Pavel Veselý

"In 1982, I think, I got a job in Orchards, Forests and Horticulture. That was in September, which was also quite interesting, because it was in Vojanovy sady. And I went there, it was like this in September, this time I went there and there was Vojanovy sady, the high wall, the gate. You go in there and under the tree there are guys with long hair picking fruit. It was like paradise all suddenly, I thought. So I went over there and I said, 'Hey, I'm looking for a job, isn't there something here for me?' And he said, 'Go over there to that house and the boss is sitting there and he'll tell you.' So I went over there and I said, 'Hello, I'm looking for a job.' And he said he had a job there, so he'd take me. And now he introduced me, there was a gentleman sitting next to him, and he introduced him to me and he said, 'This is Jiří Hanzelka.' So we started talking to Hanzelka about things that were going on. We found out that we had some acquaintances, and they employed me there. Of course, I soon found out that it wasn't quite such a paradise, because it was winter, and we were just sanding the paths on Petřín hill in the freezing cold, standing on a multi-car and throwing sand and urea behind me... Because it was mixed with salt or with urea. The urea was from some higher temperature that was bellow zero, because the salt was freezing at -15. That was more than -15 then. So it wasn't so great. We weren't exactly getting along with some of these people either. Besides, if I haven't already told you about this Hanzelka, that Hanzelka simply chose me to take over from him, he was pruning trees on Petřín hill. But I wasn't quite up to it, it wasn't exactly my life's mission to be an employee of the Orchards, Forests and Horticulture, so I wasn't one who would have enjoyed it, so I disappointed him a little."

"That's also an interesting story, how I signed the Charter 77, because I was registered in Sedlice near Blatná permanently. In addition to that, I signed the Charter in 1981, I think sometime in February, and by then the [action] Asanace was already underway. And now what happened was that I, I mean, with a few other people, signed it at Dienstbier's flat. I think Vašek Malý was there, but mainly the one I signed it with was Petr Pospíchal, then he was the ambassador I think somewhere. And we agreed that he would take it somewhere, to some archive. And then what happened was that they called me, I think Petruška Šustrová called me, and they said, 'Hey, are you from some small town?' I said, 'Well, I'm from...' [She] said, 'Look, they're going to destroy you there, we're not going to publish it yet. We're going to leave it be for now.' Because the guys I signed with immediately went to file for leaving the country, which was terrible. They signed it to get abroad. And I didn't want that. They said, 'You want abroad?' I said, 'No, I don't.'"