Tesco put up Christmas decorations on October 27. Is anyone out of their mind?

(c) Petr Bokuvka

Some people in Tesco probably think that the first company or store that reminds people of the upcoming Christmas will win the most customers and have them spend money. Tesco in downtown Brno put up Christmas decorations this week, i.e. almost two months before the Christmas Eve and one month “before winter”.

The store even has a TREE in the lobby.

This particular store is an old-fashioned department store. It has aisles with Tupperware next to groceries or underwear. The goods are usually “no name” and the atmosphere is absolutely terrible… Especially the clothes are hideous…

Be it as it may, having a Christmas tree in late October is ridiculous. Of course, it is a business strategy but in terms of holidays and observances it totally destroys the spirit…

Brno Quick Tips: horseback riding

There are two ranches in villages in the northern part of Brno that are in fact Brno boroughs. Both of them are departure points for hiking trails. One of the ranches is in Oresin and one in Sobesice.

(c) Petr Bokuvka

The “CH” Ranch is the one in Oresin. It offers horseback riding lessons and it has its own restaurant. It is located on a hill overlooking Brno and it can easily be reached on foot (a paved road) from the number 70 bus terminus. The fee is CZK 300 per hour (Oct 2009).

Panska licha is the one in Sobesice, or between the boroughs of Sobesice and Lesna. Unlike the CH Ranch, Panska licha is also a club. It is significantly larger and it has huge meadows. Also part of the facility is a three-star hotel and restaurant. It can be reached by the bus number 57.

Unfortunately, it seems like employees of the ranches and horse owners like to use the marked hiking trails for their rides, so people (mostly families, as these trails are very easy even for children) must constantly watch where they are going…

Swine flu in the Czech Republic: first minor epidemic this week, first confirmed victim last week

(c) Getty Images

Twenty junior high school students and some of their relatives have recently been diagnosed with the “swine flu”, which means it is the first minor epidemic in the Czech Republic, as all the cases that have been reported so far are isolated (mostly individuals returning from Canada, Mexico etc.).

According to the Blesk daily eight of the students and one of their teachers caught the flu during a trip to Bavaria, Germany last week. All of them are at home, taking antibiotics. None of them has experienced serious complications that would require hospitalization. There are six more people who are waiting for their test results…

Last week a woman died from complications because she had one of her organs transplanted and her immunity was significantly affected by her “heart condition” as well.

Czechs do not “celebrate” their Independence Day. Only politicians lay flowers and give speeches

October 28 is the “Independence Day” for the Czech Republic. In 1918 the former Czechoslovak Republic was founded as one of the successor countries of Austria-Hungary. It is a national holiday. Schools, offices, banks and similar institutions are closed. On the other hand, malls, movie theaters, pools etc. are open to accommodate people who want to enjoy their day off…

It should be noted that official ceremonial events take place. Politicians lay flowers to statues of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk, the country’s first president. And they meet with several “guests of honor” who give ceremonial philosophical speeches that no ordinary Czech can understand…

In other words, Czechs do not celebrate their independence.

According to Wikipedia, here is what Americans do on the Fourth of July:

Families often celebrate Independence Day by hosting or attending a picnic or barbecue and take advantage of the day off and, in some years, long weekend to gather with relatives. Decorations (e.g., streamers, balloons, and clothing) are generally colored red, white, and blue, the colors of the American flag. Parades often are in the morning, while fireworks displays occur in the evening at such places as parks, fairgrounds, or town squares. (…) Numerous MLB games are played, too.

In the Czech Republic, people simply take advantage of the fact that they can have a day off. They go for a walk with their kids who have Fall Holiday, by the way (Wednesday to Sunday). Today I saw hundreds of people on bike trips, roller-skating, shopping…

There are of course numerous reasons why Czechs are not patriots in the “American sense”, one of them being the continuity of the republic: there was WW II, communism, the 1993 dissolution, dissatisfaction with politics, etc…

Industrial architecture and lofts: a huge exception in Brno…

There is a very interesting building in the borough of Obrany. It is located right next to the Svitava River and across the street from a tram terminus, downtown Brno is a 15-minute ride…

I am sure there is a reason why no construction developer has turned the ruin into a trendy apartment building. Let’s start with the overall condition, which of course can be improved. But then there is the issue of heating, it is a well-known fact that rooms of this size are hard and expensive to heat, considering the technologies used in this country. Moreover, floods are also an issue…

(c) Petr Bokuvka

When it comes to lofts, experts argue that the target group (potential buyers) is also relatively small… these people would have to have the millions to invest and the guts to accept some aspects of life in such a house at the same time. I might be wrong but it seems to me that in the U.S. loft apartments are for singles — and once they have families or babies, they move into a picket-fenced suburb house. It would not work the same way here…

I think there is only one project when a former factory has been turned into an apartment building: the Moravan project (a former textile factory, I think…). Most of the units are small studios, or one-bedroom apartments… (more information on this project coming up…)

Prague Street View: Czechs play the “Find A Problem” game

The Prague version of Google Street View was introduced a few weeks ago and it has caused several problems so far, the Denik.cz news server writes. Several people have been “caught” and the Google company had to deal with their complaints.

A Google PR manager told the daily that people are one click away from “Reporting a Problem” and they may have their photo removed from the database. This may interest the bus driver who was photographed resting in his bus shirtless, or students sunbathing in front of their dorms (see the photo gallery in the second article – link above).

(c) Google via Lupa.cz

According to the daily there was even a photo of the mayor of one of Prague’s boroughs – and his face was not blurred. His fellow citizens started to make fun of him, saying he must be a ghost because the system did not recognize him as a human being…

The Lupa.cz IT server has been urging people to send their own “discoveries”. This is what I found:

The license plate of this bike has not been blurred...

More coming up…

Citizens of Brno may vote on the city’s Christmas tree for the main square

For decades the main square in Brno is the place where the city’s Christmas tree is erected. This year citizens of Brno may choose among four trees the one they like the most. They can vote on the website of the Tourist Information Centre – whether they like tree number 1, tree number 2, tree number 3 or tree number 4. The deadline is November 15.

Speaking of winter, it is only October 12 but according to the most recent weather forecast it should SNOW today… damn.

Brno tram driver publishes footage of pickpockets on YouTube

Brno is a relatively small town and it has three “key transfer points” where pickpockets like to get on and off trams and rob people as they enter the vehicles. All they have to do is “create a crowd” in which the victims have to stop or where they lose control over their luggage (purses, most often). And tram drivers know there characters really well: some of them use the PA to announce “dear passengers, please pay particular attention to your belongings”, and some of them publish footage of the pickpockets on YouTube… Like this guy…

Gotta say, he is really brave. His face can be seen and recognized in some videos (from the tram depot, for example), and so some friends of these Roma pickpockets can look him up and beat the hell out of him…

It sounds pretty much like Czech, but it is Slovenian. Not Slovak

Here is what happens when you combine the folk music from the Alps with dance music. Atomik Harmonik is a band from Slovenia. Not Slovakia. Not “Czechoslovakia”. Either way, the girls are out-of-this-world beautiful, especially the one on the left during the chorus… for your Friday night enjoyment…

I should have studied more, said a sign on ditch diggers’ workshirts

A group of Prague ditch diggers became a walking ad promoting education (the www.skoly.cz website). The men voluntarily wore a T-shirt with a sign that said “I should have studied better”, numerous media wrote Thursday [you can see the photo here]. According to some of the news reports the men were given cigarettes and beer because any  form of financial royalty would be taxable and problematic (and it is waaay cheaper, too –ed).

However, on Thursday the workers changed their minds and refused to put the T-shirts on. According to the iDNES.cz news server the men were low-income Roma workers from Slovakia, which means the idea of  “Czech men becoming nothing but ditch diggers” makes no sense…

The Romea.cz server called this initiative insulting.

The campaign organizers argue that it was based on the generally accepted thought that people who do not study hard will have limited options in terms of their future career choices. The Czech government minister for minorities argues, however, that manual job is not less noble than any other profession.

Come to think of it, it was humiliating, one of the workers said after the men realized people were making photos of them with their cell phones…