Mailbox

This week in Mailbox: An extraordinary bus shelter in England, reactions to SoundCzech and Czech Books, the Prague public transport system. Listeners quoted: David Eldridge, J C Lockwood, Henrik Klemetz, Li Ming.

Hello and welcome to Mailbox. Let’s start with a very interesting letter we got from our regular listener David Eldridge from England. Mr. Eldridge enclosed a CD with photos which you can take a look at on our website www.radio.cz. This is what he writes:

“Here are just a few photos from a trip I made today to the countryside near Aylesbury, a town about 30 km north-west of London. I was waiting at a bus stop on the A418 road about 8 km from Aylesbury with a bus due in about 10 minutes. Just an ordinary bus shelter at first sight (which needs some re-glazing), but taking a look at the side of the shelter reveals something a little odd. A closer look at that little plaque on the upper right-hand side of the bus shelter wall reveals that there is something historic about the shelter. Strange what you can find when you least expect it.”

And this is what the inscription on the plaque reads:

“This bus shelter was donated by President Beneš of Czechoslovakia to thank the people of Aston Abbotts and Wingrave whilst he and his cabinet were in exile here during World War II.”

Many thanks for letting us know about that interesting little piece of history that England shares with this country. If there is something similar in your area wherever you live – please let us know and we will share the information with all our listeners.

J C Lockwood from the United States says he is a big fan of Radio Prague’s regular Czech language programme – SoundCzech:

“I just wanted to point out that this week's phrase, ‘spadla klec’, is also used, perhaps more famously, is the Plastic People of the Universe song ‘Špatná věc,’ on the Hovězí porážka album. As many of the Plastics' songs, the lyrics come from Egon Bondy, this one from O počasí (1979). Here is the text:

Kostlivec

špatná věc

přijde a

spadla klec

The band Garáž also performs the song on its Demo album in 1991. The lyrics are translated as ‘The Grim Reaper, a bad thing, arrives and the cage comes down.’ But my dictionary says “zubatá” is Czech for Grim Reaper and kostlivec is skeleton, which makes sense, since bone is kost. Anyhow, thanks again. Love the show.”

You’re spot on there. Kostlivec is indeed skeleton but it can very well work as a symbol of death. And importantly, it rhymes with the word věc.

Jan Rybář

Our regular listener Henrik Klemetz from Sweden sent us this comment to a recent Czech Books programme:

“I just listened to the interview with Jan Rybár where he explained the background to his book ‘Warriors, terrorists and other madmen’. I found the interview quite interesting and so I went to the internet to listen to it once again. This done, I bumped into a reference to David Vaughan’s book ‘Battle for the Airwaves’. I listened to the interview and read various online commentaries.

I would like to compliment you on airing thought-provoking features like the two examples I am mentioning. (There are similar incidences in the Spanish language service, whose programmes I do appreciate a lot). Another regular listener, Li Ming, follows Radio Prague broadcasts in China’s Maanshan City:

“This morning I'm glad to receive your QSL card together with a copy of a Prague tourist map, I really appreciate it more than I can say. I looked through this map with both excellent pictures and texts very carefully, and some legends attracted me, as I found Prague has such a well-developed transportation system, including trams, buses, railway and underground. I am quite interested in it, and would you please tell me more about your public transportation in your future mailbox program. Thanks a lot for your response in advance!”

Prague metro

The backbone of the Prague public transport system is the metro: with three lines and 57 stations. Prague metro transports around a million passengers every day. The first line, the C or Red line, was opened in 1974. Three new stations were opened on the same line earlier this year. The city also has a dense grid of tramlines; the beginnings of trams in Prague date back to 1875. Currently the Prague transport authority runs 25 tramlines and 9 night lines. It also operates around 300 bus lines within the city. Prague is connected with nearby villages and towns in Central Bohemia by buses and trains running from a number of stations around Prague. Some of those are getting a facelift at the moment and rail transport is slowly but surely becoming a whole different experience. Also a number of ferries carry passengers across the Vltava River – currently a temporary ferry line partly replaces trams on the Vltava’s right bank which is closed due to roadwork around the Vyšehrad tunnel. Last but not least the Petřín funicular is also part of the city’s public transport system.

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And that’s all we can fit in today – but of course, we need to repeat our quiz question for November, which is as follows:

Which Czech composer came to be known as “Il divino Boemo” or “the Divine Bohemian”?

The address for your answers is [email protected] or Radio Prague, 12099 Prague. Four of you who send us a correct answer by the end of the month will receive small gifts from Radio Prague. Until next week, happy listening.