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Photo: CTK Celebrity spotters had a field day this week hanging out around Prague’s Ruzyně Airport and Prague’s luxury hotels for a snapshot of US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and the 11 other European leaders who descended on Prague for the signing of a landmark US-American nuclear disarmament treaty. Hundreds of them appeared at Ruzyně Airport –some as early as 4 am and got prize catches –playing a game of hide and seek with security police. Drivers who came to a standstill for twenty minutes on Thursday morning as President Obama’s motorcade drove to Prague Castle never even grumbled – they pulled out cameras and waited to see him go by. And, they were not the only ones eager for a souvenir of the event.

Photo: abl, www.blesk.cz The head of the Senate Přemysl Sobotka meets heads of state all the time but clearly finds it hard to control his passion for autograph collecting. He gets top politicians to sign menus and has over 250 of them in his collection. Of course the new START treaty was an occasion not to be missed –and when all three presidents were in a good mood after the signing ceremony at Prague Castle Mr. Sobotka made his bold request. Both President Obama and President Medvedev complied with a smile – while President Klaus could not resist teasing him, saying “Ah yes, I was wondering when you would bring us the menu Sobotka”.

Photo: www.ct24.cz Tourists strolling through the centre of Kutná Hora might be shocked to see a scaffold on the main square. This is not a sign of the town hall getting hard on petty criminals. The hanging will be part of historic celebrations opening the tourist season. The unfortunate victim is Jan Roháč of Dubé – a Bohemian Hussite marshal who fought against Emperor Zigismund but was captured and hanged on his orders in 1437. Whether tourists will be enticed by a public hanging remains to be seen. If it proves a hit there are plenty of other nerve-wracking events from Czech history to offer them.

Photo: www.idnes.cz Internet users this week saw the most horrendous example of road piracy ever recorded. The video, recorded on a security camera, showed the driver of a Škoda Superb losing patience with a young woman driver in a much smaller car. She had just overtaken a truck and was driving in the right lane when the Superb driving in the left suddenly swing to the right and in a single expert move threw the smaller car right off the highway. The car flew through the air and turned over twice before landing many metres away in a forest clearing. Miraculously the two people in it were only bruised and shaken. Police have caught up with the aggressor who has been charged with endangering public safety – for which he will face between 5 and 12 years in prison. It was later revealed that the man was a manager at Pilsen Prazdroj and was sacked on the spot for the transgression. Reporting on the incident the daily Mladá fronta Dnes warned drivers to be careful, noting that Czech roads are full of dangerous, aggressive drivers – reportedly one meets one every 16 kilometres.

That’s a long shot from the way things were in the 1930s when drivers proudly drove their Aeros and Tatra cars at a maximum speed of 6 kilometres per hour. That at least was the maximum speed allowed in towns and cities according to the chronicle of the town of Skuteč in Chrudim. After an accident in which a car knocked down a child the locals demanded that the police make drivers adhere to traffic regulations and the town hall bought them stop-watches for that purpose. Local officers were uncompromising and anyone who crossed the maximum speed spent a day or two in the local goal.

Illustrative photo: Jaroslava Gregorová The daily Mladá Fronta Dnes last week came out with a very revealing economics story relating to Easter. Apparently the whips made of willow branches which are an old Easter tradition in this country – are no longer even made in the Czech Republic. This typically Czech Easter decoration is now being imported from China and Vietnam. Salespeople say that they are much cheaper and last longer. Traditional whip-makers in Czech villages, who are losing out in the competition, say it’s a sorry state of affairs, pointing out that the whole point of the spring rites was that the whips were cut and made from fresh willow branches. For the present time people are still painting their own Easter eggs – though maybe one day we will import those from the other end of the globe as well.

Jan Svěrák, photo: CTK Czech celebrities have their own tree alley of fame in the Prague Botanical Garden. Oscar winning film director Jan Svěrák, cameraman David Ondříček, singing legend Karel Gott, actress Jiřina Jirásková and the former Czech president Václav Havel are just some of the celebrities who have singlehandedly planted a tree of their choice in the Troja Botanical Garden. Some have picked rare or exotic species, others are happy to be represented by a linden tree. The project called Roots came from the botanical garden which wanted to attract more visitors and originally planned to have a few celebrity trees scattered round. However celebrities love the idea and are now eager to take part. Up to date the garden has 27 celebrity trees and there will certainly be more to come. In fact the garden is beginning to look like a who is who on the Czech cultural scene.