Going - going - GONE

Well yet another party to "celebrate" the departure of one of the village persons, but as you can see from the pictures below the actual number of village people who can attend the little celebrations is getting less and less. Nonetheless with J..... ( Irish - purveyor of tales of the sea) taking the chair and buying the drinks for the assembled I trust he had a farewell to remember. As I had to leave early I will no doubt learn later as to when the actuall party came to an end. For his part he was of the opinion that he was NOT going to have a late night, but why do I have this feeling that reality was somewhat different - we shall but see !

Quality not Quanity

A lovely couple ??

Does this man look happy or not !!

So whatever and wherever his next role in life takes him I (we) wish him every success, and he has promised just like a bad penny that he will return !!

Riga is now beginning to put on its Winter hat, as the leaves are descending from the tree in droves, and despite the best endeavors of our street/park sweeper upperers, they continue to make the street and pavement a wee bit slippy. Added to that the weather of late has been how shall I say depressingly Grey and wet, which I have to say adds a touch of doom and gloom to life in the city.

However just when you think life cannot get any worse, there is always a story of a poor unfortunate which makes you appreciate how lucky one is - for example take this from todays UK papers

Whoops! Rare American bird touches down in England 'for first time'... and then gets run over and killed by car

It took a 3,000-mile detour, after getting blown off course en route to South America, before alighting in England's green and pleasant land.

But, sadly, the arrival of the American Common Nighthawk, which has never been seen before in this country is not a happy one.

The rare bird appears to have landed and then been promptly run over by a car in the Isles of Scilly, off the coast of Cornwall. It was found by birdwatchers dead at the roadside.

Tragic end: The body of the American Common Nighthawk, spotted for the first time in this country, after it was run over by a car. Below, a specimen in full flight

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So it seems even for the birds life can suck - and you will note there is no mention of the poor motorist and what happened to him/her.

So I guess my advice to all is stick to where you know, and do not venture into strange habitats, this advise is particularly relevant to the cretins visiting Riga.

This weekend sees the 2nd round of the Heineken Cup, so I suspect it will be feast of rugby on Saturday and Sunday, but the big question is where to watch The village lounge or or new Star pub ??