Bills

Friday 27^th April 2012

Martin was quite justified after all to save all those jam coffee and Branston pickle jars "Just in Case!"

Our electricity was cut off last week.  I came home from school and assumed that there had been a power cut but when it hadn’t come back by 7pm I thought something must be up and knocked next door.  “Shuki? Ara?” (Light? No?) I say to the old boy.  He presses the switch and light shines therefore we are in no doubt we have been cut off.  This is confirmed by his gesture of writing on his hand saying “Puli” (Money).  We had been sent  a bill but ignored it for the first 4 days and then we went on our travels over the Easter break.  This was meant to only be for 5 days but we spontaneously extended it to 10 days and on our return was thinking in terms of paying all the bills together when we got paid this week.

We paid the bill Saturday morning and was told by our co-teacher that we would be connected Monday.  I was horrified and I must confess in quite a panic.  On returning home I gathered clothes together for the weekend “We can get the 8 o’clock train to Tbilisi!”  I call out on the run to pack the bag.  At that point I just thought we had no choice but to get out but only the thought of whether we could afford a hostel for the weekend or should we ponce off a friend and at stay at hers made me reconsider.  We could brave it out that night and go in the morning – maybe we had enough charge on our laptops to survive the night.  In the end we stayed at home.  We DID charge our laptops at another teacher’s house but we were on rations.  We read until the light faded, cooked by candle-light and then watched TV on our laptops until we went to bed by candle-light where we lay talking about this and that.  On the Saturday we went for a long walk around the town and stopped for tea at the teacher’s house.   It was quite nice in the end; but it was clear to me that the computer  “had gotta hold of me”  and this has to stop.  There has to be more to life that sitting at a computer looking for things to do. (Like write this blog lol)

We also knew that we had to eat the meat in the freezer that we had been saving for a rainy day so Martin made a wonderful minced beef casserole to which I added the most fabulous dumplings (See Kim I finally used the suet taken from your store cupboard last Christmas)  We had two good meals out of that and made lots of plans for the rest of the mince and the 2 chicken breasts but unfortunately the electricity did not return until Tuesday night by which time the meat had gone off and bled all over the last of our parmesan cheese to add insult to injury.  Damn and blast! With pay day a week away this meant that we were going on potatoes, pasta and eggs for a week.  Martin switched the mains on and off a few times and it returned so in all likelihood it was back Monday and we just didn’t know.

One of my co-teachers was sympathetic as they assumed it was lack of funds and not mismanagement that resulted in the disconnection.  She said that every month “I am shaking” because she is worried she won’t be able to pay her bills.  Compared with England the Georgian approach to utility payment is pretty draconian.  You receive bills monthly and have 3 weeks to pay it before you are cut off without warning.  This is how it is for everyone.  Although prices are cheap compared to England it is expensive to live here if you live on Georgian money.  Our bill was only 14 lari (£5.30) but there is no concession for the amount that is owed.  Our gas bill this month was 106 lari (£40).  A teacher here earns only 200 lari a month.  No wonder they live on pasta, bread and potatoes and relish the 6 weeks of lent where they follow virtually a vegan diet.

When we at the Botanical gardens a week or so ago we came across this huge modernistic building.  We tried to think what it might be as it had a huge silver sphere in a glass column, a helicopter pad, huge swimming pool and was all in all a most interesting building.  It was in a great position, at the top of the hill looking over the city. Eventually we stopped a couple of people and asked and they told us.  A hotel?, Museum?, Government offices? No, it was the home, yes home, of the leader of the opposition party.  Really?  It seems to me to be in bad taste.  If I were an ordinary Georgian I would look at that and never vote for that party.  Do they under stand what it is like for the common folk?  I don’t think so.

A Carbunkle

View from the Carbunkle of the City and Sameba Cathedral

To end on an amusing note however, I made sure we were not late with all the other bills that were piling up I took them to the bank (with my passport – it is not clear why I need this)  of course I cannot read what the bills are about other than where it says Gazi or Electro at the top of the bill so I asked the cashier what a particular bill was for.  She looked at it for a moment and then said “This is a receipt for some medicines you bought in the pharmacy.”  Oh how we laughed.