koffl next back Author : Jan B. Hurych
Title : PARALLAXES
Essay: THE ADDENDUM (12)



The author, Jan B. Hurych,

was born before WWII in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he mostly grew up - well, not too much, only to five feet and seven inches. During his younger years, he travelled extensively, mostly by tram No.14, as a student of Prague Technical University. After graduation, he took some job, but soon he returned to University as an Assistant, later Assistant Lecturer. After nine years and one invasion (in 1969), he took his last tram, this time to Ruzyne Airport, where his traces disappeared.

They appeared again in England, where he took an adventurous job of cleaning windows in high-rise buildings. It was during this time he discovered a very efficient method how to wash up to hundred windows a day - this idea was later shamelessly copied as Windows 95. His target was however Canada and again, his footprints disappeared at the airport, called Heathrow.

In the meantime, his "North-West passage" continued as he reappeared in Montreal, Canada. It almost looked like he would finally settle down: he got job with U.S. computer company, got married and bought the family house. Well, you can't get more settled than that and Jan started to count the years remaining to his retirement. After nine years and one separatist election, he got tired of Quebec as well and performed another disappearing act at Dorval Airport.

He landed in Toronto, where he spent ten productive years, mostly with design of power plants and the rest with CSA (Canadian Standard Association), certifying U.S. and Japanese computers, for which he had to travel there - well, most of the time. Surprisingly enough, he got tired of flying as well and moved North of Toronto, to the beautiful shores of Lake Huron, where he worked at Bruce Nuclear plant.

He then learned they were looking for design engineers in Saskatchewan and his wanderlust appeared again. True, it was 3000 km away, but it was another North-West passage and he couldn't say "no". His wife Vlasta sat behind the steering wheel of their covered wagon Firenza and their dog Tara laid down comfortably on the rear seat while Jan was navigator and family cameraman. After full 4 days of driving, they finally got there. And they liked it there, which is rather odd, considering that winter temperatures are there very close to minus forty degrees Fahrenheit (or Celsius: both scales meet there). After three years, Vlasta returned back to guard their house at Huron against cyclones and Jan stayed another year to finish the contract.

Finally he returned back to Ontario and after another year, he decided to retire with good intention to age gracefully. Instead, he started two Internet magazines (Hurontaria and Priloznik) and devoted most of his time to writing. He also writes to different magazines - yes, even newspapers - and for two years he wrote essays for artistic gallery (ArtForum). Apparently, that was still not enough for him and with his friend Michal he created the library of electronic books KNIHY OFF-LINE (i.e. Books off-line), both in Czech and English (this book being one of them). He also designs electronic illustrations for his enzines and books.

Jan still travels, but this time on his own time and money :-). That may be the reason he is sometimes considered to be a Scotsman, namely when he is tipping in restaurants. He has no account in Switzerland, be it secret or otherwise, but he is sincerely regretting he doesn't. He unselfishly shares his rich travel experiences with his friends, mostly in the local pub.