Mailbox
Today's Mailbox includes: Topics: names of streets in Prague, presidential elections, cinemas, Bata shoe chain, Czech stores, anti-Temelin hunger strike. Quotes from: Timothy Bail. Lu Xiu Chan. Ben Smith. Eileen Winters. Giovanni Maiorana. Sean Pain. Imanuel Bafa.
Hello and thanks for joining us for another edition of Mailbox. My name is Martin Hrobsky.
And this is Dita asiedu. And today we have quite a variety of questions ranging from politics to shoe stores. But before we get to that, a few of you listening to us on short wave have informed us that reception in your areas has been below average. I hope you'll be pleased to know that Radio Prague management is currently leafing through your letters in an effort to put a list together and work on the problem.
But then there are some of you who can listen to us loud and clear who will not be happy as we're afraid that in the near future we cannot start an Urdu service or one in any language other than the six we already broadcast in.
And those are Czech, German, Spanish, French, Russian, and English, of course.
Let's continue with our first question from Timothy Bail who listens to us from Australia. He asks:
"I have a rather unusual hobby. I like to study and compare the names of streets in big cities. What or who are the streets in Prague named after? I imagine that after the revolution, city hall had its work cut out for itself simply with regards to changing the names of its streets from communist names? Can you tell us a little about that on your Mailbox programme?"
It certainly is true that many street names were changed in Prague after the revolution. But it is mainly the bigger streets or squares that had communist names. Evropska, today's main street leading to the airport, used to be called Leninova. The Jan Palach Square used to be called the Red Army Square.
But the number of changes was probably not as great as you think. Many streets are named after noteworthy Czechs, big international cities, or even countries.
I, for example, spent most of my summer holidays on Londynska, named after London. Not far from that street is Francouzska, named after France.
And our new building, in which our studios are located is on Rimska - named after Rome. But the street that our main building is on - Vinohradska, is simply named after the district it's in "Vinohrady".
The second round of presidential elections took place on Friday and we have a question on the subject from Lu Xiu, who I believe is from China, but listens to us on medium wave here in the Czech Republic:
"The Czech media has been reporting on the presidential elections and the way the president is elected but my Czech is not good enough to understand. From your website I now know that he or she is elected by both houses of parliament. You call yourself a new democracy so do the people have the chance to take steps against the election of a person they do not agree with?"
Unfortunately, there is no clause in the constitution that sets down conditions for the opposition to a presidential election. However, the system is democratic because those who elect the president, meaning the lower house deputies and senators act on behalf of the people as the people have elected them.
And electing a president is one of many things that the people have entrusted both houses of parliament with. As you have seen, it has already been quite problematic electing a president with the current system, so if there were a further clause in the constitution allowing for another round, it would be a roller coaster ride.
But it is most likely that the next presidential elections will be by direct popular ballot as most parties in parliament are pushing for a change in the constitution to introduce the direct vote.
And moving away from politics to some entertainment. We have a question from Ben Smith who listens to us in up state New York in the USA:
"In one of your arts programmes you featured the Febiofest. The person you interviewed said that the film festival was started in order to introduce international movies to the Czech nation as at the time the chance to see them was very limited. That made me wonder what your country is like today as far as cinemas are concerned. What do they look like? How many are there in Prague. Are they modern theatres or still old theatres from the communist times? Are the movies dubbed into Czech?"
Well, you certainly should come visit. I think you would be in for some good surprises. Some Czechs feel that Prague has way too many theatres and needs to stop concentrating on the capital and bigger cities start focusing on smaller towns instead.
Prague has multiplex cinemas all over town and a new one is currently being built on Vinohradska - that's the street we're located on - which is to include a 3-D theatre. Czechs love culture and this includes going to the movies. The tradition of popcorn and nachos with cheese being a part of the trip to the movies is also catching on very fast.
And since most multiplex cinemas are located in shopping malls or shopping areas, people spend the Saturday or Sunday going shopping, having dinner and then going to see a film.
Which is nice but on the other hand, the disadvantage is that the appeal of the beautiful traditional theatres has been reducing and some have been forced to shut down. You still find them in smaller towns though.
As far as the language is concerned, most films stay in the original language and have Czech subtitles. It is only the really big productions such as Lord of the Rings or Star Wars that are also screened in dubbed versions.
As well as movies for children such as Shreck, Harry Potter, and Ice Age.
Giovanni Maiorana from Florence, Italy:
"I was shocked to hear that the Bata shoe store is Czech. I love their shoes! My wife only buys shoes from Bata too. Are Bata shoes also popular in the Czech Republic?"
Well, Mr Maiorana, I imagine Mr Bata will be flattered to hear that an Italian family chooses his shoes over the Italian products. But Bata shoes have been losing popularity here in the Czech Republic thanks to the numerous other shoe stores that have popped up around the country. The fact is that Bata shoes used to be considered to be better quality shoes and therefore people were willing to spend more money on them.
But today, the prices are comparable to foreign shoes of equal or sometimes even better quality, so no one thinks of Bata anymore when it's time to buy a new pair.
And staying with Czech stores. Sean Pain from somewhere in the US writes:
"When I was in Prague I fell in love with a store called Kenvelo. I have been looking for it here in the States and also when I was in Germany and France and never found it. It looked like a chain store. Is it not international?"
Kenvelo is actually owned by an Israeli who lives in Prague and from what we've been told, it started off in the Czech Republic and was also opened in Israel.
It actually means "Yes and No". Ken means yes, "ve" means "and" and "lo" means no.
Imanuel Bafa from Nigeria asks:
"What happened to those Austrians who went on a hunger strike against the Temelin power plant? I thought it was supposed to cause a chain reaction of hunger strikes. Is that happening?"
During the hunger strike, members of the Stop Temelin organisation claimed they already had 200 volunteers who would continue with the strike, once the first one ended. However, that did not happen and now no one's talking about it anymore. They do have a website, though, which is www.hungerstreik.at which explains why the campaign is actually taking place.
And that is where we have to end today. Please continue to write to us, the address is Radio Prague English section, 120 99 Prague 2, Czech Republic.
Or e-mail us to [email protected]
My name is Martin Hrobsky...
...and I'm Dita Asiedu. Thanks for joining us, do so again next week.
