Mind your P and Q's
Last weekend, saw once again a glorious day, which started at the early hour on Saturday in De Lacy's, alongwith the complete Australian population of Riga to watch the Aussie Rules final. I must confess I did not make it for the start ( 7.45am !) - but I did struggle in for about 9.00, by which time the Swans were losing by some 20 points to the Eagles. By the time I had consumed breakfast alongwith Orange juice and Coffee, the scoreline was much closer, and by full time only one point was in it - Much to the relief of the watching Eagles supporters. Uve did his best to explain the rules, but to me it still looks like total chaos.
I left the Australians to celebrate, and entered into Dome Square, where there was the annual Autumn craft fare. By this time the sunshine was out, and it was simply glorious to sit in the square and watch the world go by, and at the same time watch the almost non stop dancing of the the regional dance groups. It never ceases to be amazed by the sheer energy that goes into these dances, and the joy that the dancers show, both men and women. I cannot think of another country where the young people take such obvious pleasure in keeping the local dance traditions alive.
The square and the surrounding streets were awash with local produced goods, but this time I noticed for the first the amazing number of Pumpkins, both in terms of size and colour.
It made such a pleasure to see so many tourists strolling in the streets, and unlike the Cretins, actually taking time out to take in a bit of local culture.
On the subject of Cretins this week sees the first arrivals, courtesy of the you know who airline, with direct flights from Glasgow (well Prestwick actually) and scarey thing is that if you check out the web site, you cannot get a flight any weekend in October or November, so God help us next weekend when the first batch arrives.
I finally left the festival in the late afternoon, and as ever set about my domestic duties, which continued through until Sunday, when after a few sms's from J....(Aussie wood merchant - who admits he got P.ss.d on Saturday) - to advise me Paddies was empty. So I joined him there - in the late afternoon, but due to shortage of bartenders upstairs was closed - so downstairs we sat, very pleasant - UNTIL - the magic hour arrived and from nowhere the cretins appeared to watch their football - in this case Man United v Newcastle. So I left the morons to enjoy there simple pleasure.
Before my departure young B..... ( English teacher - or so he claims !) arrived looking very much the worse for wear - but then does he not always ? - claiming his appearance was due his celebration of his birthday on Saturday - So belatedly HAPPY BIRTHDAY - B....., and the same subject HAPPY BIRTHDAY C... (English property magnate in Jurmula).
I had hoped to get out to the Sigulda Craft Fair - but it was not be.
Now as I am sure all you are aware, this October sees the visitation of our Queen and Philip to the Baltic States, and can you believe it British Embassy has finally admitted that I exist - I have received an invitation to attend St. Saviours Church, where the Queen will unveil a plaque in memory of the British Servicemen who died in Latvia on both World Wars. I received the invitation on Saturday 30th September, but the invitation indicated I had to respond by the 29th September - nice one Mr B... !! ( UK embassador with dodgy shoes).
Re Zvannieki - had a strange request from S..... (Canadian-Latvian with religious bent) - cpuld we find her some dead pigs !. Apparently the cost of buying pigs in bits is geting a bit too much, so they would like to see if buying whole, but dead,pigs would be cheaper. Young J...( Australian wood dabbler), suggested I contact the dad of R.. (ex village member of English-Latvian descent) as he apparently breeds live pigs, but can turn them into dead ones (remember the nearly pig roast of last year ??) - but if anyone has other suggestions let me know.
And finally - can you believe it - Reading won again - the adventure goes on !!
I left the Australians to celebrate, and entered into Dome Square, where there was the annual Autumn craft fare. By this time the sunshine was out, and it was simply glorious to sit in the square and watch the world go by, and at the same time watch the almost non stop dancing of the the regional dance groups. It never ceases to be amazed by the sheer energy that goes into these dances, and the joy that the dancers show, both men and women. I cannot think of another country where the young people take such obvious pleasure in keeping the local dance traditions alive.
The square and the surrounding streets were awash with local produced goods, but this time I noticed for the first the amazing number of Pumpkins, both in terms of size and colour.It made such a pleasure to see so many tourists strolling in the streets, and unlike the Cretins, actually taking time out to take in a bit of local culture.
On the subject of Cretins this week sees the first arrivals, courtesy of the you know who airline, with direct flights from Glasgow (well Prestwick actually) and scarey thing is that if you check out the web site, you cannot get a flight any weekend in October or November, so God help us next weekend when the first batch arrives.
I finally left the festival in the late afternoon, and as ever set about my domestic duties, which continued through until Sunday, when after a few sms's from J....(Aussie wood merchant - who admits he got P.ss.d on Saturday) - to advise me Paddies was empty. So I joined him there - in the late afternoon, but due to shortage of bartenders upstairs was closed - so downstairs we sat, very pleasant - UNTIL - the magic hour arrived and from nowhere the cretins appeared to watch their football - in this case Man United v Newcastle. So I left the morons to enjoy there simple pleasure.
Before my departure young B..... ( English teacher - or so he claims !) arrived looking very much the worse for wear - but then does he not always ? - claiming his appearance was due his celebration of his birthday on Saturday - So belatedly HAPPY BIRTHDAY - B....., and the same subject HAPPY BIRTHDAY C... (English property magnate in Jurmula).
I had hoped to get out to the Sigulda Craft Fair - but it was not be.
Now as I am sure all you are aware, this October sees the visitation of our Queen and Philip to the Baltic States, and can you believe it British Embassy has finally admitted that I exist - I have received an invitation to attend St. Saviours Church, where the Queen will unveil a plaque in memory of the British Servicemen who died in Latvia on both World Wars. I received the invitation on Saturday 30th September, but the invitation indicated I had to respond by the 29th September - nice one Mr B... !! ( UK embassador with dodgy shoes).
Re Zvannieki - had a strange request from S..... (Canadian-Latvian with religious bent) - cpuld we find her some dead pigs !. Apparently the cost of buying pigs in bits is geting a bit too much, so they would like to see if buying whole, but dead,pigs would be cheaper. Young J...( Australian wood dabbler), suggested I contact the dad of R.. (ex village member of English-Latvian descent) as he apparently breeds live pigs, but can turn them into dead ones (remember the nearly pig roast of last year ??) - but if anyone has other suggestions let me know.
And finally - can you believe it - Reading won again - the adventure goes on !!
posted by dfs at Monday, October 02, 2006
2 Comments:
As an avid reader of your blog Mr S, R.. (ex village member of English-Latvian descent)said Father is a cattle farmer not a pig farmer, however may know where to get whole dead pigs!!!
R..
Wonderful to hear from you, Your Dad has subsequently told me that he does not breed Pigs, but he is trying to see you can.
Drop me an e-mail to let me knowwhat you are getting up to.
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