On Monday April 2nd the missus and I went to the upscale Rio's restaurant in Prague. On its walls you can see lots of pictures of President Vaclav Klaus and other local luminaries. We were the only diners in the main room and the downstairs room which was empty when we arrived, was sectioned off. It was noticeable that the prowling restaurant owner was somewhat agitated by our presence.
In our relationship, we have an arrangement whereby the girlfriend always gets the seat with the best views of the room and so as usual I was facing the wall, when my girlfriend whispered to me "Did you see who just arrived? It was Paroubek" (the married leader of Czech Socialist Party). I turned to see his hulking frame descend the stairs.
In his wake was a youthful security guy complete with earpiece who frisked the area and stationed himself at a table between us and the stairs. Some men and some glamourous blonde women arrived. The one pictured arrived alone - in not a dissimilar outfit to the one shown here. One of the restaurant staff mentioned to the security man something along the lines of "You would, wouldn't you?" to which he replied "I don't think my boss would like it". We were going to get a dessert, but the oppressive atmosphere was hardly conducive so we decided to leave. As we left the restaurant, the owner was involved in a heated and very rude exchange with a taxi driver telling him not to come so close to the restaurant and threatening to call the taxi company to have the driver sacked!!!
I shared my titbit with
a Czech confidant the next day, but there wasn't enough to blog on, so that was that. Fast forward three months and it is revealed that
Paroubek is divorcing his wife and has hooked up with Petra Kovacova (pictured above). The timing of events suggested in the
joint public statements issued by Paroubek and his wife don't seem to stack up with what I witnessed, but I'll let people who understand the Czech language better then me check through.
In a situation mirroring the John Prescott scenario, Jiri Paroubek had criticised his opposite number Mirek Topolanek when
Mirek was caught out last year. In a country where over half of all marriages end in divorce, both major party leaders have begun divorce proceedings in the past year. I don't think we're going to see a "back to basics" political philosophy any time soon here, but this is the kind of news that makes my girlfriend want me not to be involved in politics.
Which brings me on the following bit of pop psychology that has been doing the rounds.
"Men strive to attain political power, consciously or unconsciously, in order to have reproductive access to a larger number of women. Reproductive access to women is the goal, political office but one means. To ask why the President of the United States would have a sexual encounter with a young woman is like asking why someone who worked very hard to earn a large sum of money would then spend it." Discuss.
Damon tells me that he has a particular interest in Czech culture and history, so I have suggested showing him some historic sights. Attached are a couple of snaps from the Vysehrad Castle area which I am looking forward to introduce to Damon and Angie.
