'THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS'

Hi there, well another week has flown by, I don't know how many of you will remember the title of this weeks report from Stelpe, but boy has it been a busy week.
It all started last Monday, well it would wouldn't it. Having made the decision to buy a second car, Gaston our local autoservice man told me that our new purchase would be ready Monday afternoon and the man I was to buy it from would pick me up between 4 and 5pm and we would go to Riga to do the paperwork hand over the cash and the car would be mine, no sending off paperwork to the DVLA no just get the Technical test [MOT] change the car passport [log book] to my name  and away you go, sounds simple don't it? and it is if everyone spoke the same language [ English would be the best] ha ha not a chance.
I was busy in the garden,doing things one does, at about 11am when Uris rolls up and says 'we go Riga now' ok grabbing a quick change of clothes I was in the car in under 5minutes and away we went, There was no point in asking why the change of time, that would have got to involved so just go with the flow. Stopping on the way in Vecumnieki to pick up Uris wife off we went,and to cut a long story short we got the test, changed the passport, sorted new insurance had something to eat while wating for it all to be done, paid the cash and were home in about 3 hours and with only a handfull of english words spoken. And that was Monday.

 

Not the newest model but with our roads !!!!!!

Tuesday started early we were going for an excursion with the Stelpe pensioners,where? well there were references of Nunneries, towers, orchid collections and nurseries oh yes and the all important stop for shopping on the way home.
Be at the school for 9am we were told and being good time keepers unlike some who come to mind you know who you are!!! we  were at school at 8.45am well the bus turned up at 9.30, but the driver had to do the school run first so it should have been be at school for 9 ish.within a short time what promised to be a nice warm sunny day turned into a dull rainy one, still never mind we were having a day out so who cares if it rains a bit.

Welcome to St Trinity Sergijs

Ladies A drink from this well will keep you young and beautiful

First stop was the Nunnery yep not a convent a Nunnery, down some small forest track we went to a small car park and a very imposing wall and gateway. The words of one of the first men I worked with came to mind ' These walls are not to keep you in they are to keep the rif raf out'
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I guess because it was wet and dull we didn't see the best side of the nunnery, It is part of the Russian Orthodox Church,with a great deal of  ceremony and order chanting and incense burning, not my cup of tea at all.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     We boarded the coach heading for Jelgava and a restored tower which promised wonderful,  views over the town.

The tower of St Trinity church

everyone made it to the top, I think Valerie is holding on for dear life

Jelgava is the fourth largest town in Latvia 90% of which was bombed in the second world war check it out on Wickapaidea it will tell you more than I can, but our visit was to the tower which has just been opened to the public. It stands 50.17 meters high and is all that is left of the church after Soviet army soldiers blasted it in 1954 and left only the tower for military needs. It has 9 floors and the top is a glass pyramid from where on a clear day wonderful views can be seen.Jelgava has made an effort here as all the information was translated into English [good for them] the only downside of a very interesting visit was the Latvian guide we had she spoke to Valerie in Latvian and when Valerie told her she was English the guide totally blanked her and turned her back and started talking to someone else [will they never learn.]

winter apples and not a Cox's Orange Pippin in sight

Varieties of apples we have never heard off.

After a quick lunch  in a shopping centre it was off to the next port of call a fruit nursery in Dobele some 25 or so kilometres away. This reminded me of my early days working at a nursery in Berkshire. The staff were knowledgeable about the trees that were grown and as a bonus they spoke a little English, a brief look round the stock for sale and then a short ride to see the trees as they would be when fruiting. We needed no fruit trees as we have 18 apples in our orchard but it was a useful visit as we were able to identify varieties we have. But hey ho no time to hang around we must be off to the next port of call. Orchids!!!!!

An impressive sign  lets hope it lives up to expectations.

Now who lives in a house like this,lets go through the keyhole

A few kilometres from Dobele we took a turning and soon were back on dirt roads, some 5-6 kilometres further we saw some shetland ponies in a field and pulled up in front of a large orange house and were greeted by the owner of the orchid collection we had come to see, the only glasshouse in use we could see was no bigger than 18x10 feet that is, if that housed his collection how would we all  get in, no problem there as the orchids were in the house [in the glass covered balcony above the steps.]
Every time one enters a Latvian home there is all ways something new to see!!!  entering the house we followed the man  up a curving staircase and were met by the smell.!!                                                                                                                                                     'wet dog mixed with horse.  Not at all plesant,

At the top we found a room with,

Beautiful but not a hint of a smell

collections of shells animal skins a wild boar skin on the floor pictures made from butterfly wings and much much more. But still no orchids, all squashing into the next room we finally came to? no not the orchids but!!! the source of the smell!!!  being the gentleman that I am I stood back to allow my dear wife to get a better view of the exotic flowers on show, but all she came face to face with was a moderately large python being thrust towards her, she was out of there faster than a rat up a drain pipe, only to be met by a lady nursing a large Iguana in her arms.An exceedingly fast exit was made I can assure you.
Of the orchids we had come to see? well there were perhaps four in bloom ,the picture on the right was the most impressive.Apparently the man had spent some time in the jungles of South America hence his love for the exotic reptiles and plants. Several of the ladies by now had had there fill of the exotic and we settled down on the coach to wait for the next leg of our journey, this was back on more familiar ground, Bauska and shopping. nothing can shock us there.
We needed to pick up a few bit and pieces as tomorrow we were due to entertain a group of people from Serbia, Latvia and yes the UK with an english tea no less.
Wednesday morning what do we need for an english tea? thats right scones and strawberry jam,victoria sponge, and of course real english tea, while there are many different blends of tea in the shops from Earl Grey to english breakfast there is nothing to match PG Tips,Typhoo, Tetley or even Asda's own brand,so with scones and cakes baking we had better make sure our tea bags are up to scratch. We weren't sure quite what to expect from these visitors.but when they arrived we discovered they were on a cultural exchange and wanted to see the real Latvia. once all 18 were settled in our sitting room the questions came. Why are you here?, when did you come?,what did you come for? what do you miss most? one after the other the questions came, and it would seem as if we have acheved some sort of celebrity status as one of the Latvian visitors told us even the British Embassy staff talk about us, which must be due to our visit to the embassy a couple of months ago.English pensioners retiring to Latvia do seem a bit thin on the ground.
It was a real pleasure to welcome the English contingent who had come from Somerset  and some were from Frome no less one of the ladies had even visited the church we used to attend in Trowbridge, what a small world we live in.
With tea laid we all soon were chatting away like long lost friends, and the comment one person made summed it all up for us ,'You know she said we really feel at home here' and with that comment she started the washing up, and another made more tea for everyone.It's so good to know people feel relaxed enough to do these things in our home. All to soon they had to be on there way, armed with two bags of goodies for the bus driver they had a three hour journey to their next port of call.
What was left well not a lot, the scones all went and so did the cake,must be something to do with the 'Stelpe Kitchen'
It was a great success and we have now made some more international friends.
Thursday and Friday we spent relaxing in the sun reading and generaly doing nothing. Well I think we deserved it don't you?