But what most crowd the bulletin board are pleas for flats. Fabulous woman looking for place to live, preferably with cool, laid-back people. Call me soon. Housing is scarce in Prague, a leftover of central planning. Innocents whose worst previous housing crisis was sharing a dorm room with a snorer find themselves wandering from inn to inn, begging floor space or couch privileges from acquaintances.
Some locals take advantage of foreigners' desperation, particularly young, attractive foreigners.
Pleasure of life is necessary, payment is not. Most of the searchers end up living, at some point, in panelaks, communist-era skyscrapers on the outskirts of town. My first home in Prague after the hostel was a panelak in the neighborhood optimistically named Garden City, with its Strawberry, Raspberry and Poplar streets. In fact, the only greenery was in a few scrubby courtyards shadowed by identical 10-story apartment blocks. The woman traded her privacy for a tidy monthly profit and I got a lesson in the market system at work.