IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY IT'S THE WAY THAT YOU SAY IT!!!!

We had visitors for dinner on Sunday!!! I posted the comment on face book that I was unsure if we would have them roast, boiled or fried. sadly apart from one friend my attempt at a joke went unnoticed. Perhaps if I had rephrased it or said it in some other way, I knew what I meant, Our pastor would often say,' after church the congregation would go home and have the preacher for lunch'

A little bit of the green stuff.

Anyway moving swiftly on, our visitors arrived,  they became quite excited at the fact we had some of the green stuff showing in the garden, and they were still deep in snow. We had a good time together chewing the fat and generally putting the world to rights, and time just flew by as we compared notes on how life had been since we last met{ some two years ago} and the one thing we had in common was, that life in Latvia, was good ! despite the ups and downs we all experience,

The promise of things to come.

At the moment I am chomping at the bit waiting to get out and start getting the garden ready for planting, I have started pruning the apple trees and have cleaned the greenhouse ready for trays of bedding plants. The other day I tried to put the digging fork into the ground and the result was more like using a tuning fork it set up a vibration that shook my brains and I'm not sure what note it struck but it wasn't middle C  that's for sure.
School lessons came and went and on Wednesday while we were there ,Sandra told us that the next day it was Dagmara's birthday and to be at school at 10 o'clock, arriving on time we found the whole school assembled in the main hall awaiting their Principal's arrival, she had gone to get one of the dinner ladies who's birthday it was as well and when back in the hall she presented the lady with flowers, many of the children and staff also showed their appreciation with more flowers and gifts, a Latvian equivalent of Happy birthday was sung,then the attention was turned to the 'boss lady' I have spoken in my blog before of Dagmara's commitment   to the school and the children who attend. I have never ever seen such a show of affection as was displayed Thursday morning, from the smallest child to the oldest, all had flowers, ranging from just a simple bunch of pussy willow to quiet elaborate bouquets were presented and then the staff gave more flowers, so many it seemed that she could have opened a florist shop, old pupils were there as well as retired members of staff, from the lady who looks after the gardens, the men who keep the school warm to the top man from the village ,,all were there to show how much she mattered  to everyone. The Pagast was represented by the 'mayor' of Vecumnieki  , the whole proceedings were rounded up when the men brought a chair into the center of the room and sat Dagmara down, they then lifted her high into the air, up and down, up and down as the children shouted, one, two, three,four---------until they reached the right number for her age.  No way, not in a million years could I ever see any of the teachers I had at school being treated in such a special way. And where were our cameras!!!!! at home.
We have had to send our passports away as they run out this month, downloading the forms was easy, filling them in OK , new photos we could get , no problem, with all the necessary bits and pieces assembled  everything was posted to Dusseldorf, yep! that's right,, they are then sent to the UK for renewal and sent directly back to us here in Latvia, why we can't send them straight to the UK I don't know. Daft isn't it? still I guess it gives someone a job. All was well until I had an email  from the passport people telling us that the pictures were the wrong size, would we please send correct ones ASAP.
There are only two places we could get them done, one we had already used, so after the birthday celebrations at the school we headed off for Bauska ,it was a beautiful sunny day but a tad cold, parked in Rimi car park ,did a bit of shopping, and then back in the car to go to the photographer, that's as far as we got ,I turned the ignition key and    wrrrrrrr!!!! wrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!! looking at one another we said 'we ain't going nowhere'

The offending vehicle!!!!!!!

The key to overcoming minor irritations such as this it to prioritise, prioritise, prioritise and my first thought was lets have a cup of tea, but no we had far more important things to do. The photographer's shop/studio was only a few minutes walk down the road,  lets get the main reason for coming  out of the way,we had no problems with that and when we came out, I remembered an Auto parts shop just a few metres along from where we were. I'll go in and ask if they can recommend a mechanic who would look at our problem, fix it and send us on our way. I felt a little like the crew of the Star ship Enterprise, boldly going where no {English man} had been before,making contact was easy, understanding each other was quite another matter, But with a mime demonstration, followed by Wrrrrrrrr wrrrrrrrr , a hand drawn across the throat I got my message over.
There were three men in the shop, all suggesting things I needed, and one went as far as to say 'sorry I do not speak English'!!!!!!. However !!, after some debate it was decided,  one of them  would drive up and take me with him.to look at the  car,
Where you may ask was Valerie while all this was happening, well she was pacing up and down the pavement outside.As we came out of the shop I beckoned her over and told her the plan she replied !.' If you think I'm getting in that car you've got another think coming, I'd sooner walk!!!!!!' which she did , we left in a cloud of dust, and got to  the car in under 2 minutes.,,,,,I just kept my eyes closed as we came to a roundabout!!.
With signs to lift the bonnet and turn the starter, my now new found friend,  pushed wires, prodded connections and shrugged his shoulders,  then reached into his boot for a towing rope.At this point Valerie appeared in the distance,  by the time she was with us, we were about to go back to where she had walked from, so saying soothing things like,, it will be fine don't worry we've all the afternoon to get it fixed etc etc, I left her heading for the cafe and a cup of tea, as she flatly refused to go in the car especially being TOWED !!!!,,, I would join her as soon as I could  , the mechanic said he would phone a friend who would then phone me when the car was fixed, I was back with Valerie ten minutes later, where she was enjoying a cuppa and a free cake, great !! I thought I'll have some of that, only to find it was just the ladies who were entitled to free cake, it was International Women's Day, on leaving the shopping centre she was stopped by a well dressed young man who gave her a single tulip to commemorate the day. { When will it be the men's turn? }

Part of Bauska's main square

On leaving the car I had been told 1hour, maybe 2 hours, have a sandwich and your car will be fixed. Those of you who know Bauska will know just how hard it is to fill 2 hours there. We posted the photo's to Dusseldorf, checked the time of the next bus to Stelpe {just in case} wandered round the shops.{No word of the car!} Back to the cafe for more tea, no cake this time and  try and sort  our plan of action , A decision had to be made as the only bus would be leaving soon,  if we missed that we would be stuck!!!{ Still no word  of the car!!} So we decided to walk back to the car, see if it was ready. If not,,get our shopping [which was in the car] , and catch the bus home, I could then come back the next day, sorted.!!! Back at the car which had not moved an inch. I prepared for the worst and as we were taking the shopping out,our friend the mechanic appeared , phone to his ear ,he was actually making the call we had been waiting for,,,,,, and then apologising that he had  taken soooo long,,,,  'The car it is OK, you can go now, sorry, so sorry'. Rubbing my fingers together in the international language I asked 'Cik maksa' {how much} the bill was 39 lats which included the tow, labour and the parts used. What was the problem? a sensor in the inlet manifold, simple when you know. Cars like computers are wonderful when they work.