Ten Green bottles

Remember that song " Ten green bottles" then nine, eight etc - well right now I feel like breaking into this song, but instead of bottles, replace it with disappearing pubs and bartenders.

In recent months we have lost De Lacy's, Tim McShanes, and now at the village lounge we are about to lose two of the bartenders G.....(Latvian- with golden ambitions) and the lovely I.....(Latvian- lipsmackingly lovely). What is going on ? - in the case of the latter two I suspect that the man management skills of the village lounge leaves a little to be desired. One thing is for sure that with these two leaving, the "atmosphere" will be seriously diminished.

So with Dickens about to close, and the future of the village lounge questionable - it does suggest that we are going to have to find a new "home" in the very near future.

Perhaps the new Stella bar might prove to be the place if they can get the right staff and the right mixture of beers. We shall but see - but I do wish they could get the tradition of the English/Irish pub instilled into them - and remember as it was so eloquently put to me the other evening " we can by beers etc anywhere, the reason we choose to adopt a pub as a home, is all to do with the staff, and the atmosphere they generate." Mind you it was interesting to be referred to as "furniture" by one member of the Village lounge bar persons. Not sure if he meant it as a compliment, or simply how he saw us. To be fair to him he is a Chelsea fan, so not over imbibed with brains.

Last weekend saw the return of the rugby marathon, thanks to the Heineken Cup, so on both Saturday and Sunday, we enjoyed a few jars and well as some wonderful rugby, which means that next weekend will see some seriously interesting games, whose outcome will decide those teams who will make it into the play off finals. Hopefully we will see the demise of the Ospreys, as I am not sure how much more "OLE - Ole - Ospreys" we can take from our maniacal Welshman S......

Elsewhere in the world they were the usual set of nonsensical goings on, such as

"A Greater Manchester council is considering recycling the heat from a crematorium's furnace to provide warmth for its chapel." You can almost hear the cry "throw another body in - its getting cold in here"
or
one of the major questions being asked in America at this time high political dram " Why do American pickets walk round in circles" one answer given was "There could also be the consideration that walking in a straight line constitutes a parade, says Professor Peter Ling of the School of American Studies at the University of Nottingham"

Good to know that world is carrying on as normal, with so much "other" stuff going on.

For Riga in the early part of last week, we had a little touch of winter, with temperature dropping, and a little snow gently caressing our little village. For a while is was wonderful, but almost overnight it turned to slush,and as I write has almost completely disappeared.

I would love to be able to tell you all that our kitchen project has been completed, but as yet we are still waiting on our Latvian kitchen fitter to complete his task, but as Rietumu Bank will be visiting the home on 21st January, I can but live in hope that it will be finished by this date.

However it appears that we again will be indebted to the bank, as they have given provisional approval for our request for additional funds for 2008, with the sum of Ls 7150.00 promised. We plan to use these funds for upgrading some of the electrics, and also the toilet and bathroom facilities. So as ever a big thanks to the bank !! - and indeed to all of those you have so generously during the year.

I will publish on the next blog, final details of our 2007 fundraising, and how the money todate has been spent. However as this is fairly detailed I will send by e-mail to all the Smiley fund contributors full details by way of a spreadsheet.

and finally, and somewhat belatedly a happy 60th birthday to J...(Irish-with poor taste in maths as he thinks he is still 54 !) - Welcome to the village 60's club of which I believe I am correct in saying that I am the founder member ! - ah well onwards and forwards