This is the second weather post in a row, I know, but I just can’t keep quiet about this. We’ve had a summer day here in Prague. It’s been absolutely beautiful. The sun is out, the sky is blue, the air is warm, the high was somewhere around 21°C (70°F). I was cautious before going out this afternoon and just had to put a jacket on because it simply felt wrong not to after having bundled up in three layers of clothes for months. As it turned out, I didn’t need it. Jeff wore a t-shirt and was happy as a clam.

I have a feeling that the weather has played a malicious little game with us this winter. It dumped tons of snow on us, brought arctic temperatures from Russia and didn’t give us a break for the longest time, just to make us feel that the winter would never end. And then it serves us a gorgeous day we’re not really expecting until May and laughs at our unpreparedness and childish glee.

Here’s a bit of weather wisdom for today:

Jaké počasí bude na sv. Ruprechta, takové bude i v červenci.
The weather you get on St. Rupert Day is the weather you’ll have in July.

I’m not going to complain if we have weather like this in July!

Jeff and I went out today and wow, was it warm! Our thermometer showed an unbelievable 13°C and the real temperature was probably about 11°C (52°F). We were shocked when we stepped out and were hit by air that not only lacked the cold bite we got used to in the past four months (seems like eternity by now), but contained noticeable traces of WARMTH. We became almost ecstatic and big smiles spread over our faces. Instead of taking the tram to our destination, we happily walked, scarfless, gloveless, hatless, unzipping our jackets as we warmed up and pointing out people who weren’t even wearing jackets (gasp!). We didn’t care when it started drizzling and we thought, let anything come down as long as it’s not SNOW!

We’re going to have lunch at the Klášterní pivovar Strahov tomorrow. It’s set in a beautiful location that just invites you for a walk. I checked the weather forecast and couldn’t believe my eyes. It shows a whopping 17°C for Prague, 19°C in Southern Moravia (63 - 66°F)! What a great way to welcome Daylight Saving Time!

Too many exclamation points in this post? Well, I’m excited, believe you me!

TV Nova showed Bohumil Hrabal’s Postřižiny last night and I couldn’t help but watch it, for the umpteenth time. It’s a wonderful Czech classic that can be seen over and over. In my opinion, the film is best understood if you are a native Czech, appreciate Czech humor and like Hrabal’s “tender barbarian” style of writing.

This gentle comedy is a lovely view of Hrabal’s parents, the brewery his father ran in Nymburk, Hrabal’s unique uncle Pepin, and the times of “cutting it short” at the beginning of last century. It is one of those pleasant films that bring a smile to your face and just make you feel good. Something else the film can do is give you an irresistible craving for jitrnice and beer. Both of which I had for lunch today.

On Sunday, March 26 at 2am CET, we will set our clocks forward one hour. The České Noviny website has an interesting article on the history of summer time in the Czech Republic.

With the arrival of summer time, I would certainly hope that spring is just around the corner. Officially it is here, but we still have been having temperatures that dip below freezing.

The Czech Republic passed a law on Wednesday allowing registered partnership for same-sex couples (more at ceskenoviny.cz). With parliamentary elections coming up in less than three months, some say there was a lot of politics involved in the campaign and voting. I say, whatever it takes.