The old war wound

I should not complain, after this morning's rant about the UK health system....

At lunchtime I was dodging along the road, back to the office, with a hot flaky pastry khachapuri in my hand when suddenly I went over on my ankle. 'Oh', I thought, 'great; this time it did not hurt - it must have finally recovered from its turn 18 months ago' - when I was in the middle of moving flats. Running between the two flats 500 m apart, with three fiddles in my hand (does that sound impressive or what?), I completely went over on my ankle. A cleaning lady at a hairdressers 10 m on quickly disappeared into her salon and left me to deal with it (I know who you are!). I could walk on (what else to do) but went over again a couple of times; so I tried out the Lithuanian public health service (which I pay for out of taxes rather than directly) - the disadvantage being the language - I had not learnt the words for such an event. Tried to tell them that something had gone 'pop' but that was not understood. After that in the next few weeks I went over on it again a few times - and I can remember exactly where and when every occasion was!

So I was pleased, today, when I could go over on it without pain - obviously the ankle was strong again and could deal with these things.

Wrong.

We are talking delayed reaction and we will be talking 'shuffling round Vienna' on Saturday. Luckily this frequent traveller is prepared for these kinds of things. And fortunately all the Vienna places I want to visit are close together. Even more auspiciously the project in Tbilisi has a car and driver. We'll live.

One of the benefits of being in the hash is that other weekend activities also take place. It now seems that every second Sunday there is a hash, and on the Sundays in between there is a walk. I got the email from the hash team 'meet at Freedom Square in front of the Municipality building at 11:00 am for a relaxed pace walk in the environs of Tbilisi'. So I thought it would be a bit of a stroll round different corners of Tbilisi. I was a bit surprised that other people were wearing serious hiking boots. Since there had been a misunderstanding about the starting time - in fact it was at 12 - those of us who had turned up went for a coffee, during which I learned about the cultural facilities of the Goethe Institute (which also has a cafe) and the Centre Cultural Francais Alexandre Dumas which has 13,000 books (about 11,000 more than the British Council). I should find something to read there ...and I have now signed up to the Goethe Institute newsletter. There is going to be an interesting concert on November 14th with a German a capella group.

Anyway, at 12 the others appeared, all with big boots, and one guy with walking sticks (from Muenster, Germany), and off we went in taxis into the countryside. One of the persons in big boots said that the last walk she had done in trainers and ended up with bleeding toes. Up and up and corksrewing and corkscrewing we went for about half an hour. Then we were almost on top of the mountain, 800 m above Tbilisi and all we needed to do was to walk back down again.

This we did, on a long walk through the forest. We met a car rally but they did not go too fast uphill. Also saw some sheep, and rather interestingly found ourselves above the level of the top of the TV tower. Also saw some sheep, and some of the cutest puppies - but we did not need any dogs! Bolle, the labrador/Staffie cross was with us again, really on best behaviour even near the cows.

After walking downhill for miles and miles suddenly we hit flat ground, and could really feel our muscles! We thought we had done 15 km; a guy with a Global Positioning System said we had done 11 km, but we are almost certain that he had taken some shortcuts.

During the walk talked to some other lovely and interesting people, and I may have fixed myself up with a piano teacher (but she does not know that yet). A lot of French people were on the walk (about 3) and that was very nice.

The photo shows Tbilisi from above, in a haze of ... pollution? My own flat is too high above that to be much affected, and there are those vine leaves that filter everything.

I know I am slimming...

but I am sure I cannot have lost 3 kg (half a stone) in weight in a week! Not having scales at home I depend on people in the street who sit there with their little scales and charge 20 tetri (1/5 of a lari) for the privilege - so twice I have used the same guy near the baths to try and aim for consistency; same time of day, same clothes, everything, he has a heavy medical set of scales, and 3 kg down..... Probably the scales were sitting on a stone or something. Pavements don't do 'even' here. Next time I'll need to use the scales in the baths - they are less likely to be shifted around every day.

Mind you, I walk a lot in Tbilisi. People who tell you that Tbilisi is a small town are people who sit in cars. Now I walk to work every morning, about 3 km downhill, and of course last weekend there was the hash with the 14 km round trip including walking to the meeting point. Saturdays I wander all over the place - and I must discover more 'places' - still a bit thin on restaurant knowledge - so I reckon in the last week I must have covered 30 km. How will I keep this up in other locations?

on on upwards and onwards!

The lady on the left (0 out of 10 for picture composition) gave me a bit of a supercilious look yesterday as I trotted (ok walked) past her. I did not care for that. Maybe she had seen it all before - indeed she had since I was the last of the running hashers.

Geeez, what a hash in Tbilisi! I have now hashed in four countries (unlike that Irish guy in Kiev who said he had hashed in 107 countries - show-off!), but this hash was seriously challenging.

Dushanbe - flat; Kiev - flat; Vilnius - a wee bitty of hill here and there (and the walkers are already whinging), but Tbilisi - we are talking vertical. The hash was advertised as being 'all downhill' (though, strictly speaking, how could it be seeing we returned to the same spot). As I might have mentioned before, Tbilisi is seriously hilly. For this hash we went by car half way up a hill, or so it seemed. Then we, the runners, climbed 3 km almost vertically (not many people really ran uphill) before corkscrewing back down for another 5 km. The walkers had another route, and got themselves lost. The views on top were stunning, overlooking it seems the whole of Tbilisi. On the top of the ridge we also saw some villages which really looked very alpine. The alpine touch was added to by the sound of cow bells (apart from the belle in this picture who did not have one) Note that I also had a 3km walk in each direction to and from the meeting point. So much exercise was taken.

Not only exercise, alas. The Tbilisi hash has a serious drink problem, in that almost the only drink there is beer, and very little alternative provision. Given that the down downs go on for ever, this is quite serious. The beer comes from the Kazbegi breweri and has a rather wheaten flavour. Why is it called 'wall beer'? Apparently the brewery has a place on one of its walls where beer is delivered by the petrol pump and you fill up your own containers (but apparently it also goes off quickly). This makes it very cheap - apart from the environmental impact of going there with your car etc.... Anyway, much beer was taken, and the walk home was more of a stagger; the night was a bit restless....lesson learnt, here!

And yes, I might have been the last of the hashers passing the coo on top of the hill, but I was not the last one to get back home - on a downhill stretch streaming nicely past a few others who had given up altogether!

shlepping round Kyiv

Another Saturday in Kiev. Finished off some work in the morning and felt great when it was done. Then went off for a walk, to the supermarket in Podil to pick up the a few things for the last few days in Kiev. Took a stroll along Sahaidachnogo street in Podil, which is lined with cafes and restaurants and even has a Laura Ashley shop. Very nice street; then in the opposite direction along the river to the supermarket, got milk, juice, water etc - not that much, but since I usually use the backpack for such purchases, and this time only had the supermarket plastic bag, it was a bit heavy. Became much heavier because I had the idea that I might pick up a sushi for dinner, and maybe even pop into the Repriza cafe on the way home. Did not have a map with me but could roughly work out which way to go to get to the Yakitoria....

And very roughly it was, too - a long way out of the way at the river level, then up a very steep hill, and finally back towards the restaurant - a very very long slog. At the start of the walk I had thought that having a sushi and a cake would be a bit indulgent, but by the end indulgence was seriously required. Finally got to the restaurant, picked up a mega sushi to take home, then a lovely plum cheese cake in the Repriza and then home to put those very very weary feet up. Total hike of about 8 km, 5 or 6 of which with heavy shopping bag. Forgot to get another opera ticket for one of Helene's friends. Not sure that I really need to go to my hash tomorrow. Then again, it was lucky I was not wearing my new shoes - but I would never have got very far.

Glad to see on TV that the Oktoberfest is opened; watched the magic moment when the Munich Oberbuergermeister had to open a barrel of beer. Mr Stoiber was also there with his wife - no Bavarian politician could afford to miss this. The pope has sort of apologized to the muslims for using a 14th century quote. At least one senior Muslim cleric has said that it would be more useful for them to react rationally rather than emotionally. Let's hope someone listens to this.

After all that effort time for a total flake out at home. Watched 'La Gloire de mon pere' on DVD - what a wonderful film it is. What is it with these French films that they are so enjoyable? Is it the relaxed atmosphere, the beautiful environments and people, the relaxed meals?