Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Its been a While !

Well once again I have been remiss in keeping the blog uptodate - no real excuse - just enjoying what has been so far an outstanding summer. So what has been going on in Riga?  - well this summer saw the Song and Dance Festival, with over 40,000 participants. As ever this event which is held every five years, culminated on the Sunday night with a mass choir, over 17,000 strong giving a concert  you woud die for. But being Latvia even when the concert finished at around 1.30am on Monday morning, they continued well into early morning with an unrehearsed "Sing Song" - Simply Magical.



Then we had the visit of the Tall Ship fleet, visiting Riga after a 10 year absence. The City took them to heart and a festival took place on the banks of the Daugava.




And just complete this summer festivals this coming weekend sees the annual Riga City Festival with events being held throughout Riga. The full program can viewed at http://www.rigassvetki.lv/2013/galleries/category/en/jaunakas-galerijas or by clicking on this link. 

As I said the weather this year has been brilliant with temperatures above 30c - however this last week has seen a return to normal, indeed we have had more overcast/rain hours than sunshine. But hopefully the weather will sat dry and warm for the festival this weekend.

Last week saw the annual visit of A... (World record for Guiness consumption) - he was in fine spirits and as usual single handedly doubled the sales of Guiness during his 10 stay. I was also the lucky recipient of bacon and Scotch Pies, the latter I have not tasted for many many years -- delicious, but gone all to soon.
 
For those interested I am delighted to say the the annual Christmas Dinner in aid of the Zvannieki Childrens home will be held at the Radisson Ridzeme Hotel. My thanks to the hotel management and S....  ( Scottish Executive Chef)  in particular for agreeing to host this years dinner on Tuesday 10th December 2013. I have made myself one promise - and that is I will eat the full dinner this year, and hopefully avoid the fate I suffered last year, when to little food and to much wine led to be seriously altering my facial features, or at least my nose !