Letter from Prague | All stories

Fourteen years after the fall of communism Czech audiences are enjoying a wave of retro. Films, TV series and pop music shows dating back to the communist 80s have found new favour. Can Czechs possibly be nostalgic for a time when they queued up to buy such basic things as bananas and toilet paper and were afraid to speak their minds in public? Sociologists who have been called upon to explain this unexpected phenomenon say that it is perfectly natural, something they call retro-optimism.

It's been an extremely hot summer here in the Czech Republic. Well, the older generation would say just another hot summer - only young skeptics talk about a possible climate change. Many enjoy the amount of sun we've been having, but for others, it is yet another reason to complain about their plight - such as farmers who never fail to be surprised by the seasonal changes in the weather, and are always demanding compensations from the government for what other entrepreneurs have to take as business risk. Nevertheless, the farmers only add to the

From spring to autumn, Fridays are typically the days with the busiest traffic in Prague. The reason is that many people like to spend the weekend outside Prague, at their weekend houses or cottages, away in the country. And even if they use other means of transport to get to work on other days, on Friday they will take their car and leave for the country straight from work after their shift ends, and sometimes even a little earlier.

Recently new EU regulations came into effect requiring average or less than average Czech pubs to clean up their act - in terms of hygiene that is. No longer allowed are simple bathrooms in pubs with only cold-running tap water, and what until now was a sad excuse for a towel to wipe one's hands in, hanging from a rusty nail. And of course the new regulations don't stop there: they also stipulate stricter handling of food and rules for food preparation, which most, I believe, will greet as a welcomed and necessary improvement. I don't know, perhaps

After I left the quiet and pleasantly cold interiors of Prague Castle where I had an interview that morning, I found myself on the courtyard, already warm from the first rays of sun. The tired faces of school kids traipsing round the castle brought back memories. They were sitting on benches suffering from an obvious lack of sleep, while the tourist guide was so uninspiring that even the teacher was beginning to doze off.

This week's Letter from Prague actually comes from a bit further afield: the Chalkidiki peninsula in northern Greece to be precise. And no, I haven't resorted to reading my holiday postcards on the radio: I recently got back from the Greek holiday resort of Porto Karras, where 25 heads of state and government gathered last weekend for the EU Summit.

Recently I came across a list of the goofiest thefts in the Czech Republic. At a time when thieves siphon away millions from bank accounts without even coming close to the building it was amusing to read about "old-school" thievery and the unbelievable things that people could actually steal. Undisputedly the heaviest loot which a thief ever made off with were three steam locomotives. You think that stealing a locomotive would arouse suspicion?

There's a football theme to this Letter from Prague. I'm neither a great fan nor an expert on the game, but a story popped up this week which caught my eye. It concerns a prison football team - the only prison team in the Czech Republic.

You may know the sensation. When you get off a plane in a foreign country, first of all you notice that the air smells different. It is heavy, humid, permeated with tropical fragrances; dry and crisp from mountain winds; moist and salty from a nearby sea, or thick and pungent with fumes from low-quality petrol. Inside the airport another combination of smells welcomes you - scents of foreign air fresheners in toilets, linoleums or paints, perfume with heavier or lighter notes depending on what people prefer in that country.

I recently read a most disturbing fact: the murder rate in my home country, Ireland, has tripled in the last decade, which some have partly attributed to an increase in binge-drinking. And I thought Irish people already drank and fought a lot. To be honest the high level of street violence is one reason I am glad to be out of the place. Conversely, the fact that Prague is as safe a capital city as you could hope to find is one of the things I really appreciate about living here. It's something most foreigners, men and women, comment on. Obviously