Riga Taxis | Another Bag, More Travel

That evening as we walked back into the city for dinner it was obvious to us that the temperature was beginning to rise rather more quickly than we liked and the firm snow that had been a joy to walk on earlier was turning to a rather unpleasant watery slush. Whilst crossing a road Kim did a doctor Foster and spectacularly stepped into a puddle, not quite up to her middle but certainly up to her ankles. We all assumed that carried away by the beach experience earlier she really did think that she could walk on water.

We had an adequate but by no means memorable meal at the Lido and as we were discussing snow prospects we were almost immediately disappointed to see people coming inside and shaking rain from their coats. A dash to the street confirmed the worst, the temperature had risen and it was raining. We were not prepared for this and had to beat a hasty retreat from the city centre back to the Skyline.

Sadly the place was different tonight. The casual and relaxed ambience that we had all enjoyed had been replaced by a rowdiness, which accompanied the arrival of the boozy Brits on stag weekends. What a great shame. The forty-year occupation of Riga by the Russians has now been replaced by the weekly invasion of loutish gangs from Essex and Lancashire, people who do not know how to behave when representing their country abroad and visiting a European cultural capital. I think I know now how the Romans must have felt when the barbarian hordes gate crashed their party.

The arrival of these undesirables clearly also brings out the local low-life. Some of the girls were pretty but obviously hookers and the bar was populated by sinister looking local men who looked as though they had been left over from the KGB era. One man in particular acted very strangely. He was a solitary lounge lizard but insisted on occupying a prime location meant for four.

We temporarily joined him but he made us feel uncomfortable and we moved on when alternative seating became available. He acted shiftily, especially when he ordered a sumptuous plate of food and then left it in full view while he played hide and seek behind a pillar. He was obviously important because the waitress was fiercely protectionist about his seat but eventually when a group moved in on the table he reappeared to reclaim his sofa with a teasing grin. We left early and returned to the cocktail bar at the Albert, it wasn’t such a good location but at least it was quiet and tonight there was a better atmosphere there.

On the way home we had spotted the taxi driver who had taken us to Jurmala and back and in a moment of brilliant planning we approached him and booked him to pick us up tomorrow and take us to the airport. Just to make sure that he turned up Micky paid him in advance and we all thought that this was very clever.

Furthermore he was still confident that we would see more snow overnight and we trusted in the meteorological prediction that we all wanted to hear and went to bed.