Busted In Riga

I got busted here in Riga this afternoon.... I was walking down to get my visa for Russia, late this afternoon. It was just getting dark.. -8 C and a 15 km wind... Against the wind, of course.. colder than hell. I came to an intersection that is kind of spread out and wide, with streetcars, a bit of traffic, and poorly lit.. I know the intersection well, as I have crossed it at least a couple of dozen times. There is a crosswalk half a block away where everything narrows out and calms down... With the weather, and I was anxious to get my visa, I jay walked. On the other side of the street a cop pops out from behind a little kiosk and stopped me.. He rattled on in Latvian, and I played dumb tourist. He motioned me over to the police car where his buddy was sitting writing up another criminal like me..They asked for my passport, and I told them I didn't have it, that the visa office had it. That got the line of questioning started..... I didn't know what time the visa office closed, but I knew I would be late if we didn't get this over with. Visions of finding out all about Latvian jails raced through my mind..... A half hour later they decided to write down the info on my drivers licence, and "Write me up". I figured, ok, they will give me a fine and slap my fingers,.. At this point, I also needed to get some cash as I only had about 10 Latis on me (other than my US cash).. I figured for sure, I would spend the rest of the day trying to get out of this shit, and top it off by missing my appoinment to pick up my Russian visa. Needless to say, they told me in poor English, that they were writing me up but there would be no penalty.. Yippee.... I didn't dance naked for joy in front of them, but I sure was happy that I could carry on to the visa office....