Instead of writing my own impressions in English, I better quote here my absolute favourite writer now, Tony Anderson, from his book Bread and Ashes – A Walk Through the Mountains of Georgia, 2004 Vintage. A small masterpiece of Georgian experience.
‘Do you have a gun?’ asks Akhmed.
‘A gun?’
‘Yes, a gun, do you have one?’
‘No, I say, ‘no gun’.
“Would you like one? A rifle? A Kalashnikov?’
‘No, thank you.’
‘Here, take mine.’ He passes over his old hunting rifle, made of a Soviet army barrel from the last war, a Turkish breech dated 1919 and stock he had carved himself.
‘No, thank you. I thought you said this was a peaceful place.’
‘Yes, of course, it is a completely safeand peaceful place, ochen spokoynoe mesto, but there are bears and even wolfes.’
‘But the bears are no problem, ‘ I say, ‘are they?’
‘No, no, absolutely not,’ Akhmed assures me, ‘but here are people.’
‘People?’
‘Yes.’
‘Ah, so you would not say it was entirely safe.’
‘No. It is completely safe.’
We sat on a grassy slope above the village, watching the great mountains darken, the fireflies and the stars coming out. Below, on the low wall of the little border post, a young guard coughed and lit a cigarette. I t glowed comfortingly, way off in the night. His friends inside played cards and drank endless cups of tea, like soldiers everywhere. Akhmed, leaving reluctantly, had told them to watch over us. So, we settled down and drifted into sleep, listening.
Tony Anderson was born in 1950, read English at Oxford and has taught both in Britain and abroad. He has worked as an editor and writer for television, books and theatre, and has recently edited works on Russian/Caucasian subjects. He lives in Somerset.
Somerset must be definitely a nice place to live, since there is at least one inhabitant of astonishing wit, insight and simplicity around. I could hardly believe, that travelers experiencing the world around them as Winnie the Pooh can find publishers nowadays. So, the news for the world are not that bad then! Whaaaa, I wish I could write like Tony. And I’m glad I am not at the university anymore and can learn from books and people beyond academic. So much more exciting!
