Taxi! How much to the airport please? 100lats - cheap at the price!

Ten yours after the last "taxi war" there is taxi trouble again on the streets of Riga. The stimulus has been the production of a fleet of Air Baltic coloured taxis operating out of the airport and trying to deliver (for now) a service that does not cost and arm and a leg.

For far too long, Riga taxis have been ripping off tourists, charging criminal amounts for the short journey too and from the airport. This has not been helped by the appalling bus service. Thankfully the new Mayor of Riga, Nils Ushakovs cut the ridiculous baggage charge on the bus route. The idiot inspectors were pouncing on unwitting tourists and fining them, thereby ensuring that they never darkened the doors of a Riga hotel again. Now at last something sensible is happening. Hopefully the Interior Ministry, police and Riga council will settle any political differences they may have and get us a taxi service we can all afford to use. I suspect that this may take some time though.

Ushakovs also this week went round the Old Town night clubs and read them the riot act. We shall see how much effect this has. At least he is trying.

So now the summer sales have finished and the new winter clothes are in the shops. Some clothes shops have started to discount already and I have seen 70% off already in several places. Sadly I cant afford to buy everything I want! It is clear that we still have huge overcapacity. There are enough jeans on sale to keep all of India happy, and there are more badly made and expensive cheap-cloth suits than Latvia could ever want.

Flat prices appear to be dropping more slowly this month. One reason might be that there have been lots of moves into cheaper flats already reducing demand. The medium priced new flat owners (most with larger debts) are hanging on and trying to avoid the inevitable. But when the utility bills come in many will have to bite the bullet to get a tenant. A Russian firm has gone round offering cash for flats in our block. I guess they have gone everywhere. I forecast a spate of cheap cash sales in about two months.

I have seen another couple of businesses not taking credit cards. I wonder when un-taxable cash will truly become King in Riga (as it is already in the regions).

The anti corruption bureau is now also inevitably being squeezed for funds. I would have thought that this was one of the last things that should go. It shows that the government still has not got joined up policies. There are far less important things to cut than this, especially at the moment with lots of free IMF money sloshing about.

More beggars - but in town still no children. This used to be a feature in the past. I guess the police are stopping them. There is though a growing number of clearly homeless mentally ill people roaming the streets. They are a terribly sad sight as they drag dozens of full plastic bags around. Many of these people, and the normal beggars are physically handicapped in some way which says much about the social system here. We have so so far to go.