The bus and tram drivers of Riga are a breed apart. Most of them have been to the misery school of social interaction and are highly skilled in working all day without smiling at all. They are also skilled at driving with one hand and peeling 50 Centime tickets like a card sharp sliding the ace of hearts off the bottom of the pack. They force us all to listen to their music and this can be acutely depressing on a cold morning. This runs the full range of tastes from hard modern Russian pop to Latvian radio 2 that features some of the most depressing music known to man. It could be from any European country and usually features the accordion in full flow.
But today when I got on the number 6 tram at the stop by the wonderfully cheap Nelda supermarket in Teika, it was Opera blasting out loud from the loudspeakers. And it was good singing too. The journey was considerably more uplifting than normal.
Then I heard the rumour that two thirds of Latvian families have not paid their heating bills this month. As mine is higher than my usual UK bill I am not surprised.
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