Flowers

After Latvia beat Switzerland in the World Hockey Championships, your correspondent followed the crowd to witness a local tradition. After an international hockey victory, Latvian hockey fans gather in front of their vanquished foe's embassy in Riga, where they lay flowers as if in condolences or mourning. The staff photographer tried to get some pictures, but it was dark, and nobody was very interested in standing still. There was a lot of jumping around and shouting and general celebrating, and a lot fewer flowers than we expected, although upon our departure there were still plenty of people just arriving, like the two pictured above. I guess people don't buy entire bouquets just to throw at an office tower that happens to have the Swiss Embassy as a tenant, but things might be different if they win a quarterfinal game this week.