Having fun can be hard work, but Sundays are the worst, really. Everybody's tired or broke from the previous nights and they just want to rest up for work on Monday. It's damn hard to find a place with a decent crowd at all.

The problem's compounded when you don't have any money. Actually, I've got money — I checked my bank account at work Friday, and my entire paycheck is sitting in my account. The problem is, I lost my ATM card. And my bank requires a passport to withdraw from a teller, but it's visa-renewal time and my passport is at the Foreigners' Police. So I'm looking to run a tab or at least find cheap beers, hoping my last 108 Kč can get me six rather than just four or five.

Fortunately, I know a couple of places I can run a tab on occasion. First stop: Banditos, because I'm hungry as well as thirsty. Banditos is more a restaurant than a bar, with pretty good food that's always in my budget when I'm leaving tabs. I'm anxious on the way, hoping Aran, the owner, is there, because they used to have happy hour every day, even on weekends. More recently, a weekend trip has resulted in full-price beers.

I'm semi-lucky. Aran's not in but Keith is working, so I can tab away. But he's not buying my story, which is that Aran told me that if he said there wasn't happy hour on the weekend anymore, it was only because he was drunk. I don't argue because I can square with Aran later, when I actually pay the tab. But I leave by 7 so there's no doubt as to me having been there during what should have been happy hour.

I decide to try Za Zrcadlem next, because it's close: a tiny place, just a few tables and a mostly young crowd. I've got a few friends who go there too and if there's no one who'll buy me a drink then at least Sunday is Happy Day, a discount for the duration on Pilsner, and I've got enough for a couple of those anyway.

It's pretty empty, no friends to buy me beers, but Marika's working and her smile alone is worth the price of a beer or two. Unfortunately, that's close to half my budget. So I part in search of friends with beer tokens, because I'd be too embarrassed to ask to run a tab ever since my friend ran up a huge one and didn't pay — even though she doesn't talk to me anymore. I feel guilty by past association regardless.

I decide to try U Spěváčků because they know me there pretty well. This isn't the notorious true U Spěv, just a little pub with TVs good for watching The Simpsons or sports, if you're into that. I get there and Charlie's behind the bar, in a decent mood — or so it seems till I ask him if it's OK if I run a tab. He does kinda laugh, but only as he reminds me of the 2,000 Kč I still owe from the days of Zoo Bar.

It's about 10, so I decide to head back to my neighborhood. I get inspired and jump the No. 10 tram all the way to Vinohradská vodarna (sans ticket, hahaha you controllers!) and stop by Bar 67 Trafika. This place is a like a second home: lots of dark wood and really cozy. I greet a couple of regulars I know by face, but my focus is on getting my first beer down in time to order another before closing time. It's a thin crowd, though — stupid Sundays! — and they're closing early.