Northeastern regions of the Czech Republic damaged by minor floods. Several dozen houses had but three feet of water inside. The floods came after a 30-hour strong rains… It rained for about two days in a row in Brno, too. Luckily after a long dry summer the floods were not that dangerous…
It was a busy summer for the cops in Brno. At the end of August the city hosted MotoGP race. I followed these two ladies for about twenty minutes. During this time they had to help about fifteen people, most of which spoke average English (or to be exact, for which English was not their native language). They did pretty well. Although I should point out that the younger one did most of the talking. The tourists were in a good mood. I wonder if the city government has any calculations as to how much the motorcycle fans spent here…
The city of Prague has officially applied for the role of the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics. The estimated costs are enormous, from a regular Czech’s point of view. A PwC study shows the direct costs should be some 130 bln. (divide by 20 to get the sum in U.S. dollars).
I can’t say whether I am for or against. What I can say that it sounds terribly strange and even ridiculous that many events would HAVE TO take place so far from Prague and in so many places that calling the games “the Prague Olympics” would be inappropriate. One event (rowing, I believe) is set (planned) to take place at the Lipno Dam, which is a three-hour drive from Prague in zero traffic. It is almost in the middle of nowhere near the German border.
Another event should take place in the city of Ostrava. Five hours by train from Prague. Maybe a four-hour drive on the D1 freeway. If you live in the Czech Republic you can not avoid it because it is basically the only eastbound-westbound freeway in the country. You have one tiny rear-end bump collision and it stops.
No matter what PwC analysis says about the feasibility from the financial point of view, this country is not ready for the Olympics now and it probably will not be ready in nine years. Or, not ready, but rather mature.
