Even as the weekend approached, the buzz and talk around and about Positivus emigrating to Lucavsala was still rampant: some didn't like the new venue, some didn't like the artist list, some thought it was too expensive, etc. "What a worthless program, where is Žoržs Siksna, where is Viktors Lapčenoks, why no Eolika or at least the Beatles and the Rolling Stones!" those who had never stepped foot or poked their noses into Positivus before were joking and laughing on Twitter and Facebook. "Relax, it's going to rain anyway", grumbled those who had both poked their nose and stuck their foot in.
It seemed that around Midsummer and a little after, the Latvian climate had only shown the Latvians a demo and an advertisement of what summer should be like, but then decided to return to the usual round-the-clock rains and cats-and-dogs weather. The rainy weather even forced the cancellation of the Insect Night planned for Saturday in the Gauja National Park, as the insects flat-out refused to crawl out of their burrows and caves, their warmed-up beds and couches, and to let the TV remote control out of their legs. "You can go and walk around in this lousy weather if you want, but we're fine here inside!" said the insects, yawned, scratched their back, turned on their side and continued snoring, ignoring what meteorologists and other synoptics were telling them that this was a completely normal and ordinary Latvian summer.
Watching the euro gradually depreciate to the value of the dollar for the first time since 2022, becoming worth even less than the dollar the very next day, and approaching the value of Mongolian tögrög, Bulgarian stotinki and Cambodian riel in the days after that, the submission of lists of candidates for the 14th Saeima elections was announced in Latvia. The first to go to the CEC were the Development/For, who hoped to get free advertising in the media, and they weren't wrong - the journalists, tired of filming torrential rain, were eager to go to the CEC to see for themselves the former Marija, the regional protector of environment and gambling Plešs, the healthy pianist Pavļuts, the Pūce of the Old Town parking pass and other characters before anyone threw anything at them.
The Development/For characters performed in the best Tiktoker and Instagrammer traditions, going to the CEC in a smooth rumba step and salsa rhythms, smiling at every child and pensioner they met on the way, waving rainbow flags and demonstrating green values, taking selfies and stories, but unfortunately, the free advertising opportunities for them were largely taken away by Harmony, who started rumors behind the scenes that boxer Briedis might also run on their list in the elections.
Then the social networks started to buzz, and those who had torn up his shrines and thrown his hats in the garbage after Briedis' statements in recent months, went to the trash to drag them out and tear them up and throw them away again. Behind the scenes, there were rumors that the 14th Saeima would make changes to the Rules of Procedure, which would include provisions for climbing into the ring instead of the podium during debates, a gong at the end of the sitting, the abstain button not being able to be pressed for the entire duration of the term, punching colleagues in the face not being an acceptable action, and so on. For their part, sports managers were encouraged to post a photo of Briedis, extracts from the most prominent quotes and warning notices at the entrance to training halls saying that "excessive boxing and getting hit in the head is bad for your health".
Meanwhile, the coalition supported the introduction of a national defense service in concept, while acknowledging that the content of the Latvian debate on fighting would be much debated. This, however, was done for the second week by the Twitter heroes, who were divided into those who are ready to beat up the orcs and those who are weaklings, the former ready to fight to the last bullet or at least tweet to the last drop of blood, while the latter were not ready to give up drinking lattes and eating croissants. Kariņš stressed that "national service must be introduced because Latvia must have a larger defense force to protect our democracy and freedom" and quietly reminded his colleagues that they had not voted for ratification of Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership wishes for a couple of weeks, so they had better turn to that.
Although autumn was not even on the calendar, the magical one thousand Covid cases per day mark was quietly and imperceptibly crossed again. "Why doesn't everyone wear masks, why aren't strict conditions of assembly and thorough restrictions imposed, why aren't the major jab centers open, why aren't pandemics and curfews, lockdowns and locktowns announced?!" fretted the Covid hysterics, who were joined by the anti-vaxxers: "Yes, dismis Sayma, where is the original Constitution?!". It looked as if everything would start again in autumn, but the good news is that at least people can still be united when it comes to the fact that everything is awful.
Perevoščikovs was now invited back on TV and radio, where he replaced Colonel Rajevs in the current affairs block, and where he was eager to discuss, argue and persuade that the use of masks in public places could be extended to protect from Covid, because people look terribly unsightly without them. He also pointed out that this summer the wave of Covid had started three or four weeks earlier, so the biggest fall was expected around the end of October. And he also made it a big secret that during these two and a half years, a large proportion of people have never realized that masks are not meant to keep them from getting infected, but to keep them from infecting others. "Wait just a minute here," the Latvians did not understand. "So - even if you wear masks you can still get Covid, dysentery and water in the knee?"
Kariņš agreed to all this and more, and for the sake of peace, had a positive Covid test, to be closer to the people at least in this way. Hearing this, Pavļuts rubbed his hands and suggested that the Prime Minister should be the first to be experimentally jabbed with the improved Moderna, which was planned to be jabbed in the others in the autumn. "Preliminary information suggests that these adapted vaccines would be more effective than the current ones, even against the subtype that is spreading rapidly in Europe and Latvia..." began Daniels, but Kariņš interrupted him with a thought: "Let's wait for the elections and see if you yourself don't get jabbed out..."
This week, another almost symbolic event took place: the demolition of the Titanic shopping centre opposite the Riga bus station began without the song "My Heart Will Go On", and unfortunately without Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. This Titanic had hit a serious iceberg in the shape of the Railbaltic railway, but nobody shed a tear and even felt mean glee as they tried to quietly slip an envelope into the pocket of the construction workers so that they would go to Pārdaugava in the pitch black of night with their machinery and accidentally demolish an unneeded object there too. "There goes the glory of the world," a man who used to sit on the Riga City Council said gloomily. "And nobody even remembers that this was the first ever multi-story car park in Riga, and the only one with the roads to the upper stories built in the opposite direction." And so ends this somewhat sad story.