2004-01-27..12:44 p.m.

very odd holiday practices w carp in CR, giant barrels as wide as your arms extended as far apart as they'll go have popped up all over the city overnight stuffed to the brim with slimy bluish fish. it's said that this is not merely to delight tourists, these oily freshwater fishies are bought up in their thousands by tradition loving czechs and kept for a week in their bathtubs (they don't wash anyway) before either being slaughtered for christmas feasting or released into the wild on the demand of czech toddlers where they die grisley deaths anyway. it's a weird and slightly barbaric practice. nelle and i picketed one carp barrel in the old town square waving pacards and shouting CARP ARE PEOPLE TOO! to a thoroughly bemused bunch of tourists who will stand happily documenting the onsite carnage. apparently the tourists that frequent the old town square are desparate to stand and gawp for hours on end - when they've had they're fill of fish guts and beheadings, they turn to the astromonical clock tower to wait for jesus and his buddies to elbow their way past the barn doors that secure them every hour on the hour. it's a veritable haven for ollie twists and artful dodgers in training. speaking of which, we were on an escalator descending to the metro when i looked down only the glimpse a retreating hand, retreating from the INSIDE of the front pocket of my camera bag. thankfully karma was one my side as the only thing in the front pocket is a couple of filters for my flash and a much snotted old tissue. the photo op's have been fabu so far! not only did we parade in front of carp bins, but we're hoping to commandeer a real live czech family to pose with us in turn.