quite accident prone so I probably shouldn’t try. As the next story shows…

SKATEBOARDING… There was a big resurgence when I was a teenager. I fell off a skateboard into a bush and pierced my eye. A surgeon had to cut off a flap of skin that was hanging out of my eyeball. I started Uni with a completely bloodshot eye and scratches all down my face. This also featured on my student ID for three years. :(

TEACHING… I came to it quite late in life but felt I’d finally found my calling. I’d say I learn more than teach overall!

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS… as far as I know does not exist anywhere other than Earth, which makes their name fraudulent.

VANDALISM… or art? Sadly, many Banksy pieces that appeared near my parents’ in Suffolk were vandalised. Others were literally cut from the building by the owner and sold for a fortune :(

WICKWAR… The last census showed 4 Wickwars in the Czech Republic. They all live in my house :)

XBOX OR PLAYSTATION… Nintendo obviously. I have a Wii, a Wii U, and a Switch rigged up at home. Amazing consoles.

YOUTH… Enjoy it while you have it. Does that sound ‘Dad’ enough?

ZELDA… Best games ever. I still love the graphics and gameplay of the first I ever played - A Link to the Past. I am trying to play through them all again. I've just finished Minish Cap and next up is the remake of Link's Awakening…

SOMETHING… for the weekend sir? A strange old saying, I won’t explain it here.