The Day the Earth Stood Still

While volcanic ash blew across Honshu and Britain was paralysed by a few inches of snow (a quantity which over here would be scraped up in five minutes flat by an old crone in carpet slippers), Riga basked in blue skies for the third day in a row. Sunshine gives the place a whole new complexion - a week or so of this and I'll be wiping those chalk marks off my bedroom wall.