Monday, February 28, 2005
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | 'Naples crime boss' held in Spain
The big news here this weekend... unless you discount the escalation of the rubbish collection, problems with parking, the state of the roads, the appalling weather....
The big news here this weekend... unless you discount the escalation of the rubbish collection, problems with parking, the state of the roads, the appalling weather....
Monday, February 21, 2005
I'm getting dilatory again in my postings. Must do better, though in mitigation I am just off the train from Siracusa in Sicily, where I spent the weekend looking at houses. Got back here to see that the Sunday Times has a double page spread advocating buying wrecks in the south of Sicily and spending years having them done up. That'll mean the prices will double by next weekend, and Easter will see an influx of pension rich 'investors'. I've always liked Siracusa, but was put off a little by the words of the woman in the tourist office on Saturday... 'Theres a thriving community of ex pats here.' My heart sank. 'They all meet in one another's house on Friday evenings'. I had visions of peculiarly English small talk mixed with local snobbery about the right shop to buy your tomatoes. Now I shall have to think seriously about whether it would be possible to live here and avoid them.
Back in Naples, Jude Law is pronounced Judder Lav, much more interesting I think.
The papers have been running stories about people not wearing their crash helmets again. It's a story which comes around alarmingly regularly, usually when someone has died in a motorbike accident' 'Powers that be' say that the problem isnt as bad as it was... though the feeling that in winter people wear helmets as a form of umbrella. In the summer it is more acceptable to ride bareheaded, as it would be too hot to wear a helment. In any case, last year Naples issued 300,000 fines for riding without a helmet. It may sound alot but as most people should get at least one a day it's jusst a drop in the ocean.
Back in Naples, Jude Law is pronounced Judder Lav, much more interesting I think.
The papers have been running stories about people not wearing their crash helmets again. It's a story which comes around alarmingly regularly, usually when someone has died in a motorbike accident' 'Powers that be' say that the problem isnt as bad as it was... though the feeling that in winter people wear helmets as a form of umbrella. In the summer it is more acceptable to ride bareheaded, as it would be too hot to wear a helment. In any case, last year Naples issued 300,000 fines for riding without a helmet. It may sound alot but as most people should get at least one a day it's jusst a drop in the ocean.
Friday, February 11, 2005
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Number 53 brings relief to Italy
Finally the No 53 has been drawn in the Venice lottery after a two year wait. There are no big winners in Naples, but alot of people have won between 300 and 600 euro apparently.
Finally the No 53 has been drawn in the Venice lottery after a two year wait. There are no big winners in Naples, but alot of people have won between 300 and 600 euro apparently.
News
The Independent: a story that I knew nothing about; the ethnic cleansing of Italians in the Balkans after the last war. The Foibe, as it is called in Italian, only now being remembered.
The Independent: a story that I knew nothing about; the ethnic cleansing of Italians in the Balkans after the last war. The Foibe, as it is called in Italian, only now being remembered.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
I think the Sunday Times check this weblog.. this week I have been spared the vile and venal from the Homes supplement. Unfortunately this is more to do with Murdoch making more money than any consideration for my feelings. THe European edition has a new 64 bumper 'best of' supplement, which replaces the 64 pages Culture sectionand the 40 page Homes Section but gives me Jeremy Clarkson pontificating, and the horoscopes. It means I have fewer book reviews, less Culture, but, inexplicably, 32 pages of UK television guides. Why? I shall be sending a virulent email shortly. What's galling is that it costs the same.
I stood behind a little old lady in Mrs Overrall tights at the lottery shop yesterday. She was describing her dream to the woman behind the counter who was leafing through the 'Smorfia' a dictionary of dreams and symbols that is required reading for anyone playing the lottery in Naples. Red headed boy.. 44, .... doesn't have quite the same ring as two fat ladies. Anyway she put ten euros on the numbers suggested by her dreams, which didn't come up.
I've been having a strange recurring dream... well the result is the same, but the settings are different. I am in Florence, but in different places, doing different things each time, but the upshot is that at 06.55 there is a violent earthquake. Sometimes I am inside, sometimes in the street., but the earthquake always comes at the same time. Strange really, as Florence isnt in an earthquake zone.... or is it?? Perhaps I have become a clairvoyant.
The Philip PUllman 'Dark MAterials' trilogy has been read in a week. I was hooked. Wipes the floor with Harry Potter and Tolkien. It's beautifully written and was completely gripping. Fortunately Amazon have just sent me the next consignment of reading matter so the new biography of the Medici is next on the list.
I stood behind a little old lady in Mrs Overrall tights at the lottery shop yesterday. She was describing her dream to the woman behind the counter who was leafing through the 'Smorfia' a dictionary of dreams and symbols that is required reading for anyone playing the lottery in Naples. Red headed boy.. 44, .... doesn't have quite the same ring as two fat ladies. Anyway she put ten euros on the numbers suggested by her dreams, which didn't come up.
I've been having a strange recurring dream... well the result is the same, but the settings are different. I am in Florence, but in different places, doing different things each time, but the upshot is that at 06.55 there is a violent earthquake. Sometimes I am inside, sometimes in the street., but the earthquake always comes at the same time. Strange really, as Florence isnt in an earthquake zone.... or is it?? Perhaps I have become a clairvoyant.
The Philip PUllman 'Dark MAterials' trilogy has been read in a week. I was hooked. Wipes the floor with Harry Potter and Tolkien. It's beautifully written and was completely gripping. Fortunately Amazon have just sent me the next consignment of reading matter so the new biography of the Medici is next on the list.
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Carnival is in full swing, as testified by the number of Little Bo'Peeps, Spidermen and Spanish Senoritas walking the streets with their parents, chucking confetti at all and sundry. Obviously, being Naples, there is food associated with such an event. Biscuits called chiacchiere.. (chats) are the staple diet, almost like English biscuits but saltier. But the expensive and luscious choice is sanguinaccio. As the name suggests it used to be made with pig's blood, until European health directives changed the ingredients. Nowadays it is chocolate, cocoa, cream and something vaguely piquant that I can't put my finger on. It is certainly rich, a hugely calorific chocolate mousse, that's not very moussey.
Eager to get out of Naples for a day I went off to Benevento, an hour and a half on the train up into the mountains, where the snow still lies and the air is crisp, clear and bleedin' cold. The first thing I noticed was how clean the town is. Compared to Naples it is pristine, not just no rubbish in the streets, but not one piece of graffiti - which must make it an exception in most of Europe. Dotted about the place are bits of history, - a Roman arch in fantastic condition, various columns from the 1st century AD, and a rose granite statue of a bull from a Temple of Isis (1st century BC) Anywhere else they would be covered in various colours of felt tip pen, but here they stand quite happy on the pavements.
Whatever the town's secret is, I wish it would pass it on to every other town in Italy. Italian youth has an overweaning need to write it's name on any ancient monument it can find. I'm tempted to campaign for a return of branding as a punishment.
Eager to get out of Naples for a day I went off to Benevento, an hour and a half on the train up into the mountains, where the snow still lies and the air is crisp, clear and bleedin' cold. The first thing I noticed was how clean the town is. Compared to Naples it is pristine, not just no rubbish in the streets, but not one piece of graffiti - which must make it an exception in most of Europe. Dotted about the place are bits of history, - a Roman arch in fantastic condition, various columns from the 1st century AD, and a rose granite statue of a bull from a Temple of Isis (1st century BC) Anywhere else they would be covered in various colours of felt tip pen, but here they stand quite happy on the pavements.
Whatever the town's secret is, I wish it would pass it on to every other town in Italy. Italian youth has an overweaning need to write it's name on any ancient monument it can find. I'm tempted to campaign for a return of branding as a punishment.
Online Degrees