Feisty Ferret, True Prague Story – If June Feels Slightly Unhinged, This Might Help

Hey Tereza

I’m not going to talk about strategy today.

Or clarity.

Or positioning.

Or foundations.

Or any of the things I usually talk about… all of which I stand by completely, but none of which you need from me right now, I bet.

What you need right now … (and I say this confidently), having looked at the calendar and realised it is somehow June…. is to hear about the PRAGUE FERRET INCIDENT.

So.

Settle in.

This is a completely true story.

A friend of mine, let’s call her Mich, lovely woman, impeccable taste, the kind of person who genuinely knows how to dress for a posh ball (which I respect enormously) was walking across Prague one evening in full glamorous going out form.

Hair done.

Dress on.

Heels clicking.

Expensive Armani coat she got as a special gift.

Excellent life choices, visually speaking.

She was, by any reasonable assessment, having a very good evening.

AND THEN SHE SAW THE FERRET.

Now.

A ferret running loose across a Prague pavement at night is not something your brain prepares for.

And yet: there it was.

Small.

Fast.

Moving towards her with the energy of something that had made a decision and fully committed to it.

My friend Mich, being warm, kind, and unfortunately optimistic about wildlife …. crouched down and said:

“Come here, little cutie.”

The ferret came.

And bit her on the neck.

Not a small nip.

Not a warning.

A full, committed, deeply personal bite.

And then, because apparently this story had ambitions, IT DID NOT LET GO.

The ferret was now simply… attached to her neck. 

Outside a formal event.

In Prague.

At night.

(I specifically did NOT include Gif here … and you are welcome)

Her friend, standing nearby in the specific horror of someone watching a situation develop that they have absolutely no training for, began trying to remove it.

Gently at first.

Then with increasing urgency.

The ferret remained emotionally unmoved and physically attached.

And THEN  (because clearly the universe felt the story needed another character) a homeless man appeared.

He watched the situation calmly for a moment.

Assessed it.

And then said, with the confidence of a man who had either seen this exact situation before or something alarmingly close to it:

“You need to pull on its tail. That’s the only way.”

So they pulled the tail.

The ferret let go.

AND THEN… with the specific momentum of a small animal that has just been unexpectedly TAIL-LAUNCHED … it flew directly under the wheels of a passing bus.

There was a pause!!

The kind of pause where nobody’s brain quite knows where to file the event that has just occurred!!!

And then the homeless man delivered the final piece of information:

“You need to take the ferret to the hospital. They will need to test it for rabies.”

My friend looked at him.

Looked at the ferret.

And hailed a taxi.

The taxi driver took one look at the situation and said:

“absolutely not. That is not coming into this car.”

So my friend … dressed for a ball, bitten on the neck by a Prague ferret, advised by a homeless man, rejected by a taxi driver…

….  rode through Prague holding the ferret out of the open taxi window.

In a ball gown.

At night.

Honestly, if this city ever writes its autobiography, that paragraph should probably be included.

And strangely…

I think there’s something useful in this story.

Not a business lesson.

God forbid.

Just this:

Sometimes life becomes so absurdly, unexpectedly chaotic and crazy that the only reasonable response is to stop trying to optimise your way through it.

June feels a bit like that, honestly.

Everyone’s tired.

Everything feels vaguely urgent.

The year has somehow already happened.

And most people I know are operating somewhere between:

“doing their best”

and

“holding the metaphorical ferret out of the taxi window.”

Which means:

this may not be the month for becoming your most optimised self.

This may simply be the month for surviving with humour intact.

And honestly?

That counts too.

—

So if things feel messy right now… (or just downright crazy)

if your brain feels full…

if you are one mildly inconvenient event away from staring into the middle distance for several business days…

you are not failing.

You are just alive in June. This crazy year.

And somewhere out there is a woman who once arrived at a hospital in ball gown and armani coat… holding a ferret out of a taxi window.

Perspective.

Just saying 😉 

SO

Hang in there.

Summer is coming.

And the ferrets … metaphorical and otherwise … do eventually let go.

With all my love and strength

Terka x

P.S. The ferret did not have rabies. My friend did not get rabies. She did not make it to the ball. She HAS dined out on this story for years, which frankly feels fair.

P.P.S. The homeless man remains the undisputed hero of this story.