Memory like an elephant...

I swung by a factory today, which I had gone to once before about 3 years ago... the following conversation took place:

woman there: "Oh, you decided to come back and buy?".
me: "Um, when did I come in?"
woman: "A long time ago"
me: "How long?"
woman: "Over a year"
me: "Like 3 years?"
woman: "Yes, that seems right"

I must say, I was pretty impressed... true, I don't think loads of foreigners have been there, but it was quite a while back. Anyway, things seemed to be going pretty well there, which was good to see.

Otherwise, the heat continues, as does my air conditioner. Lots and lots of tourists, which is good to see. Many people staying for a month or two, which is even better.

In the news, there seems to be a pretty solid backbone to a Karabakh settlement... of course being close, and actually having one are two vastly things (as we know from experience), but it is still allowing me to start imagining the consequences. Imagine being able to drive to Lake Van for the day, or better yet to camp out over the weekend. Imagine being able to drive through to Nakhichevan in 45 minutes, and to Meghri via Nakhichevan in a couple of hours of flat road. It's hard to imagine it all... but it will definitely transform the region. I know the vast majority Armenians are ready to put this all behind them, and have good relations with Azerbaijan, I wonder if they are ready as well, or not?

Oh, one other tidbit, there was a movie about a minority in Romania during the film festival, and not to minimize the hardships they had, but these people had literally turned complaining into an art, a song, a competition. I thought Armenians were the biggest complainers I had come across, but we are not even in the same weight class when it comes to these folks...