All Change !

The one thing about the world and Riga in particular is that it never stands still, and this was never more true than in regards to our local hostelries. It all started last year with the closure of our village hall - De Lacy's, then Tom McShanes morphed into The Victory, complete with pole dancers.

Now this weekend saw the closure of The Dickens, to make way for a fashion shop/store. Apparently the fittings are being shipped off to St. Petersburg. So now we are left with the village lounge, but even here it looks as if life will change this year, as the existing lease runs out in the latter part of 2008.

So within the space of 12 months Riga may well loose all of the so called English/Irish bars, and could well become the only capital city in Europe not to have at least one proper "pub". Sorry I cannot call the Stella bars a pub, even though they proudly claim this title on there doors. But it could well be that they may become the only place left.

Saturday saw the village lounge play host to a group of visiting folks from Ireland, and in sharp contrast to the Scottish cretins of last weekend, they truly added to the atmosphere when watching the rugby, and what a feast it was, with the usual performance from Scotland, a marked improvement from England, and the daddy of them all, Wales taking the championship in fine form with a convincing win over the French.

Our Six Nation championship competition has as far as I can determine produced no outright winner, as on the list that I maintain we have three people win 11 correct results. However I must await further information from our Welsh adjudicator S...... as to the results from the Welsh competitors, as just maybe they have produced someone with 12 correct answers - Watch this space.

Now today is St. Patricks day, and the village lounge has gone overboard with its Irish decorations - well actually they put up some green balloons, and the omnipresent Guinness posters. However by Thursday night the majority of balloons had burst ! - and I suspect most of the Irish visitors will have headed back home, so it will be interesting to see the attendance tonight. Regretfully I will not be in attendance as I am working the night shift, but as ever the village members will keep me posted.

Well not for the first time, I got the above wrong, first of all I did attend at least until 7.30pm, and there was indeed quite a few Irish persons inside the lounge to celebrate St. Patricks day, albeit that they were two days late !, as I understand that in order to avoid conflict with the Easter religious celebrations, Ireland had decided that this year the official Paddies day would be held on the 15th February !

It was also noted that none of the Irish village members were in attendance, or not when I was there - however I understand that the alchohol free Irish Ambassador had organised a black tie "Irish" night. Bet that was a bundle of fun !

Not that this seemed to have any effect on those attending ( at least in the early part of the evening), as one poor sole had nearly lost his voice since his arrival in Riga - but that was not going to affect his consumption.

Now does anybody recognise the Pixie in the tall hat ?

Finally a message to Singapore Airlines - You S..k !!! - why you might ask, well last year I registered to fly on the first A380 flight into London, and guess what the damn thing arrive today in London - and where am I? - in Riga. Did I receive any notice - NO !!!!!. So now I suppose I am going to have to see how I get my deposit back

Late notice on the Six Nations competition - WE HAVE A WINNER, with a forecast of 11 correct results (tying with two others) and with the nearest forecast of tries scored - 53 against the actual number of 50. So well done to C.... (English with penchant for nightclubs and free drinks).

Finally a lady from the past re-appeared last night - Young L.......( Latvian/Russian lady - married to M... and living in New Zealand). She is back in town until May - but no sign of M...
!! - good to see her and she looked stunning