Well its that time of the year when the city of Riga fires up their heaters to heat the city for the cold weather ahead. Riga is centrally heated, which means that most of the cities buildings have to wait for three days below 10'C (?'F) in order for the heat to get turned on. You can always tell when the heat is being turned on because the whole city smells like ash and paint. Ash because most places are heated with wood or coal and paint, because the furnaces get painted during the summer. Its a warm smell that gives added effect to the darkness creeping in. Its dark by 20.00 (8 PM). Soon it will be dark by 18.00 (6 PM). Lena's thoughts are filled with a new jacket for the winter. Halloween will come and go. I'd like to do something festive, but I doubt that I will be able to pull anything together. Although Halloween is becoming more and more popular here, mostly amongst the youth who want candy. Nothing to do but wait and see what lurks out of the shadows.