Vilnius miniatures

I always wondered why the Lithuanian post office stamps mail on the back on the envelope when it arrives. Seemed a bit of a job creation scheme.  But now it's coming in useful, in judging the performance of the post office.

When I returned home around 25 September, and went to my local branch staffed, it seems, by toothless old crones who only speak Russian, to pick up a parcel I was surprised not only to receive a parcel, but also a whole pile of letters. The manageress of the delivery people, as her staff found more and more letters for me, visibly had steam coming out of her ears - did I get the feel she was managing a kindergarten?  Today I found my letter box crammed with letters. Bit surprised. Among them letters from my university dated 16 September reminding me to register for courses which I have been studying for the last fortnight. One or two letters looked a bit crunched.... It occurred to me to look at the back of the letters - the oldest letters arrived in Vilnius on 27 September, the newest on 4 October. Don't send anything perishable by post!

...on a bus yesterday (was shooting all over Vilnius for what I hope was probably a row of pointless medical appointments) I was intrigued to spot the driver of the minibus behind me wearing a seatbelt. It's unusual, but some of them are rather wild drivers, and perhaps he was wilder than most? The picture of apparent safety was a little disturbed by the cardboard cutout of a cannabis leaf dangling from his mirror.

I see Lithuania runs an annual quiz about the Lithuanian constitution (glad we don't do that in the UK...). Here it says that among this years winners are teachers, students and a prison inmate - good for him or her. I wonder if that person's human rights are being properly respected - but he/she should be able to stand up for him/herself.  Presumably people allied to the legal profession are excluded from this quiz, otherwise it would be a bit of a poor show for their profession. It's a good and worthwhile activity (has a flavour of the Soros Foundation about it, no?), but it seems a bit of an anorakish thing to do. But then we also have the national spelling competition every spring, where in townhalls up and down the country people take part in a spelling test (in some ways I fancy that one, always having been a good speller, but I'm not quite sure if my Lithuanian is up to knowing where some words begin and end sometimes).

Changes, changes

So, after the war with Russia, it's time to change the Georgian government again. About time, too - it's lasted for almost the whole year!

The prime minister has been dismissed, after negotiating hard with donors over the 4.5 billion USD donation for Georgia following the war. Remind me again who started it?

The PM (37) is going to be replaced by the current Georgian ambassador in Turkey (35), whose chief qualification for the job is to attract Turkish investment into Georgia.

Georgia, the wonderful investment location.....with an unstable government in an unstable region, a probably declining economy, huge interest rates, no protection against bank collapses....right....

Where's the lavash?

The Georgian lavash, not the Armenian one. It's that flattish (but leavened) bread baked on the inside of a stone oven. Some bakers are better at it than others. The best lavash is the one that is so hot that you can barely touch it to carry it home.

I'm used to things appearing and disappearing in shops in Georgia, and 'my' baker opening and closing. But I thought he was 'always' just closed for the summer.  He was closed when I was here in September, as was the other one (the best!) whose breadshop I passed on my way to work at the time.

Last weekend my baker was open, and it was wonderful. So tonight I trundled along - and found him closed. Muttering slightly, I turned back down the hill to find 'my' other baker - to find that he had finished for the day. Where to find another lavash? He waved generally in an easterly direction.

Along I trundled, further down the hill, round some corners, down some side streets - always having the nostrils on draft (you can smell a good baker's from the distance), the eyes peeled for people carrying lavashes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I thought I'd be reduced to buying a French stick from the expensive Spanish place with the French name near the Chancellory, when finally I found a little baker's which had some left. They were like that, too. Nothing to write home about - but by that time I was beyond caring.

Wonder what causes the ups and downs of supplies. Do people not buy them during the week? Is there a flour shortage? Are the bakers suddenly taking it easy? Are they making too much money (the price has increased by 40% since I started here two years ago)?  Strange....

A child from every country

Lovely report here from the Guardian, on a child from every UN-recognized country living in the UK.

Skiing in Lithuania??

This article praises the slopes and infrastructure of Lithuania - for skiing!

Bit of a surprise there - Lithuania is essentially flat; the highest mountain is 957 feet (or 292 m above sea level). Would not think it is quite the thing for professionals....

Thank God for that!

Here it says that the referendum (why a referendum?) on delaying the closure of the Ignalina Power Station in Lithuania (an agreement condition on joining the EU) failed to have sufficient voters (50%) to make it valid (though those who did vote were nine to one for the delay).

Would have been embarassing to have achieved the planned delay. On the other hand, given that the planned new nuclear power station will not be ready until 2015 at the earliest, it also means that there will be an energy gap between 2009 (closure date) and the running of the new station, of 70% of electricity. This means though, apparently, an increased dependence on Russian oil or gas - not entirely a happy thought.

Lithuanian election

Once again the Lithuanian parliamentary elections have produced a bit of a mogre for the forthcoming parliament. The most successful party, the Christian Democrats, got 19.07% - the reigning Social Democratic Party was fourth with 11.84% (all after counting 1929 out of 2034 wards), with the National Revival Party and the Law and Order Party (the mind boggles) in between. I have a feeling the first three are all right-wing. Kubilius, the leader of the winning party, looks shockingly aged.

What sort of government will we get?

Cultural destruction in Georgia

This Wall Street Journal article describes the Russian destruction of Georgian cultural artefacts since the war (though many of these appear to be in South Ossetia).

They noticed, and I noticed while in Gori, that they did not destroy the Stalin museum in Gori.

All that glitters....

...is not gold - it may be the gold-tinted windows of the ministry block, and the two cones beside it in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan for the last 10 years. (Though I am horrified to notice that the little statue I received for my services may actually be gold).

What a capital! Astana was only created as a city in 1950, and for the last 10 years or so, since the capital moved there, it has been hugely developed, on a grand scale, with massive new public buildings (some memories there of the stalinist style of huge archways etc), huge blocks of flats, wide boulevards, snazzy bridges, immaculately clean - but a people city in the style of Vilnius it is not. In fact we never saw many people either during the day time or in the evening.

Anyone who comes there will think that there is no poverty in Kazakhstan - but is that right? What about the Aral Sea area and other remote places?

Can't really talk much more about this what with being paid to advise the government (on social matters)....but it was most interesting!