A ram attacks a young woman shopping on the outskirts of Prague, why is the early arrival of ravens seen as a bad sign? And, before you take a ride in one of Prague’s horse-drawn carriages take a good look at the driver! Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.
Stanislav Spáčil, photo: www.ct24.cz
Only last weekend it looked like the town of Křenovice would have the oldest local councillor in the country. Reporting on the outcome of local elections Czech Television that 102-year-old Stanislav Spáčil, running for the local branch of the communist party had won a seat on the council. As the centenarian rolled up his sleeves to go back to work it emerged that the ball stopped just short of him. Consequently, the country’s oldest local representative will be 87-year-old Josef Pelikán from the town of Mínice in south Bohemia. The 87-year-old was talked into running for lack of interest from the town’s younger inhabitants – and good-naturedly told journalists he was happy to help while he was still around – a broad hint to the locals that he could not be expected to live forever.
Occasionally –on a bad day – you get cross looks from people for no apparent reason. But some days can be worse. A young woman shopping on the outskirts of Prague was attacked by a ram who picked her out from among other shoppers, knocked her to the ground and continued butting her even as she lay there. Horrified eyewitnesses called the police and medics who found the woman was suffering from shock and had multiple bruises. It is not yet clear how the animal escaped from its enclosure or why it ventured to a relatively busy shopping area and picked on a given individual. In any case, it may be a while before the young woman ventures to do her shopping in the vicinity again.
Photo: Elvis Aantana / Stock.XCHNG
Brno ornithologists have joined some climatologists in predicting a harsh winter. They base their claims on the early arrival of ravens from Russia, who annually flock to central Europe for a milder climate over the winter. Traditionally regarded as a harbinger of winter ravens come and go regular as clockwork – arriving around the 20 th of October. This year flocks of them descended on Brno ten days earlier – something that has not happened in 30 years, according to local ornithologists who predict the winter will start earlier and be harsher than usual. Some hunters are inclined to support this theory saying that rabbits and other forest animals which they had shot in recent days had more deposits of fat than is usual for this time of year.
Drink-driving is a big problem in the Czech Republic and traffic police are intensifying road controls in an effort to get drivers to act responsibly. However their efforts stop short of the horse-drawn carriages that take tourists around the historical parts of Prague. However that may be a pity. Last week, the driver of a horse drawn carriage had had a few beers too many and veered dangerously from one end of the cobbled road to the other – eventually bringing down a road sign. Police had to wrestle him down from the carriage and on making him take a breathalizer test found that he was seriously drunk. They carted him off to a drunk tank and called the owner of the agency to come and drive his carriage home.
Czechs are getting fat faster than doctors can deal with. Obesity specialists are ringing alarm bells, saying they are unable to cope with the number of patients who need obesity related surgery, and they are already performing 5,000 surgical operations a year. Statistics show that while 35 percent of Czechs are fat, 17 percent are obese. The number of obese children has doubled in the last 15 years. As a result one obesity expert in the Czech Republic has on average 3,000 patients –all people who have serious problems related to obesity. Maybe we should give dumplings a break.
Martin Kohout - 'Moonwalk', photo: YouTube
And finally good news - Czech Martin Kohout's Moonwalk succeeded beyond everyone’s expectations in the You Tube/Guggenheim Play contest for the most creative video in the world. Moonwalk was rated one of the 25 top videos sent in–out of an overall 23,000 from 91 countries. Kohout, 26, is a graduate from the Film and TV Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. According to his web page, now he is living in Berlin. He said it only took him four days to make Moonwalk. Congratulations!
