Big Bang

11 hours travelling brought us, finally, to the Czech City of Brno. We left France in a thunderstorm and arrived in a thunderstorm at Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague.

We were met by a delightful young lady called Linda, who is a director of opera. She drove us the 200+ kilometres to Brno along the oldest motorway in the republic, which is under serious reconstruction.

In torrential rain, with visibility almost zero, a truck about 100 metres ahead of us shed a wheel which bounced 30 feet in the air and kept going, overtaking the lorry and pursuing a potentially lethal bouncing route along the carriageway for nearly half a kilometre before finally coming to rest. It's a miracle there wasn't a serious crash.

However, we arrived safely in the end to be met by the festival organiser, my interpreter and a film director who is shooting a documentary about me tomorrow for Czech national TV.

Wine was consumed, food eaten, and refuge sought in our hotel for a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow starts with a press interview at 9am, followed by filming, then a one-and-a-half hour event in a city theatre tomorrow night. Hope I'm still standing by the end of the week!

The photo was taken from the TV in our bedroom. My favourite American sitcom, Big Bang Theory - in Czech! So weird.