Its a lot of New Years !

Well here we are in 2012, unless you are Chinese in which case you have to wait until this week, but then again those of the Orthodox faith had to wait two weeks after the rest of us celebrated the New Year. No wonder the world has problems when we cannot agree which day it is !!.

Now as a long lost Scotsman, having departed from the homeland when I was 15 years old, I am somewhat bemused by all the talk of the proposed "independence" vote to take place in 2014, on the anniversarry of the battle of Bannockburn - the date selected no doubt to place an emotional tug on the heartstrings of those Scots who wish to vote.

For me I just do not understand the whole thing, what is Scotland going to be independent from ? - just a few years ago when Scotland got its own Parliament, whose new building cost over 5 times the original estimate - and whose taxation powers were limited to raising taxes or creating new ones. Personally I think it a complete waste of time and money, and is simply an ego trip by the SNP and Mr Salmond its delusional leader.

But enough of my personal gripes - And returning to the subject of Riga - well we have finally discovered Winter - with snow arriving last week, and temperatures forecast to drop to -15 degrees this weekend - so I am getting ready to step into my Winter warmers for the first time.

There is one small downside to all the snow - the pavement cleaners ! - every morning from about 5.30am there they are with an assortment of snow clearing tools, brooms, plastic shovels and the old faithful a broomhandle with a flat piece of aluminium attached to the end. The noise of them scraping the snow into great mountains of snow in wee hours of the morning ensures that no sleep is possible. As live right beside a bus and tram stops, and these must be kept clear otherwise passengers could not get on or off the respectives modes of transportation.

I guess it will only be a matter of time before the snow/ice roof cleaners will be performing there annual dance with death as they seek to remove the snow, befores it descends downwards to hit some poor unsuspecting passerby. For those new to Riga that why wherever possible people walk in the middle of the road!

This week sees the annual celebration of Australia Day, by the Aussies far from home, on the actual day - 26th January - a party will be hosted at the Kiwibar, whilst on Sunday, and for those brave enough - a cricket match will (may) be held, followed by beers and goodies at the Ala bar, hosted by young K........ ( Australian/Latvian - king of sausage rolls). So whilst we might be lacking the weather of down-under - the spirit lives on !

So to those you read this blog, or have just stumbled across it - I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year - for my part I will continue to enjoy life with all the trials and tribulations that it brings.