look what Fate brought us

In the absence of any great progress with either of the houses, and no conclusive news about our local government's Flood defences cock-ups, I thought I might as well breathe a bit of fresh air into the blog, and share our delight in the new addition to our household.

Potok, I, and a builder were driving through a forest miles from any human habitation when something small and furry crossed the tarmac, making us screech to a halt. The macho builder immediately opened his door and ran to get it. And this is it: a tiny baby kitten, which I of course couldn't leave there - it was looking pathetic, it was shaking and I suppose it wouldn't have survived for much longer. Someone must have dumped it there as I don't see how it could have wandered off so far, let alone not have been eaten by the martens or foxes or one of the many birds of prey that live here.

Well, life is pretty complicated this year for us, and even such a small addition adds a lot to it nevertheless. Luckily the kitten is a survivor: she quickly learned how to lap up kitten milk from a saucer, soon understood about the dirt box, and already by the second day she was playing around with everything and anything. But we worried about our resident 3year old cat: would he accept this little intruder?

Wasn't easy at first! When he came in during the night as he always does, just before dawn, he found the kitten sleeping on our bed - well, HIS bed as far as he was concerned. After some low growling, he left, disgusted. But a few days later they were friends - due to the kitten's persistence in initiating the friendship. Well, now there's a lot of hide and seek, chases and rough play going around now (so much so that I sometimes wonder how the kitten survives), but as you can see, the older one is probably quite pleased to have his little friend - even though he still prefers to be out and about most of the time.The rest of the time, then, the kitten takes up MY time - it's hard to get anything done with this small being needing so much play and attention. Even now she's curled up on my lap as I write. But at least, for the moment now, I don't have to leap about playing games with her, like I am asked to do at any time when she is not sleeping.

The Five Petalled Rose festival

This year Krumlov celebrates 700 years since its first documented mention as 'town'. So the yearly festival was extra special this June, though the weather wasn't as kind to it as is usual at around the Summer solstice.
I've written two exhaustive posts about the festival last year, see
Krumlov - British Expats: The Five-petalled Rose
so rather than repeating myself, this time I shall just post a few pics from the market which you can (obviously) see by clicking onto them.

Restarting the works on Forest House

It's been a long time but at last I am getting on with the Forest House works again. Lots of pictures to come in the next few weeks - for now just a few that have been taken since May. I have a new team on board, just two people (3 at weekends) So far they've been excellent, and I feel more in control of what's going on. Too many mistakes were made last year which have still to be rectified, despite having had a building supervisor who was meant to keep an eye on things. The main work at the present time is the facade, and internal plastering.The garden is doing beautifully in the meanwhile. I've added a few trees and bushes, the vegetable patch is going from strength to strength and there should be a bumper crop at the end of the season.
And should you be wondering when the roof is going to be completed, it should be done in the Autumn, finances permitting.

day out at the riding stable

As we are still waiting to see what happens with the UNESCO cause, as I wait for the Lake house garden to return to some semblance of normality after all the earthworks, and as the riverside house works progress so slowly, here is something more cheerful to put up:The local riding stable that I so love held a beautiful family day, where the youngsters showed off their skills. As usual, the atmosphere was very gentle and relaxed, everyone came out with their kids and grannies, beer and sausages were aplenty, the girls dressed up the horses - and themselves - in amazing 'four elements' costumes and performed to music.

This is what small-town living can also be about: everyone knows everyone, we watch the kids growing up, and the community supports their members' efforts. The town hall might be a bain in our lives, but at the everyday level the sun shines and the living is friendly and easy.

The protest - a response from UNESCO

We have news that the Town has been asked by UNESCO to produce a report on the Flood prevention project, by this coming Monday.

In case it helps, here is a brief summary of just the one part of the huge project - regarding the island I so passionately blogged about:

The island was de-facto removed on Monday 18.5.

• Despite of the post-flood petition from the riverside residents in the year 2002, asking for a clearance of debris and some small alteration to the left bank. The Town Hall now bandies this petition about as its sole reason for having commissioned the Flood prevention project. ('It was only because residents asked for it...') The petition did not ask for the removal of the corpus of the island, neither has it asked for a great number of mature trees to be felled right in the middle of the heritage site..
• Despite of an open letter of 12.3.09 asking for the island to be retained
• Despite of the public open letter that collected in April 09 800+ signatures over a single weekend. The open letter asked for the retention of the island.
• Despite of a new petition of the riverside residents, of 3.4.09, which contradicts the Town Hall's press releases that the project was done at their behest, and reaffirms that they wish for the island - or at least a part of it, as compromise - to be retained.
• Despite of the fact that the un-ecological manner of the works contravenes several EU directives for such projects
  
• And despite an absence of any verifiable explanation, or officially accessible scientific or project documentation that would justify the total removal.of the island, the trees, and, indeed much other damage that is still being done in the name of this project, such as
• concrete-structured banks at a utilitarian angle running along most of the river edge within the historic centre
• an - as yet unexplained - iron turntable weir to replace the existing stone one under the castle
• the 'taming' of the river course including a removal of a protected historic bridge on the river Polecnice, a tributary to Vltava - which threatens to increase its flow into the very town centre that the works are meant to protect.
  

The Town Hall will surely have done their homework in response to UNESCO's call. I can only hope that what they produce is not the usual whitewash: the way the protesters' requests were treated - with absence of proofs, polite sarcasm and downright ridicule - would surely not wash when Unesco asks similar questions, would it.

Meanwhile here is a link to a short video on the official Cesky Krumlov website, which shows off Krumlov's beauty; ironically, it is of the island with its trees still intact :-) http://www.fotogalerie.ckrumlov.cz/php/fotogalerie/panorama/index.php?lang=cz&vr=9
Should they not replace it with a new video showing what it looks like now???

ducks at the ex-island

No photo this time as my blog is about dusk - My friend and I sat at the riverbank and watched the ducks' confusion as they swam and flew about the sad few tufts and stones that still stick out of the river where the island has been (the digging hasn't yet completely finished). The saddest of all was the fact that there was only a single duckling among them. Just the one. Its mum was leading it here and there around the place where presumably their nest would have been, but the river was flowing over it and so the whole effort was futile. My companion remarked how last year we watched from the same place whole families - trains of 6-9 ducklings each following their mums into the tall grasses of the island of an evening.
We also saw tonight the pair of ex-resident wagtails, also confused. Only the local blackbird sat atop the church spire singing his heart out as if nothing was amiss :-)

We then went upstream and saw not a single duckling, let alone a family of ducklings anywhere. Might be able to take some photos tomorrow when it's daylight, but for now I just had to write down what I saw. Oh, well, maybe I am being sentimental, maybe this is such a small thing in the whole scheme of things and the world of course goes on - but I have to say that my blood boils. After all it's the little things that, put together, make the world what it is. And by our interfering with it we all carry the responsibility for changing it for better or worse, aren't we. I am so sorry we failed in our efforts to save the island, really am.

This afternoon at 2pm the digger arrived at the island. Our protests and all those signatures against the removal of the island were in vain. Crunch - the first bite and the ducks scattered, forming little protective groups around the little ducklings, still very young.
The resident birds flew up, screeching in panic. And then we watched as, scoop after scoop, what remained of the little urban nature reserve was destroyed. Wild flowers, roots, reeds, water gladioli...
They told us that they will build a new - much smaller - island instead. But will the concrete island ever be able to serve the wildlife for whom the natural island was a safe home?Poor old Krumlov too: the old houses shall be framed by a concreted river. And what of its people? On the opposite bank from us, an Italian has been running a very successful and much beloved cafe, whose terrace is a picture of lovely greenery, where visitors from all over the world like to sit and enjoy the riverside under the castle. The Italian came to Krumlov some 20 years ago - but despite his long residency here he hasn't yet been able to find out from the Town hall whether his terrace will be bulldozed away or not! Even today, he still didn't know, whilst the bulldozer ate away at the island in front of his eyes. 'What will you do if they take your terrace away?', I asked. He shrugged: 'Go back to Italy'.This is a town that lives and breathes tourism - it is its only real source of income. If more people like this hard-working cafe owner leave, if more tourists, or even UNESCO, get fed up with a town that makes life of its residents and visitors harder and uglier by the day, if massive signature campaign doesn't produce a democratic result, what will the Town hall live on? One can bake the goose that lays golden eggs and have a fabulous dinner, but there will be no more golden eggs after that.