As normal, the chaos was total when we “prepared” for the World Championships in Latvia. Two days before we were to leave for Riga plane tickets were ordered together with our hostel. Just like earlier years we had heard before the tournament that it was impossible to find living in Riga, that there were no tickets and that it was useless even trying.

But, as the World Championships professionals we are we were cool and didn’t care what some rookies thought, but did it our own way. A flight for €140 and living at a great hostel in central Old town in Riga for €150 per person for nine days! We could just cheer and congratulate ourselves for our complete control on how to organize these trips.

We had high hopes for the Championships in Riga and had heard from people that were on location that it was a 100 times better than the Dante’s inferno that we had during the Championships in finland in 2003. Since Latvia is a country in Eastern Europe we had to, just like when we went to finland in 1997 and 2003, turn our clocks ahead one hour.
Well, the clocks were adjusted, hostel booked and the hockey jerseys were washed. It was time for us to party like never before in the biggest town in Sweden!
In the 1600:s that is.

 

After 80 boooring minutes we are at Skavsta airport in the middle of nowhere. It was time to get some draft before take-off.

On location in Old town one meets Johanna with friends.

Later at night Jorma, that we met during the Championships in Ostrava, gets going. Jörgen, Patrik and Gabbe is listening with ironic faces when he tells us how finland will take the Gold in Riga.

Lövis and Johanna’s friend Annika seems to enjoy the rainy and cold summer night.

Slovenia! Cool. It is not often supporters from this small country come by. He was also drunk. VERY drunk.

Why does Gabbe nowadays always have to be so unshaved during the Championships? He is really white trash! And getting drunk!

The-team-that-never-wins, here represented by Jocke, Johanna and Annika, were some of the people that nagged on us that “Everything is booked”, “no one wants to rent a place to you”, and so on. We therefore decided to check out the place that they had gotten so fine already in September and paid lots, and lots of money for.

We have seen worse shacks, but not for that kind of money. They had British junkies that were popping in their heads in their room when they slept, just to take ONE example. The standard of the “room” was like a slightly renovated hotel Sampson (see the report from Russia, 2000).

Never mind! It was time to go into town to see what places to bless during the next week and a half. Jocke and Jörgen is inside a place that seemed to be called Go-Go La Vita and that we were to visit for many nights to come.

Gabbe and Lövis inside Go-Go La Vita