In these chaotic and busy weeks/days pre-Christmas, I only wish silence and peace. I've just remembered a few lines from a poem written by one of my favourite poets, Federico Garcia Lorca, and I think it goes well with the above photo taken in my beloved Italian countryside last October.

(extract)

Listen, my child, to the silence.
An undulating silence,
a silence that turns valleys and
echoes slippery,
that bends foreheads toward the ground.


Oye, hijo mío, el silencio.
Es un silencio ondulado,
un silencio, donde resbalan valles
y ecos y
que inclina las frentes hacia el suelo.

(Federico Garcia Lorca)

For the love of ...

…my son I went to a football match for the first time in my life. I mean, a proper football match, not one of my son’s or daughter’s usual Saturday games. It was part of his 16th birthday present and his father was supposed to take him. But unfortunately (and conveniently) last Tuesday evening daddy was late or stuck in traffic (or both?) and it was up to me to take over this duty.


I was actually feeling rather unwell and I was hoping that being the evening so cold my son would desist too. But then I remembered a post I had read in lovely Jane’s blog The Small Fabric Of My Life about creating good memories for our children and I decide to take him. After all, it was only Leeds and there was too much to drive.

Covered with 5 layers of clothing there I was among shouting and chanting fans. My son’s favourite team lost but it was a good match (so he said at least!) and to tell the truth I quite enjoyed it. Or maybe I just enjoyed a bit of bonding with my very demanding teenage son.

Tear Down the Wall

(Checkpoint Charlie now)

I was already studying in Germany when Ronald Reagan made his famous speech in Berlin, on the Western side of the Brandenburg Gate (for years the city's symbolic dividing line) on the occasion of the city's 750th birthday urging the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”. It seemed just as utipic at the time as it had been the idea of walking on the moon before 1969. I had stood many times in front (or behind) the Brandenburg Gate wondering what it would have been like if the two Berlins had finally come together.

I had crossed the borders at Checkpoint Charlie or at Berlin Friedrichstrasse many times to meet an East Berlin author I was writing my dissertation about. The contrast between West and East Berlin had always seemed huge to me. Walking the few meters into the East side was like walking through a time machine, like leaving the modern age behind and stepping into the past. The contrast was striking, almost unbelievable. I used to “smuggle” writing paper over the border. Can you imagine? A rather famous writer who couldn’t find writing paper and was forced to write on pieces of scrap paper. But that was only a small need compared to what every Berliner felt every day. Like open-air prisoners.

(Irgendwann fällt jede Mauer. Eventually every wall falls)

Twenty years have passed since that night when the wall was brought down. I wasn’t in Berlin that night, but about 100 miles away and when the TV images started showing I couldn’t believe my eyes. The impossible dream had come true. All of a sudden thousands and thousands of East Germans finally could move freely in the “other” Germany and I hoped that one of my East Berliner friends could also come over. He wanted so much to see Italy and especially Venice. But the year before that November 1989 he had been caught by the border police while hiding in the boot of a French car somewhere in Hungary.



Last time his family and friends heard from him he was stuck in a prison in East Berlin. When the wall fell and the political dissidents were freed he wasn’t there. Nobody knew where he was. No papers about him could be found, it was as he had never been there. And nobody knows where he is now. I still hope he’s somewhere travelling around the world as he always wanted to do.

That’s why I’d like to dedicate this memorable day to you, lieber Karsten, wherever you are. I hope you've finally found your freedom.

The Dream City

It is said that Venice is a dead city or at least a dying city, as it is slowly sinking into the marshy ground of the Laguna and because there are less and less “true” Venetians living there and more and more tourists every year. But from the first time I set foot in Venice long time ago, for me it was, it is and it will always be my dream city.

For me going to Venice is like entering a giant theme park, it's the place to get hopelessly lost for a day. Through the mysterious alleyways leading off from the city, endless mazes of backstreets and deserted squares, on a Venice trip, you'll find that this city is a perfect place to walk for hours on end, pretending to know where you are.

When we want to celebrate something important or just forget our tedious lives for a while my best friend and I treat ourselves to a trip to Venice. We don’t even need to stay over night, just a few hours to enjoy together.

This time the weather was fantastic (we just missed the flooding a few days before) and although it was last Sunday of October it was rather crowded as the Venetian Marathon was on. But it was worth it. Just judge for yourselves!

Isn't this absolutely magnificent? I could spend hours and hours just watching gondole and vaporetti travelling up and down the Canal Grande...

The colours are incredible and even more sparkling on a sunny autumn day.

A hidden "canaletto" with the washing out to dry in the sunshine and boats "parked just outside the door!

And this is our own Gondolier! He didn't sing "O Sole Mio" or play the accordion to us, but what can you expect for only 50cents a ride??? Yes, a real bargain!

So happy to be there together!!!! When will you go next?

Gone away on a Gondola!

Back on?

I don't even dare to hope that all my Internet problems are sorted. I'm back on since yesterday night but I don't know for how long. I've been on and off, off an on for months now, so I really hope this is finally the end of my BT troubles. I'm totally drained from talking to BT Mumbai Technical Support and although I do not resent them (they need to earn their living after all!), I really think we should have some customer support in the UK too. How can someone miles and miles away sort out this kind of problems here in the UK? Anyway, let's hope they have succeeded in my case. For the rest, nothing new here. Apart from fighting BT and trying to keep on working (O2 mobile connection, friends and Pret-a-Manger), I've been enjoying watching the first season of Ugly Betty on dvd. As usual with this kind of popular shows, I was a bit skeptical but I have to say that I'm totally hooked.

Each episode is packed with well written stories and on top of all that the comedy comes fast and often. Betty is a girl with more inside beauty than out but but manages to make her way into the most superficial and beauty built industry in the world, Fashion. It makes you laught and cry and helps you to unwind totally, the right recipe for me!

In Limbo again!

Since last Thursday I cannot connect to the Internet again! I thought BT was the solution but clearly it isn't! I'm waiting for BT engineers to come and check my "physical" lines. A diversion after talking for hours with the lovely guys from Bangalore! The connection is here but I cannot get onto any websites! If anybody has an idea, pls let me know. I'd be foreI'm back to my usual hysterics as I've got deadlines and need to earn my livelihood and to do so I rely totally on emails etc. Not to mention my social life which (very sadly) depends on the Internet connection too! Well, I cannot survive much longer on the O2 (very slow) dongle! Until better news come up, ciao!!!