James Duncan

After my surprising breakfast we left Natia's via taxi to go to a net cafe near DLA Piper's office. I wrote an email for Nati telling DLA Piper thanks but no thanks over their job offer but in a politer way. Nati was nervous but certain. We then walked past the DLA office but didn't go in and down to a slot machine hall. I put my 5 lari in with a sense of entertainment but cynicism. I lost my 5 lari. (Nati says it's hers but again, it's my diary). Then a taxi to the basroba! A Georgian basroba is a market in the Middle Eastern style, with many stalls selling everything one could want from electricals to clothes to pans. I bought some terrible sunglasses, a nice cap and a little bit of karma by giving all my change to the beggar kids. I then wondered through the alleys to find a little market stall with pure pork skish kebabs for 3 lari (about £1) so I had one of those and was generally fussed over by two old Turkish women. They were *very* surprised to have a foreigner eat there and asked where I was from etc. The kebab had tomato juice, onion and chilli flakes with it and was lovely. I also got two shots of vodka for 1 lari each, so 66p in total for the drinks and £1.66 total bill. This was clearly insane so I tipped another 10 lari to the delight of the woman. A nice atmosphere all round. The woman was also telling Nati before that how flattered she was I was so polite and spoke to her in Georgian etc etc. Reflections on the normal lack of respect implied by this are left for the reader. I then got a nice baseball cap and left in a marchuka (a private minibus absoltely filled with Georgians) for town. This was 0.50l, or 16p. If only this was Cambridge. Again, I was the only foreigner so had a loud convo with Natia in English while others were silent to keep the reputation of tourists alive. Then we stopped for Natia's lunch and almost bought a water pistol. The guy quoted 2 lari to nati then 2.5 lari when he heard Natia tell me the price in English so I didn't buy it on principle. Street trader fail. I feel pleasantly like I just did retail therapy, but on a budget of about £5 *smiles*.