The penultimate week...Riga n all
Captain's Log....(Been dying to start with that for ages!!)
Riga – 3rd – 5th March 2006
This trip really starts the day before on Thursday, where I left work and also Nick and I met up at the old faithful in the Hill of Tulse for the Railway Tavern pub quiz – an old favourite of ours and also the site of a famous quiz win under the team name of ‘Melbournism’ – a story for another night methinks. However, there were echoes of that old team in Nick, Michelle and myself, but sadly we weren’t to repeat the highlights of the win. We did repeat getting smashed though – f*cking A!
So, join me for a quick trip back in the day before we fly off to Riga Friday morning!
Thursday 2nd March 2006
My last day at work – I feel vaguely sick, I’m on the cusp of a great trip in life but also on the edge of potential impecunity! Since leaving Uni I’ve always had a job and now the reality is no wages for the foreseeable future! Oh dear!
Highlight of the day is the leaving drinks and the subsequent pressie. The lead Civil Engineer Nigel has, with his wife, just given birth to a bouncing baby girl and he hadn’t the chance to wet the baby’s head with his work colleagues – damn – we’re THAT busy! So Thursday lunchtime was an excellent opportunity to do just that! I tell ya summat, I got the thirst on there in the pub and I’m sure that one of the Procurement guys wanted to drink at least 50 quids worth of beer!! Reality called though, I had a desk to clear so back we all (fairly unweavingly) trudge. The leaving pressie was class – an England rugby shirt – very touched by that. My boss, Tom, an Anglicised Scot evidently instincively understood how I could make friends and influence people here in Oz but after the 6 Nations, that will be sadly staying packed away somewhere very safe – so safe I may forget where it is!! In truth, it’s a great pressie because I donated my original England Jersey to some friends in South Africa – where I fervently hope it’s not being used as a dish cloth, which sadly is all it’s good for methinks!!
So, a fond farewell to my work colleagues at Fluor – I had a tremendous 9 months there and my thoughts are with you all and that icebox called Russia – damn, great strip bars though!!
Finally, we’re off…. To Riga, speaking of Eastern Europe….!
Riga – 3rd – 5th March 2006
Having had a little bet with myself that Nick would sleep in on Friday morning, I was proven right! The taxi arrived on time at the house in Morden and our journey began! Tanguy and the boys were en-route from Eastbourne so we were all suffering early starts! I’d been looking forward to this trip for ages and at last, we were here. I kept thinking that in less than a week, I’ll be leavin these shores for good, but hey, that’s what it’s all about.
Riga was great when we arrived, litle did I know but Riga quite prides itself on the bobsleigh and there was a presumably working version in the arrivals hall. Brady chipped in with the knowledge that there was a place approx. 30 Km from Riga where you could apparently go down a run in one of them. Cheers mate, but I was thinking that’s one place I’m not boldly going!!
Steve had done a star turn with the booking – the hotel even had a name card for him when we cleared arrivals!! Stupidly, I’d asked if he’d arranged that as he’d not mentioned it! The justified abuse was that no, they guessed his name, quite accurately it seemed!!
Hotel was coooo-el. With Cris extolling the attributes of a casino, bar and nightclub all in one place - I could see him growing roots already! In the bar and 5 beers later – damn they went down well, our thoughts turned to dinner – Tanguy had spotted a medieval restaurant in the Old Town but first, as it had started snowing, we decided to have a wee wander first. Riga is beautiful in the snow – hides those communist era building crimes and after successfully negotiating a frozen river (Tanguy and I were nervous the ice wouldn’t hold our weight!) we discovered an ice slide the locals had made.
After a bit of tomfoolery and Cris narrowly missing the opportunity to foster Anglo-Latvian relations, a local lad came skating down the slide on his feet. Very impressive. Brady and I had been discussing skiing vs snow boarding earlier and so Brady wasted no time in demonstrating his boarding technique…. Can you tell what happened next folks? Brady promptly headbutted the ice and I’m ashamed to say that my first thought was one of disappointment I wasn’t ready with the camera!!
The blood looked bad, but after running repairs, Brady was up and at ‘em again – so off we trudged to the Medieval Restaurant. What a find Tanguy, the meal was great as was the toilet – so I thought! The touch was there even down to the unleavened bread served in little cloth parcels! The staff were dressed like serving wenches and there was furious debate about whether carnal relations with such over the table would be in keeping with the style of the place! Much beer consumed and so we headed off to wreak havoc!
Next day, the casualty list was impressive – Tanguy and Cris
were laid low with fever and excess respectively and with Brady’s war wounds, we had half the party maimed in some way!! Christ but we’re getting old! Nick, Steve and I decided that the only to rectify the situation was to increase the pace - first we decided a bracing walk was in order for, well, you know, KulCha and stuff! When we saw this, I wondered what Tanguy and I were worried about with that frozen puddle we crossed in the park...
Riga – 3rd – 5th March 2006
This trip really starts the day before on Thursday, where I left work and also Nick and I met up at the old faithful in the Hill of Tulse for the Railway Tavern pub quiz – an old favourite of ours and also the site of a famous quiz win under the team name of ‘Melbournism’ – a story for another night methinks. However, there were echoes of that old team in Nick, Michelle and myself, but sadly we weren’t to repeat the highlights of the win. We did repeat getting smashed though – f*cking A!
So, join me for a quick trip back in the day before we fly off to Riga Friday morning!
Thursday 2nd March 2006
My last day at work – I feel vaguely sick, I’m on the cusp of a great trip in life but also on the edge of potential impecunity! Since leaving Uni I’ve always had a job and now the reality is no wages for the foreseeable future! Oh dear!
Highlight of the day is the leaving drinks and the subsequent pressie. The lead Civil Engineer Nigel has, with his wife, just given birth to a bouncing baby girl and he hadn’t the chance to wet the baby’s head with his work colleagues – damn – we’re THAT busy! So Thursday lunchtime was an excellent opportunity to do just that! I tell ya summat, I got the thirst on there in the pub and I’m sure that one of the Procurement guys wanted to drink at least 50 quids worth of beer!! Reality called though, I had a desk to clear so back we all (fairly unweavingly) trudge. The leaving pressie was class – an England rugby shirt – very touched by that. My boss, Tom, an Anglicised Scot evidently instincively understood how I could make friends and influence people here in Oz but after the 6 Nations, that will be sadly staying packed away somewhere very safe – so safe I may forget where it is!! In truth, it’s a great pressie because I donated my original England Jersey to some friends in South Africa – where I fervently hope it’s not being used as a dish cloth, which sadly is all it’s good for methinks!!
So, a fond farewell to my work colleagues at Fluor – I had a tremendous 9 months there and my thoughts are with you all and that icebox called Russia – damn, great strip bars though!!
Finally, we’re off…. To Riga, speaking of Eastern Europe….!
Riga – 3rd – 5th March 2006
Having had a little bet with myself that Nick would sleep in on Friday morning, I was proven right! The taxi arrived on time at the house in Morden and our journey began! Tanguy and the boys were en-route from Eastbourne so we were all suffering early starts! I’d been looking forward to this trip for ages and at last, we were here. I kept thinking that in less than a week, I’ll be leavin these shores for good, but hey, that’s what it’s all about.
Riga was great when we arrived, litle did I know but Riga quite prides itself on the bobsleigh and there was a presumably working version in the arrivals hall. Brady chipped in with the knowledge that there was a place approx. 30 Km from Riga where you could apparently go down a run in one of them. Cheers mate, but I was thinking that’s one place I’m not boldly going!!
Steve had done a star turn with the booking – the hotel even had a name card for him when we cleared arrivals!! Stupidly, I’d asked if he’d arranged that as he’d not mentioned it! The justified abuse was that no, they guessed his name, quite accurately it seemed!!
Hotel was coooo-el. With Cris extolling the attributes of a casino, bar and nightclub all in one place - I could see him growing roots already! In the bar and 5 beers later – damn they went down well, our thoughts turned to dinner – Tanguy had spotted a medieval restaurant in the Old Town but first, as it had started snowing, we decided to have a wee wander first. Riga is beautiful in the snow – hides those communist era building crimes and after successfully negotiating a frozen river (Tanguy and I were nervous the ice wouldn’t hold our weight!) we discovered an ice slide the locals had made.
After a bit of tomfoolery and Cris narrowly missing the opportunity to foster Anglo-Latvian relations, a local lad came skating down the slide on his feet. Very impressive. Brady and I had been discussing skiing vs snow boarding earlier and so Brady wasted no time in demonstrating his boarding technique…. Can you tell what happened next folks? Brady promptly headbutted the ice and I’m ashamed to say that my first thought was one of disappointment I wasn’t ready with the camera!!
The blood looked bad, but after running repairs, Brady was up and at ‘em again – so off we trudged to the Medieval Restaurant. What a find Tanguy, the meal was great as was the toilet – so I thought! The touch was there even down to the unleavened bread served in little cloth parcels! The staff were dressed like serving wenches and there was furious debate about whether carnal relations with such over the table would be in keeping with the style of the place! Much beer consumed and so we headed off to wreak havoc!Next day, the casualty list was impressive – Tanguy and Cris
were laid low with fever and excess respectively and with Brady’s war wounds, we had half the party maimed in some way!! Christ but we’re getting old! Nick, Steve and I decided that the only to rectify the situation was to increase the pace - first we decided a bracing walk was in order for, well, you know, KulCha and stuff! When we saw this, I wondered what Tanguy and I were worried about with that frozen puddle we crossed in the park... However, the 'main event' was awaiting and with Steve, Brady, Nick and myself ready to rock and roll - it was a massive night! A highlight of the night for me was Nick's description of the 'top four'. MOTD, Cup of tea, dodgy cigarette and a 'lewinsky' at the same time. Alas, while I captured excellent tale on video, I'm unable, just now, to share it with you all in this forum. Watch this space however as some of my video clips are too good to be missed...
As for the night out …. Nick won I believe, finally making it to his pit at 9am on the Sunday morning! Way ta go!
Cheers lads for the blow out – I’ll see you for next years at least!! Maybe we should ‘do’ Asia???!!!!! Cris - I'm looking at you to lead the boys on this one!
posted by Captain | 3:25 pm
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