Canvey Island is authentic or was in the 1970s, the last time I was there. The old town in Riga isn't, but so what?

The small German old town of Riga is plant for the tourist industry which I expect is Latvia’s most important industry. In August 2006 getting off the bus from Vilnius I expected to love Riga but instantly hated it intensely. In April it is warm enough and empty but it’s not really a real place. Where is these days, when life has retreated to the internet?  But the much bigger old town of Vilnius feels alive.

Authenticity is of course a specifically bourgeois obsession. People who are authentic don’t worry about authenticity, but who is authentic these days, when life has retreated to the internet.

Canvey Island is authentic or was in the 1970s,  the last time I was there.

This art nouveau building in Riga is topped by cats. The man who built it was Latvian and his cats are supposed to be defecating on the ethnic German burghers who ruled the city. He was taken to court and lost his case.

When I was 3 I utterly despised all fairy stories except the Four Musicians of Bremen, which I loved. The good burghers of Bremen gave Riga this statue in 1990. The Russians didn't see the sly point that the Four Musicians were heroes because they frightened away robbers.