All About Latvia

Originally this post was written on March 17, 2007. However, the recent news of a British tourist earning five-day detention for urinating at the Freedom Monument and subsequent remarks by the Interior Minister Mareks Seglins, who called British a nation of “pigs” and “swine” is why I’m recycling this post.

Leta reported a 29-year-old British tourist, ironically named John, answered a call of nature in a park near the Freedom Monument Friday night as his friends decided to commemorate the event by whipping out their cameras.

Yep, the same place where earlier the same day, a group of ultra-left and ultra-right came to commemorate the March 16 events.

The principle of urination seems so simple. You walk into a bathroom/toilet/WC. You whip it out at an appropriate moment. And you let go.

This concept of urination gets more complicated if you add a heavy dose of alcohol to the mix.

Mike Johnson, an American who owns and operates the hotel business in Riga (which I highly recommend, by the way) told me about his new blog, Riga Rooster.

In his most recent post, Mike writes about good ol’ British boys who don’t hesitate to bring their British spunk and culture to Latvia.

… I see all the boys who visit the city for the cheep bear and late night howels. They must think I am sleeping; but I arise to crow about the same time they stagger back to their hotels leaving behind the content of their nights drink in piles and streams along the street.

The British Embassy in Riga offers a general advice how to behave in foreign countries. It includes a sensible “follow local customs” mantra.

But it doesn’t work.

Maybe that’s why just two days ago, the British Embassy in Riga launched a campaign targeted at British tourists (hat tip: Mike) to think before they drink.

Or piss.

“Having analysed the kinds of problems which British visitors were experiencing - and, yes, in some cases, causing - we decided to take action to try to reduce the number of these problems,’ Ambassador Ian Bond told the media.

Apparently, the problem of public urination goes deeper into the annals of history and way to the other side of the European continent.

Shortage of public restrooms in London prompted one woman to open a luxury powder room available for about US $10.

“The number of toilets,” the article says, …

dropped 40 percent from 2000 to 2005, leaving 415 to serve a population of 7.5 million, government figures show. That’s not including the 28 million people who visit the UK capital each year.

Local authorities say they can’t afford to maintain and modernize restrooms. Many have been sold to property developers, who convert them into more profitable uses, including apartments and nightclubs. Those that remain often are so dirty or rundown that they’re mostly used by drug addicts and homeless people.”

And then,

Public urination “is one of the unfortunate aspects of London,” said Aidan Onn, 36, who runs a toyshop called Playlounge in Soho. “The streets always stink.”

The shortage belies London’s history as an exemplary provider of public toilets. Its first public lavatory was built in the 12th century at the site of what is now the Royal Bank of Canada’s offices. During the Victorian era, public bathrooms multiplied, and often boasted mosaic tiling and copper pipes.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 13.55 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.