25 and counting

First of all to all of those who have commented about the delay in updating the blog - my apologies, but sometimes time does not permit.

So as to the goings on in our little village, well the big news is course is that the lovely I.....(Latvian barwoman of the year) has now moved on from the village lounge and is now to be found in a Stella Bar !!. This a new one just opened and is next to The Dickens Bar. I have to confess it is not to my liking as it bears no resemblance to any pub that I would frequent. All glitz and metal, although it does boast the biggest projection screen in Riga - so it may well suite the cretins and the upmarket locals, particularly if my information is correct it also boasts the most expensive steak in town - at Ls20.00! I wish it well but my patronage will be staying at the village lounge.

Elsewhere life has been carrying on as normal, although some of the conversations taking place are becoming more and more surreal. Who would have guessed that we have a Goth in our midst ? and an Irish one at that - so step forward P...... (Irish with a hint of mystery), likewise our Mexican/Latvian village member regales you with tales of the "String theory", and he is not referring to a G-string ! So none of your everyday pub chat for us.

Winter seems to have passed us by, as we have barely seen any snow nor serious sub zero temperatures.

Over the last few weekend rugby has as ever dominated the sports scene, and courtesy of S....(Welsh with a passing interest in the sport) has organised a competition to see who can forecast the winners of each and every game. Apart from a bit of fun it also gives us chance to raise a few lats for the Zvannieki children's home, as a fee of Ls 10.00 was charged for each entry. With two rounds already played I can advise that at this time only three people have a 100% record, one from the entries in Riga and Ireland, and two from sunny Wales. So it will be interesting to see how the competition evolves over the next two weekends.

Saturday saw an invitation from J...(Irish would be builder) to join him for lunch prior to Wasps v London Irish game. It was not so much a meal, more feast, as along with others in attendance I struggled to clean my plate - Pork, Potatoes, Carrots, Mushy peas, stuffing, etc all in Irish man size portions. By the end of the game, and after a few liquid refreshments I was not alone in just wanting to retire to bed.

We have also gained a new village member E....(American - dabbles in scanners) - recently arrived from the UK, and is currently sampling a variety of feminine charms to be found in Riga.

A couple of weeks ago young R....(English/Latvian - recruiter of note) visited for one of his infrequent visits, and as usual managed to reduce the alcohol stocks of Riga in record time.

Now on the subject of alcohol consumption, is it just a coincidence that a certain Irish gentleman of notorious fashion fame is being being blamed by all and sundry for leading them astray when he is in town ? - as all of these escapades seem to take place in the wee hours, I of course have no first hand knowledge of these reports, but I do sense a great deal of relief from his cohorts when he departs these shores and heads back to Ireland.

I regret to advise all that once again a young Brit has taken it upon himself to use the Freedom monument as a toilet, but for some reason which I cannot fathom his fine, which was a mere Ls50.00. What is going on ? - for my part I would have banged him up and thrown away the keys - perhaps then the message would get across to these morons that using the Freedom monument as a urinal was not a good idea and could seriously damage your health.

Now as we all know Latvia has some serious political problems, but one of them is not the lack of political parties from which the population can choose. Up until last week Latvia had 25 political parties, but guess what a breakaway gang of the New Era party are now going to set a 26th. So that is roughly one party for every 100,000 of the population, including children. Now that what I call a Democracy. Just a pity that the majority of the politicians are verging on the border of lunacy. However I suspect many of them will be leaving domestic politics for the biggy in Brussels, not because of any great altruistic reasons, just that the EE parliament in Brussels ( ala Strasbourg) have decided that from April 2008 all EU parliamentarians will get the same salary. Now this is seriously bad news for the Italians, but for the Latvian EU representatives this will represent a whopping 600% increase from there current Latvian based package. Who said the EU was not good for Latvia, certainly not the Latvian MEP's - so watch out for the next EU elections.On the lunacy side of life, well the Lattelecom saga goes on and on, but of course with background political obliachs still controlling the "real" owbership issues, I suspect it will be a long time before this saga is over, and I will take bets that at some time, mother Russia will have a stake in this.

As I write this the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and I saw this morning a horse drawn carriage wending its way into town - it must be summer ! - bring on the outdoor bars - and to the woman who is knitting wooly jumpers for her hens ( apparently they lost there feathers fighting) - keep it up, as it is people like you who make me looking sane