Lazy days in some glorious settings

Damien Enright on a journey through Eastern Europe.

A FARMER in an ancient tractor cut hay while the sun shone in a Bohemian meadow in the Czech Republic, last Sunday morning. At 10am, it was already 30°. Why he was cutting on a Sunday, I don’t know; maybe it was recreation and he enjoyed it.

Most days, the weather was glorious, although sometimes the Mothers of all Downpours would fall from the sky. Clouds gathered, thunder rolled and those caught outside were drenched in minutes. Heat and rain: it was like Tokyo in the mid-summer monsoons.