The lady who sells words and pictures

As part of my series of ‘ladies who sell things’ I would like to introduce you to the lady who sells words and pictures. Her shop is on the sidewalk near my pet shop in Marjanishvili Street.

Her glasses are very thick, which makes me think that she reads too much.

The tall person said that he hopes she does not put that newspaper back in the rack after she has finished the crossword puzzle or someone will be very disappointed to find it completed. Or perhaps she won’t complete it and someone will be happy that they have been given a headstart. 

Hmm, perhaps she should re-name her shop to make it clear that she has read everything and sells second hand words and pictures!

On a pedestal

On this afternoon’s walk I discovered this beautiful car enjoying the autumn sunshine near the railway bridge in my neighborhood. I haven’t seen it before. The tall person said it is a Soviet era Volga Gaz-21 from the mid 1960s.

The car’s external design was made by Lev Yeremeev and was largely influenced by Western vehicles of the same period, American in particular.

I think it has a very happy face.

It’s owner must be very proud of it because it has been parked on a pedestal overlooking the road.

The tall person said “They don’t make cars like this anymore”. I know tall person, they stopped production in 1970!

The “modi modi” man

Like all cities, Tbilisi can be a difficult place to park a car but help is at hand. Almost every conceivable place that can accommodate a car is watched over by a man who will help you park, watch over your vehicle while you are gone and help you reverse out when you return.

The tall person calls these parking attendants “modi modi” men. “Modi” is the Georgian word for “come” and the parking attendants shout it to let the driver know it is safe to reverse out of the parking place into the street.

The “modi modi” men are all self employed and charge a fee of 20-50 tetri which they collect when you return to your car.

If it is a long street there may be several “modi modi” men, each with their own section.

Each “modi modi” man carries a stick that he waves vigorously when directing drivers in and out of a parking space. The tall person likes the “modi modi” sticks and has asked De to get him one for Christmas. He said he will use it to direct the little person to bed each night.

The little blue house

At the end of my street, on the way up the mountain, there is a little blue house. It looks like a place for storing things but someone actually lives there. We passed it at the start of our walk this morning and noticed that the door was open and inside we saw a bed.

An old man lives there and we often see him sitting on the little bench outside his little blue house. Perhaps he is related to the people who live in a big house on the other side of the street and his home is a ‘granny’ annexe, or grandfather annexe in this case.

Behind his house there is another little house but it is not as colorful as the little blue house. It is partially painted in the same color so maybe another relative lives there and they shared the paint but there wasn’t enough to decorate both little houses.

The tall person told me that everything has a story to tell to a passer-by but many people don’t pause to listen and hurry on by and miss hearing many wonderous tales.