Magazine Magazine

The city of Brno had more than its fair share of firework displays this month. It hosted the biggest international fireworks contest in Europe which attracted some 600.000 viewers. Each competing country had a night of its own in which to impress the jury and public. The overall winner was the Portugese team Macedos Pirotecnia with a fireworks display called Heaven, Hell and Paradise. It won Best Scenography, while the British team Pyro 2000 won the Czech Radio Award for Best Accompanying Music. The fireworks were launched from a special floating pad on the Brno dam and the glorious spectacle was reflected in the water. Those who saw it say it was a never-to-be-forgotten experience.

Sea eagle A precious sea eagle which escaped from a private owner in Germany was captured by ornithologists near the town of Pilsen and returned to its owner. "People called us to say there was a huge bird, probably some kind of eagle sitting on a spruce near a children's pool," one of the ornithologists said later. "We arrived on the spot and sure enough there it was: a fine specimen of a sea eagle. We waited until night fell when the bird would be easier to capture but even so it took three of us to do the job since it was incredibly strong. When we finally got the eagle to the shelter it was so hungry it ate 15 small chicks in one go." The bird is now safely back with its owner - and ornithologists have breathed a sigh of relief. The precious sea eagle might have been a trophy for illegal hunters had it been sighted by them first.

Richard Hasek with the model of Jaroslav Hasek memorial statue, photo: CTK The author of the Good Soldier Schweik -Jaroslav Hasek - novelist, humourist, journalist and prankster, finally has a memorial statue in Prague's Zizkov district where he lived in Jeronymova street at the time of writing the famous novel. The bronze equestrian statue was given a "christening" with beer, something that Hasek would have appreciated, according to his grandson Richard who attended the ceremony. "Grandpa would have been proud" Richard said, "after all, it was high time. Schweik already has five statues in the Czech Republic while Hasek had none." Hasek wrote The Good Soldier Schweik in 1921, and it was later acclaimed as one of the greatest satires in world literature. It has been translated into 58 languages and is still published the world over. Schweik has been described as one of the most unique and successful survival strategies ever conceived by man and Josef Heller once said that if it weren't for his having read The Good Soldier Schweik, he would never have written his American novel Catch 22.

On hot days in Prague fire fighters have their hands full - they are not just called out to fires but as pest controllers. Last weekend swarms of bees caused a panic in several parts of the city. If you think this kind of thing only happens in the country -you're wrong. Bees and wasps appear to be just as happy in the city centre - for instance covering road-signs, a particularly dangerous pastime. Firemen come and "hoover" them up with a special hovering machine. Last Saturday they were called out seven times to deal with swarms of bees, on Thursday there were six emergency calls.

Budyne nad Ohri If you are into things Celtic then don't miss the Celtic Circle Festival in Budyne nad Ohri from July 15th to July 17th. The festival is held under the auspices of Josef Hayes, the Irish ambassador to the Czech Republic and it will offer visitors Celtic music, dancing, arts and crafts, jewellery, food and outdoor shows involving "Druid rituals and Celtic magic", to quote the organizers. The festival will be held in the Budyne nad Ohri castle grounds, which in themselves are worth seeing. They are on UNESCO's list of world cultural monuments. The admission fee for this treat is just 100 crowns and you'll find all the information you need on www.celticcircle.cz.

Zdenka Ulmannova Czech women have had it with male-dominated politics. In the spring of this year they established a women's party called Equality and although many people scoffed at the idea at the time the party now claims to have 600 members and over 2,000 registered supporters. Their aim is to cross the five percent margin which would get them seats in Parliament in the 2006 general elections and one of the first things they aim to do is push for more women to be given high level posts in various institutions. Women would change the world of Czech politics for the better, says chairwoman and founder of the party Zdenka Ulmannova, but right now their voices are simply not heard. There are just 24 women in the 200 seat Lower House and 10 women in the 81 member Senate. "Here if women want to be successful in politics they have to think and act like men. We plan to enter politics and think and act like women" she says.

Tea is becoming an increasingly popular beverage in the Czech Republic. Immediately after the fall of communism in 1989 Czechs wouldn't know what a tea-house was. Everyone was familiar with coffee shops and sweet shops where you'd go for coffee, cakes and a chat, a tradition dating back to the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Yet after the initial scepticism wore off, tea-houses became a huge hit. People quickly realized that real tea was a far cry from the tea-bags they used for breakfast and they were fascinated by the vast variety of teas and the process of preparation. Tea houses quickly filled a gap on the market and today the Czech Republic has the highest number of tea-houses per head in the world. Unlike pubs, which are smoky, cheerful and loud, and "cukrarny" which are a place for families with children and elderly ladies, tea-houses are now the haunts of young intellectuals. "When we opened our tea house all our friends thought we were mad, but now we couldn't be doing better business" one owner said.