Greetings and welcome to another fuzzy offering from Marko the Werelynx. Atsa me, Markio! CoughCoughCough
Oh dear, sorry. I don't know what got into me. I think I managed to cough it out.
It's May Day! Once the first day of summer, dances around maypoles, flowers...
Then it was adopted by the Communists and devolved away from their original intent of using this day to call attention to the ol' struggle of the proletariat and give praise to the workers of the world-- and became more of a day for grand marches past tribunals packed with grim-faced, paunchy, old, white men. A day to praise and laud and polish those men.
Folks lobbed flowers at them. Occasionally bouquets were used to conceal rocks.
These days in the Czech Republic we can expect a few things to happen. Lovers will gather under flowering trees and near statues of poets to kiss. Anarchists will hold a rally and march against racism while Nationalists hold a rally and march pretending not to be racists.
They may throw a few things at each other.
The Communists will be wheezing their old wheezes near a graveyard they helped to fill. They'll be pretending that unemployment proves that they were right and they'll be closing their eyes to the horrors of their past just as hard as they can. There will be a couple other political parties holding little rallies, but folks won't probably be bothering to yell at them or throw anything.
There will be lots of students out on the streets. My #1 Son came home from school on Thursday covered from hair to shoes with a rosy red powder with a one word explanation, "Majáles." Students gone wild. They'll be out there demanding diplomas be printed on edible paper this year.
Me? I'll be one of the ones smooching under a tree.
No plans to throw anything today... except maybe a few pots if the weather is nice. Not much hope for that though. At least my day should be blessedly free of politics.
Do you have any traditions associated with May Day?
I have two photos to share with you that I'll file under EXTENDED (OPTIONAL).
There may be more photos to share later, but I'll drop those into the comments.
So, here's a sunrise illuminating a field of solar panels seen through the trees near my home:
And here's a view across one of the ponds in a local park. That's the tube of the subway going over the water... last car of one of the trains can be seen through the windows of the tube heading off to the right:
I had a pretty busy week. I spent most of last weekend working on designing a website for a client and making an effort to keep the lads fed, the occasional load of laundry done and the dirty dishes prevented from overbreeding. Monday I showed my client what I'd been up to and had a quick beer with a friend. Tuesday I got a start on some sample pages for a book... I'm putting in a bid to do some graphic design work. If I get the job it'll keep me busy for a few months. Tuesday afternoon Mrs. the Werelynx returned from visiting her brother in Brussels. And Wednesday and Thursday I was glued to the computer getting more work done on that bid. And today? well, today I put together this little diary and wrote an email to a friend. Then at least part of my little family and I drove out to the country to see how things were growing and repair a downspout, clean out a gutter, pull a few weeds out of the garden and open a bottle of wine.
I think I'll try to spend most of this rainy weekend away from any of these glowing computer things.
There are several cherry trees in full bloom outside.