Somebody up there likes me !
Once again I have been remiss in keeping the many tens of my dedicated readers up todate on life in Riga. So for this story I have to return to Easter weekend - but before I do so I have a question - why does Easter weekend keep on changing ? If my understanding is correct then when the "big fella" ( to quote Billy Connolly) made his grand re-appearance it must have been on a specific date - must it not ? I mean we do not screw around with his birthday, it always on the 25th December. So how come Easter moves ? I mean in 1946 Good Friday was on April 19th, which by sheer coincidence is MY BIRTHDAY, but this year it was on the the 21st March !!
Anyhow the weekend was notable for being seriously quiet, as many of the village people departed to their respective homeland, however we did see the return of the prodigal Irish person J....( former tobacco baron and Shelley look a like - before he had his haircut)
It was good to see him in such fine form, but as yet no sign a of a permanent return.
Now on the previous Thursday afternoon I had taken myself into the old town for a business meeting, but when it came time to leave the restaurant I was trapped. In the time I had been in the restaurant, the new Gallerija Shopping Mall complex had caught fire, or at least the top floor. It would appear that every fire engine in Riga was on attendance. But again a question raised itself - how did they get through the barriers which prevent unauthorised cars getting into the Old City. If anyone has every taken the time no notice at anytime of the day there is usually queues trying to gain entry. But to get what appeared to over 15 fire appliances in must have taken
After that Easter passed quietly, and soon it was back to work time, but just as thoughts of Spring were about to enter - whallop, possibly the greatest amount of snow we have seen over the Winter was dumped in Riga and all over the the country, with some reports of over 40cm of snow falling in one day.
Last weekend saw two great sporting events, The Grand National and the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup.
For the first we had organised a little sweepstake, to raise a few pennies for Zvannieki, and guess who won ??
ME - and who says life is unfair, although I do have a confession to make, when we did the "draw" courtesy of C.....( budding Kabel entrepreneur) I had used the Sweepstake list as produced by the BBC on Tuesday 2nd April. But when I went on Saturday morning to send out the list showing who had what horse, they had changed a significant number of horses. So to be as fair as I good I took the new set of horses from the revised BBC Sweepstake list and simply replaced each of the "old" horses with new ones as per the list. So to all who took part many thanks - and I will host a round of drinks for as many participants as possible and put the balance in the Smiley Fund.
On the Friday previous V....(Australian and shipwrecker of note) finally announced he was going legal, and we were invited to a grand opening of his new and spacious office in Riga. The usual suspects were there - but a wonderful selection of goodies was there alongwith a few liquid selections. So to V.... all the best in your new legal endeavour, and if you need to know where the Tax office is - just ask
Finallyt to finish on the Rugby - as is our normal practice we would normally have been found at the village louge to view the games. However on this occasion the "management" had decided to close the Pub from 4.30pm - in order to host two private parties - but also advised their patrons that we could come back at 10.00pm on Saturday night. hmmmmmmm.........
I am not sure of the complete set of skills needed to run a successful pub, but if anyone knows of an idiots guide to managing a pub, can they please bring it and present to the so called management of this establishment, because they need it !
So having been effectively banned from our usual haunt, and fearing the worst at the new Stella Bar, we took ourselves of to the original Stella bar, and it was I have say most excellent - good beer, relatively quiet, no cretins and enough TV screens to keep both the rugby and football viewers happy.
So to the London Irish I say well done, condolences to the Ospreys, Cardiff and Gloucester.
Anyhow the weekend was notable for being seriously quiet, as many of the village people departed to their respective homeland, however we did see the return of the prodigal Irish person J....( former tobacco baron and Shelley look a like - before he had his haircut)
It was good to see him in such fine form, but as yet no sign a of a permanent return.
Now on the previous Thursday afternoon I had taken myself into the old town for a business meeting, but when it came time to leave the restaurant I was trapped. In the time I had been in the restaurant, the new Gallerija Shopping Mall complex had caught fire, or at least the top floor. It would appear that every fire engine in Riga was on attendance. But again a question raised itself - how did they get through the barriers which prevent unauthorised cars getting into the Old City. If anyone has every taken the time no notice at anytime of the day there is usually queues trying to gain entry. But to get what appeared to over 15 fire appliances in must have taken
After that Easter passed quietly, and soon it was back to work time, but just as thoughts of Spring were about to enter - whallop, possibly the greatest amount of snow we have seen over the Winter was dumped in Riga and all over the the country, with some reports of over 40cm of snow falling in one day.
Last weekend saw two great sporting events, The Grand National and the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup.
For the first we had organised a little sweepstake, to raise a few pennies for Zvannieki, and guess who won ??
ME - and who says life is unfair, although I do have a confession to make, when we did the "draw" courtesy of C.....( budding Kabel entrepreneur) I had used the Sweepstake list as produced by the BBC on Tuesday 2nd April. But when I went on Saturday morning to send out the list showing who had what horse, they had changed a significant number of horses. So to be as fair as I good I took the new set of horses from the revised BBC Sweepstake list and simply replaced each of the "old" horses with new ones as per the list. So to all who took part many thanks - and I will host a round of drinks for as many participants as possible and put the balance in the Smiley Fund.
On the Friday previous V....(Australian and shipwrecker of note) finally announced he was going legal, and we were invited to a grand opening of his new and spacious office in Riga. The usual suspects were there - but a wonderful selection of goodies was there alongwith a few liquid selections. So to V.... all the best in your new legal endeavour, and if you need to know where the Tax office is - just ask
Finallyt to finish on the Rugby - as is our normal practice we would normally have been found at the village louge to view the games. However on this occasion the "management" had decided to close the Pub from 4.30pm - in order to host two private parties - but also advised their patrons that we could come back at 10.00pm on Saturday night. hmmmmmmm.........
I am not sure of the complete set of skills needed to run a successful pub, but if anyone knows of an idiots guide to managing a pub, can they please bring it and present to the so called management of this establishment, because they need it !
So having been effectively banned from our usual haunt, and fearing the worst at the new Stella Bar, we took ourselves of to the original Stella bar, and it was I have say most excellent - good beer, relatively quiet, no cretins and enough TV screens to keep both the rugby and football viewers happy.
So to the London Irish I say well done, condolences to the Ospreys, Cardiff and Gloucester.
posted by dfs at Monday, April 07, 2008
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