Believe it or not
Why did it take a postcard twenty years to get from Los Angeles to Prostejov in the Czech Republic, what happened to make three people disappear down a black hole as they sat in a cinema watching a late night movie and what is Scheherezade doing in a baroque castle in western Bohemia? In this week's Magazine Daniela Lazarova brings you some of the whacky and attention grabbing stories that you won't find in our news bulletins.
An elderly woman from Prostejov, in the eastern part of the Czech Republic recently received mail from her American relatives - a colourful postcard from Los Angeles. Nothing strange about that - except that it took twenty years to get to its destination. The card bears a Los Angeles postmark dated December 20th, 1983 and the message is from the elderly woman's sister announcing the arrival of a grandchild, now 21 years old. Well, it's lucky the old lady from Prostejov, who is 84, lived to hear the news. With twinkling eyes and a broad smile, she told journalists she'd definitely write back but had little hope of living long enough to get a reply.
Meanwhile a Czech postal official told the media that the postcards twenty year journey from Los Angeles to Prostejov may have had something to do with the geographic awareness at the US Post Office. "To put it mildly, postal workers in the USA do not know geography" he said. "Even today up to twenty percent of our shipments from the States go through Ukraine, while others take side trips through South Africa, Thailand and Japan." One must appreciate though that the postcard did get there in the end!
The town of Kaznejov, near Plzen, has announced that the only cinema in town is open to the public again. Normally one wouldn't have to ask twice -to get the locals back -only plenty of people still remember what happened in the cinema this May, prior to its reconstruction. During the screening of a late night movie three people in the audience suddenly disappeared in a gaping hole in the floor - seats and all. The floorboards simply gave way and the three fell into a two metre deep black hole. The cinema owner says he had no idea the three by three metre pit was there. The building was constructed in a mining area in 1933. All three people survived the fall but its unlikely any of them will ever feel comfortable in a cinema again.
The town of Kolin is known for its brass band music - but this time the town made headlines with something a bit wilder than brass band. Rumour has it there's a lion loose in the vicinity. A driver told the police last week that a lion had unexpectedly crossed his path as he was driving home late that night. The police were inclined to be somewhat sceptical and made him take an alcohol test but as the rumour spread an increasing number of locals said they'd glimpsed the lion somewhere. No lion has been reported missing and following a futile search the police closed the file on that case - but many of the locals claim they are sure about what they saw and say the lion will surely turn up when they least expect it.
There is no question what the town of Pardubice east of Prague is famous for. Say "Pardubice" to a Czech and he'll respond with the word: gingerbread. However enthusiasts at the town's information centre feel that the town's fame could travel further if it had an appropriate tourist attraction. So they are planning to build a life-size gingerbread cottage - straight from the bedtime story that every Czech child knows by heart. Complete with the old witch and the little Mary and Jenik who were imprisoned and fattened up for a feast but managed to outwit the witch in the end. If all goes according to schedule the gingerbread cottage should be open to visitors as of this autumn.
Funny how enacting fairy tales for tourists seems to work - but apparently it does. The baroque castle in Nebilov, south of Plzen, has livened up its late night excursions no end by having a troupe of actors perform funny scenes from Sheherezade, Goldilocks, Cinderella and Snow White as well as a few Czech stories which involve devils, ghosts and water goblins. As many as 60 actors make an appearance -and the place is said to be packed. As many as 1,200 visitors have toured the castle in the course of a single night -and visitors have been warned to book in advance.
The amount of fish being consumed in the vicinity of Olomouc is much higher than the national average - but not because people in the vicinity have better eating habits than the rest of us. Svaty Kopecek near Olomouc, now boasts the biggest sea-fish aquarium in the Czech Republic. With a capacity for 42.000 litres, the aquarium is home to three sharks - who all need plenty of fish to keep them happy in this landlocked country.
The tabloid Blesk has ferreted out a scandal at the Prague Police Academy. It got wind of the fact that during last year's entrance exams candidates cheated by using pens which had the answers to the questions cleverly printed inside : like 1a, 2c, 3b etc, the way some pencils have multiplication tables printed along their length. Blesk says that according to a police instructor someone leaked the six versions of the tests and a collection of six different pens was sold to police academy candidates for the price of 40 thousand crowns. According to the source they were intended for police officers who needed to acquire a degree. The paper got hold of the pens, and took them along to the head of the academy, who was forced to admit that they each contained the right answers to the given set of questions. She promised that the matter would be investigated without delay - while attempting to protect the academy's reputation. If the pens were actually sold -she said - how come only one of the candidates that year managed to get full points?
As most other places around the world, the Czech Republic too has been hit by the latest wave of Potter-mania. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is hopelessly sold out in bookstores across the country - but thousands of Czech kids who don't speak English at all -or well enough to enjoy it -are in a fever of impatience for its Czech translation to appear. The news is it won't be out until February - which prompted 14 year old Lukas to roll up his sleeves and produce his own translation which he put on the net for friends. Kids loved it - begging for more pages every day - but of course their joy was short lived. The publishing house Albatros filed charges against an unknown culprit, Lukas had a visit from the police and the amateur translation of Harry Potter disappeared for good. Some three thousand kids still access Lukas' web pages every day in the hope of finding something.
