Glory

A bit of a damp squib

June 23, 2007

Down to the river last night for the third annual Tevereterno binge to mark the solstice. Maybe I’m getting jaded, but last night was actually a bit disappointing, I’m afraid. There was a passel of marimba, xylophone, vibraphone type players doing a minimalist, rhythmic, repetitive kind of thing, which was rather good to listen to [...]

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Motorsickle music

June 19, 2007

This is for Neddie, and Blue Girl, and the Viscount. Because there are known icons and unknown icons. And back in 1968, while The Viscount was being a biker, I wanted to be the bloke who could play guitar so well that the Art Master let him spend lunch-hours practising. Red hair and black leather, [...]

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No scones, no plants for sale

May 21, 2007

On a glorious Sunday, what could be nicer than visiting some gardens? Alas, they don’t quite know how to organize these things in Italy. No scones, no home-made jam, no plants for sale (which is just as well as I have nowhere to put them). But they do have guides, and regimentation. Parties enter on [...]

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Do you know this man?

May 15, 2007

It’s night in the big city. Down by the point a foghorn blows. A phone rings, clearing the fog. “It’s Bob.” “Good to hear you. What’s up?” “I need a hand.” “Sure. Ask.” “You were at the Geneva gig, right?” “Yeah. Why?” “You know how we always monitor the audience, see what’s happening out there?” [...]

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Scenes from Sienese Life

May 14, 2007

I’m strolling with The Squeeze in front of the restaurants and bars that line the edge of Piazza del Campo. Though I say so as shouldn’t, my ‘fro is looking particularly good, the result of that soft Siena water. In front of us steps a nattily dressed older gent wearing a red beret. He holds [...]

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And yet …

February 13, 2007

Globe artichokes — no matter how plump, how well cooked, how delicious their accompanying vinaigrette — are not a dish I wish to eat alone again. They need company.

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Scenes from Roman Life 9

February 13, 2007

Burned spoon, pack of bicarbonate of soda, pop bottle with a silver foil lid. A lovely slim little knife was there too, but I had already picked it up before I snapped the picture. I didn’t need to call in CSI: Rome to know what had been going on. Drugs! No surprise, really; down on [...]

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A day to remember

January 15, 2007

They buried my father today, and it was OK. Well. It was a lot better than I feared, but probably worse than he feared. His fears no longer matter. That’s the thing about funerals. They are perhaps the only one of life’s rituals that matter not one bit to the central person. Funerals are for [...]

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Walkies

January 8, 2007

So here’s the spooky story, continued. It was supposed to be just a walk. In fact, I had joked with friends about the North American habit of calling an English “walk” a “hike”. But we were both wrong. It was more than a walk. And it was quite a hike. I created a set of [...]

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Acid rain to blame

January 6, 2007

“Under the armpit and knee of River Plate you can see that the marble is still smooth as it once was. But the amazing and enormous head is rough and lined like an old man.” I just love the idea of the River Plate’s armpit. The real thing’s not bad either. The restoration of Bernini’s [...]

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Yeah, right

November 20, 2006

European Cities Do Away with Traffic Signs. “The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We’re losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior,” says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project’s co-founders. “The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people’s sense of personal responsibility dwindles.” [...]

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Miracle of the Loaves

November 16, 2006

I know that everyone and her cat has already blogged Jim Lahey’s No-knead bread, as seen last week in the New York Times. That won’t stop me adding my take on the matter, late through no great fault of my own. That is, I’ve been snowed under at work, one reason why posting here has [...]

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All cleaned up

October 3, 2006

On Monday they started to clean up the rough ground down by the river. Not just cutting back the vegetation. Demolishing the rude huts and shacks erected by the “gypsies” who called the area home. Bulldozers, big trucks with grab cranes. Smashed dwellings carted away like the junk they were made of. Early this morning, [...]

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Dark and stars

October 2, 2006

What a cool idea. Last week, on 28 September, the city of Reykjavik in Iceland doused all its street lights for half an hour to mark the opening of the Reykjavik International film Festival. So far so good, but better yet, while the lights were out a renowned astronomer talked about the stars and constellations [...]

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A taste of Big Mike

September 24, 2006

I have tasted the past, and it was good. Hard to describe, of course; I’m not very good at that sort of thing. But in a word, more banana-y. At breakfast this morning, I took a banana with some other bits of fruit. The Boss, a top banana, piped up “You know that’s a Gros [...]

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A discovery

September 18, 2006

It was rainy, the first wet day of autumn that wasn’t also a work day. We were away on a weekend jaunt, just up the coast a little. Not far enough, really. The Squeeze said it felt like an affair, being away and in a hotel but less than an hour from home. And after [...]

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Scenes from Roman Life 6

July 17, 2006

I dunno. You wait 28 years for a Bob Dylan concert and then two come along in 8 months. Outdoors at the Auditorium and most entertaining it was too. First off, Italians slow-handclapping because The Man had not appeared by 10 past the appointed hour. How ironic is that? To be honest, their hearts didn’t [...]

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Four thousand words

July 9, 2006
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Scenes from Roman Life 5

July 5, 2006

Gave up my World Cup virginity in the nicest company, and there was much whooping and hollering when Italy rammed one in in the closing minutes. The second, a lovely little chip over the goalie, made victory even sweeter. Cycled home through streets packed with flag-waving jubilation. The sight, however, is as nothing to the [...]

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Scenes from Roman Life 4

July 3, 2006

Sitting quietly geeking at my desk, 11 pm last Thursday night. It’s been a quiet day, a Roman Holiday, SS Peter and Paul. We’ve been at work, though, because our gaff is outside Rome and has its own saints to take care of it. Boom! I’ve been watching season 2 of 24, and my instinct [...]

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Ombre del Lupercale

June 22, 2006

Summer Solstice last night, so the year is downhill all the way from here. But the magic of last night will last a while. On a very straight section of the Tiber, between Ponte Sisto and Ponte Mazzini, Kristin Jones and her crew exhibited one of the best pieces of public art I have ever [...]

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Fashionista!

June 8, 2006

That much-limned innate Italian sense of style was greatly in evidence last weekend, in the beautiful little hill-top town of Sermonetta. It seems to be the time of year for first communions, about which I know only what I just read in Wikipedia, which doesn’t tell me whether this is in fact a time of [...]

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Solidarity with the workers

May 9, 2006

Mayday on Ischia, the bigger island that shares the Bay of Naples with the death-inducing Capri and sundry other rocks, for a long weekend. Stunning, simply stunning. Bad weather on day 1 didn’t matter much, as we spent most of it up to our necks in hot water at one of the many thermal baths. [...]

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Scenes from Roman Life: 2

May 7, 2006

Many of the more upmarket bars do a little free-for-the-taking spread of an evening, lest one drink without something to nibble. I was hungrier than that. But it was late in the day, and the selection of sandwiches was not great. I lit on one of — surprise — mozarella, prosciutto and tomato, and ordered [...]

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