World of Chig   

18.5.03
Hello From Mars! Riga!

[Sunday, 14:15] Party animals will be glad to hear that I started the week as I intend to continue, by landing at 10pm local time and then going out to Club XXL until 5am. With a considerable number of familiar faces, I might add, from the UK, France, Spain and Slovenia, to name a few. I met Samo from Slovenia; someone who I 'know' from the Eurovision list, but had never met before. He's a lovely, interesting guy, and he's here now in the Media Centre too.

First impressions of Riga? Well, the sun was setting over the Daugava river when we arrived and it looked magical. Which fits in nicely with the 'Magical Rendezvous' theme of the contest itself. That title is the main heading on the posters around here, which have Saturday's hosts Marie N and Renars in a lovely photo, with her hugging him. Can't say I blame her - he's cute. They've gone for a really 'modern' image, with him in a splendid trendy trackie type thing.

Funniest thing so far: There's a billboard advert in the street outside the hall which just says 'Hello From Mars'. It's in the very familiar Mars lettering. Yes, the chocolate company has 'sponsored' the Latvian entry. Class! This is an interesting development, but could lead us down a worrying corporate path. I'm sure Ralph Siegel is composing songs called 'Sony, Sony Day' and 'Canon Can' even now. Still, the Swedes did Coca Cola years ago, didn't they?! A photo of that advert will appear here by tomorrow, hopefully.

Most important news: lager is 1 Lats per pint. That's one pound twenty a pint!! I may get drunk a lot.

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