James Duncan

Borjomi Park is beautiful. It's a park set around a central river and in the bottom of a gorge so mountains rise almost vertically on both sides. After a tiff with Nati finished we walked around it. The park is recently built and was apparently pushed by Saakashvili as a project. It's a running theme with these things, he seems to be not only the President but very much the national cheerleader. There's a cablecar that runs up to the cliffs above but we aren't taking it as Natia recounted stories of cars falling off and resultant briefly painful death. Talking of painful death, Nati and I discussed the prospects in Ossettia. The short version is that I thought the situation is a lot more serious than she did: I think that backing with mercs is one step from backing with troops. Georgia recently refused to sign a peace treaty, and shot a Russian peacekeeper. It seems volatile, and the Georgians keep giving Russia casus belli. Looking forward to the drive home! On the way out we passed the spring that supplies the park with mineral water, and the scrum of people with bottles getting some. Again, it has medical benefits 'science cannot explain'. This is becoming a catchprase; who said snake oil salesmanship is dead?