Art deco in Riga

A strange week really, on the sporting side we saw cricket overshadowed by the killing of the Pakistan coach - Bob Woolmer, and in football England once again proved how inept they really are. Scotland on the other hand - like Ireland - have kept their dreams alive for another day, but I fear that in the days to come Scotland at least will have their comeuppance.

Here in Riga, we experienced for the first time (but I suspect not the last) a visitation of mid week cretins. Not content with screwing up the weekend, they now appear to be determined to spoil our little village completely. The weekend cretins were above and beyond their usual low standards this weekend, not content with taking over De Lacy's, and other establishments, -they now overflow onto the street and verbally attack anyone who passes by, with what I can only assume they think is witty banter, but is in reality simply once again a demonstration of British moronic behaviour when abroad.

Needless to say I did not venture forth into the village hall at the weekend, but did manage to find a quiet respite on Mid Saturday afternoon at the village lounge, where at least at the time of my visitation, it was delightfully quiet. However I suspect that when the England v Israel game kicked off the atmosphere would have changed for the worse.

The weather over the weekend was simply stunning with blue skies and warm sunshine, still no sign of any blossom on the trees, but it cannot be far away.

On the Sunday saw a grand day out organised by P.....(horse box trader) on behalf of his son P...... birthday. Held in the Ainavars hotel, P..... once again provided a magnificent feast, with which to celebrate his sons first year.

Saturday saw the last British Airways flight depart from Riga, but as you can see from the image below, no one from BA operations has told the BA Eastern European Marketing team. The email was received this morning !

Ah well it can happen in the best of companies

So this to bring us to future events, well the big news of the week is that on Sunday 1st April we will formally hand over the new Zvannieki mini-bus. So to all of you, who have kindly donated to the Smiley Fund, please make your way along to St Saviours church for 6.00pm on Sunday evening when the presentation will be made.

On Wednesday evening at De Lacy's M....(Swedish technical guru) is hosting the first Ex Pats "casual meeting" not to be confused with the formal one held each month in the steak house. Young J....(Irish landlord of distinction) has consented to provide nibbles free of charge - it should be good night IF the mid week cretins are barred !! - Time is 7.00pm (I think)

Next weekend sees the return of a former village member R..(of pig in a freezer fame) -he is due in at the weekend - so drinks will be on him for his failure to regularly maintain his village member status.

Now one of the great joys of being in Riga, is the sheer variety of artistic capabilities on show and free to the public, from musicians, painters and street artists. So it was with great pleasure that I now note that De Lacy's is giving such support to these visiting artists during their stay in Riga.

A Special room (actually two) has now been set aside where these budding artists can leave their creative expressions for us all to share. The picture below shows just one of these galleries, the main Irish impressionist [painting in the background I believe was donated by the Guinness family), regretfully it covers up what was I thought was a masterpiece of the expressionist style entitled "Ripped Wallpaper" - in particular I would draw your attention to the minimalist frame

It is interesting to note that as far as I know no other similar establishment has followed this example. so once again De Lacy's leads the way ?? Entrance is free and to ensure comfort when viewing the exhibits a seat is provided alongwith a lockable door to ensure complete seclusion.

Personally I found the styles somewhat repetitive - but I am sure it is early days, perhaps a sign of the common background of the visiting artists (or should that be P.ss.d Artists ?)

Finally a special plea does anyone know a Norwegian speaker here in Riga ? if you do please let me know asap