Color me blue & violet

One upon a time, in a land faraway, where according to legend, dragons once roamed - it came to pass that their cricket team won the Ashes. To celebrate this event (well at least in Riga) the Australian chapter of the Latvian Cricket Association in the shape of J...(Australian wood cutter) presented to S.....(Welsh cat flap king) a golden Lat coin, for him to keep until once again the Ashes series was replayed.

Well time passed by and so it came to pass that Australia stuffed England to regain the said Ashes - and in the time honored fashion the ceremony to return the golden Lat was held in our favoured weekend watering hole, prior to the Sunday Rugby fest.

To honor the occasion and the spirit of the original ashes a beer mat was burned, with the ashes from it to be kept in posterity (actually in a plastic bag) and with that the Golden Lat was returned for safekeeping by the Australian delegation. As and when England regain said Ashes, then this ceremony will be repeated, but I suspect none of the current village team will be alive, so the tradition will be passed down to our heirs, to maintain this new but proud custom.

I understand that thanks to a new member of our village J....(English - Keeper of the Gates) the Golden Lat is going to mounted on a wooden plaque and placed behind the bar. J.... also bears more than a passing resemblance to Desperate Dan - a Dandy comic hero of mine from my youth, however he does not wear the cowboy hat - Yet !

Prior to these memorable events, Saturday was spent with all in attendance for an absolute festival of Rugby - however it must be said that a hooligan element somehow sneaked into our midst. I will for the sake of his reputation decline from mentioning his name, but he proceeded to regale us, at the top of his voice - and every few minutes, with ---

"Ole - Ole - Ole - Ole-----OSPREY - OSPREY "

I think some of you may guess his true identity - he made the football hooligans, seem almost quiet ! Nonetheless it was a grand day - thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Now a word for the wise, having been deprived for many a year of being able to watch good old British TV here in Latvia. Despite numerous technological attempts we have all failed to be able to get British TV - but no longer, albeit at an exorbitant fee of $45.00 per month, you can now watch on your computer, or if you can connect your computer to your TV, then on your TV - BBC, BBC2, ITV1 and Channel 4 courtesy of www.liveuktv.com . Now I dearly suspect that whoever is behind this video streaming, that they are doing it without the approval of any of the UK authorities permission - but do I care - not a jot ! You will need a minimum download speed of 1mb, ideally more - indeed as much as you can get, and you will probably have to upgrade your computer with as much RAM memory as you can put in it.

Trip is being planned next weekend (Saturday) to visit Zvannieki, in order to measure up for the new kitchen, and determine all our electrical and water needs. So finally after a year we will hopefully get the new kitchen, into the new Zvannieki, before Spring arrives.

Now on a really important note, I have to two major announcements to make, both connected with color, and both will stagger your mind with the implications - so take a deep breath before you read on .....

1. I.... ( best bar lady in the world) has after 10 years (possibly more) changed the color of her hair to ..................dark violet !! - I can only think it is do to with the weather, and ....

2. J....( Tallest man from Cork living in Riga), has installed a blue flush in the toilets in De Lacy's - presumably to take your mind off the the graffiti on the walls.

On the last point an observation, why do the toilets in De Lacy's get graffiti, but those in Paddies and Dickens do not - could be anything to do with the fact that De Lacy's toilets are unisex and the others are not - or is simply that the others get a better class of cretin at the weekends ?

OK so it is not a Golden Lat coin - but it makes for a better tale