A mentally disturbed woman was riding a horse in the upper part of Wenceslas Square on Friday, holding a crucifix, praying and repeatedly calling “anticommunism”, the press has reported. “Only Martians were missing for the artistic impression to be complete,” iDnes.cz news site quoted former Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek on Thursday after a debate of party representatives on the austerity measures package that has kept politicians busy arguing the whole week. Former President Václav Havel recommended Czech politicians spend one hour a week in the new Japanese garden in the Prague Botanic Garden, as it is a good place “to quiet down, reach a certain inner harmony, to detach oneself from reality…”, ČTK reported last Friday. Watch out: Gamekeepers shoot without warning, a Mladá fronta Dnes headline said on Wednesday.
>>> People in Brdy breathed a sigh of relief that there won’t be any radar in the area. “We would never, never walk away from our allies,” AP agency has quoted Hillary Clinton, the US Secreatry of State, who added that the US will continue to cooperate closely with the Czech Republic and Poland. In connection with the past Russian opposition to the planned anti-missile base on the Czech soil, former President Václav Havel said Russia was testing how much the Czechs are afraid of Russia.
>>> Before Bém replies, you can grow a flower, a Mladá fronta Dnes reporter commented on a delayed reply to his email that he received from the Prague Mayor Pavel Bém. People pick up orchids, as they are allegedly good for sexual appetite, said a headline in Lidové noviny on Saturday, referring to the current rare occurrence of the western marsh orchid that used to be common on the whole territory of the country. A passion flower, often connected with the Christian topic of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, burst into flower in the tropical greenhouse at the Fairgrounds Flora in Olomouc. Do not throw even flowers on the Pope, a Mf Dnes headline quoted the head of bodyguards who will be watching over Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to Prague this weekend. The Prague Infant Jesus statuette will change its clothes for the Pope and will be wearing a red ermine robe instead of its current green attire. Christian Democrats will give the Pope a stone from Jáchymov as a present.
>>> Václav Havel and Jiří Paroubek have been leading a media dispute since last week. Havel accused Paroubek of lying, Lidové noviny has reported. “I’ll try to do better. I think that if I continue developing the same way like I’ve been until now, there will be Paroubeks instead of devils visiting children’s homes on St Nicholas Day,” said Paroubek in an open letter to Havel in Právo.
>>> Sunny autumn has arrived in the Czech Republic on Wednesday. US President Barack Obama has called his spring visit to the Czech Republic “a waste of time”, according to ODS Senator Alexandr Vondra. Prague 2 town hall is planning to use snow cannons to preserve snow on the slopes of Riegrovy sady in winter, Právo reported on Thursday.
>>> Prisoners will get higher salaries, Lidové noviny reported on Monday. To win elections is more expensive than yoghurt, a Hospodářské noviny headline said on Wednesday, quoting Eda Kauba from Euro RSCG communication company.
