Magazine
An elephant doing tricks during a circus performance lost her balance and fell into the audience! Czech gardeners are fighting off a slug invasion! And a Czech woman pilot wants to fly around the world in a glider. More in Magazine with Daniela Lazarova.
You can injure yourself in a million different ways - including having an elephant fall on top of you. Circus goers in Ostrava were seriously panicked during last Thursday's performance when an elephant doing tricks lost her balance and fell into the audience. Luckily people were only marginally hit - and only three people were injured. Twenty seven year old Lucie Jecmenkova who will spend the next few weeks at home nursing an injured ankle, says she's consulting her lawyer. Eyewitnesses claim that two elephants collided slightly in performing turns, one of them lost her balance and fell backwards. There was a huge panic, one woman says, people started streaming out, parents were calling out and children were screaming. Amazingly though, the circus management decided to carry on with the show. The elephant got up, shook herself off and continued with the performance.
Czech drivers are losing patience with the state of the D1 highway from Prague to Brno. The main link from the Czech capital to the Moravian metropolis is greatly overburdened both by lorries and passenger cars which results in pile ups and hours of waiting at best. In recent days a number of billboards have appeared along the highway saying : "We have the government to thank for the state of this road" or "The Prime Minister is responsible". The person or group who commissioned the campaign remain in anonymity, but they are clearly hoping that government officials driving along this most frequented highway will get the message.
For many Czechs a trip to their local police station is like a trip back in time. In 2005 computer literacy is a basic requirement for most jobs, but many police officers across the country are still tapping away at the good old typewriter invented in 1714. Some officers are allegedly too old to learn new ways, but the main reason for this bizarre practice is that many files have not been translated into computer format and can only be filled in, painstakingly on an old typewriter using carbon paper for extra copies.
Baby tigers bred in captivity have few friends. But the one in Dvur Kralove Zoo is an exception. It is just over a month old and already has one stanch buddy - a two and a half year old English bullterrier called Dora, who made up her mind right from the start that she would mother it. Only time will tell for how long that friendship will last, but for the present time the zoo is happy to promote it.
Forty three year old Czech gliding champion Hana Zejdova, who has over 52 world records to her name, has ambitions to fly around the world in a glider. Preparations are now underway for the construction of a special plane which would fulfil the necessary requirements for an around the world flight. The plane would have to fly at a height of 30 kilometres, that is higher than commercial airlines, going at a maximum speed of 700 kilometres per hour in jet streams in temperatures reaching minus 50 degrees Celsius. The flight would take five to six days -in favourable conditions. Zejdova who is the Czech Republic's most famous woman pilot, had hoped to schedule the flight for this year to mark the 100th anniversary of the International Flying Federation, but has had to re-schedule her plans due to a lack of sponsors. The project is expected to cost a billion Czech crowns and so it could take Zejdova a few more years to see her dream fulfilled.
