Globalisation

Now we have two hypermarkets in Tbilisi. 'Goodwill' remains out of town (and is just developing a 'mall'); Populi is a chain of supermarkets which has now, in the town centre, opened a hypermarket. Goodwill is full of German goods, and, like today, sometimes contains the German conductor of the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra, Populi has Dutch products.

The weirdest thing is, though, that some of Populi's own-brand (??) products seem to have the same wrapping as those of the Lithuanian chain Rimi; except Populi's goods are labelled in three languages, one of which is Dutch, and Rimi's are labelled in Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian. Now, how do they all hang together? Having spent a fortune in Goodwill, I had gone to Populi because last week they had that nice 'Actimel' which is supposed to be good for the gut (mine always needs pampering - come, oh friendly bacteria). Being Georgia, the Actimel was pomegranate flavoured. Unfortunately it seems it was not a great seller - today there was none, and it seems, no matching space in the shelves.

I wish I had gone to Goodwill (a taxi-ride away) after I had been to the baths and weighed myself. In Goodwill I spotted the best drinking chocolate ever, Suchard Express, which I got to know in Switzerland.... but the calorie count seemed a bit high. After finding that I have lost another 3.5 kgs since Christmas I could possibly have afforded treating myself!

This photo is of the building of the Bio-Shop, another type of shop altogether. The shop used to be downstairs, at street level, but has moved into a flat upstairs. No customers, naturally. I am not sure how many families live in this building, though I suspect each of these doors houses one - downstairs I spotted a container with at least 25 electricity meters. The roof looks new and plastic - I suppose any renovation should start with the roof.