Parlo del Pui del Meno

Here are a few postings I was going to put up the minute the Internet was connected - you will notice the optimistic dates.

I mentioned plans to replace cobblestones with tarmac in an earlier posting ; well it now looks like Commune di Rome has done a volte-face on that one. Much to the dismay of locals, who detest the “sampietrini,” plans have been announced to conduct some basic maintenance on the basalt surfaces starting this month. Pot holes – some big enough to consume a SmartCar – will be filled in and some stretches relaid. Now if only they can do the same on a few of the main asphalt roads the world would be a better place.

And no this is not simply an excuse to show pictures of Italian workmen - its an interesting fact!!!
15 Settembre – Ezaltation San Croice

It isn’t uncommon for a wife to send her husband out to the bar here in Rome – for a litre of milk! Bars here have a completely different function than back home in Canada. Before I go to class in the morning I stop at the bar beside the school for a cappuccino; at the same time a neighbourhood gypsy woman will have a morning brandy to ward off the chills. The entire class goes to a bar at our break for coffee and pastry and again at lunch for either a sandwich or a three or four course lunch. If we need that litre of milk or a bottle of wine for dinner I can always nip over to our local bar and pick them up. It’s a real convenient convenience store. Plus you can catch up on the local gossip.
13 Settembre - San Giovanni Crisostomo


Our intersection at Via Nomentana (above) should be three lanes going into town, including an express lane for buses, taxis and anyone who wants to defy the law. So why is it six random lanes this morning?

Well it’s the first day of school at Instituo Marymount and doting parents are dropping off the issue of their marital (and sometimes extra-marital) bliss. The future movers and shakers of Italy, International/Multi-national Corporations and Embassies world-wide are being let out of their BMWs, SUVs etc. Of course it can’t be a simple matter of open door, grab school bag, “Mom, don’t yell I love you in front of the gang” and run. Kisses must be exchanged, gossip shared and hard-won Feragosto tans compared. Mothers check out what the other mothers are wearing. Fathers jockey for a parking spot that will ensure the other fathers see the new fully-equipped family chariot. It’s not just the beginning of the school year; it’s a major social event.
10 Settembre – Santa Pulcheria

Parlo del Piu del Meno

• Saturday morning we were strolling down Via dell’Obelisco discovering the wonders of Villa Borghese when a young couple approached us and asked, in English, the way to the Borghese Palace. Thinking they wanted the Galleria Borghese we gave them directions. Misunderstanding the next question Laurent assured them that indeed this was the same Borghese family who had been the movers, shakers, Popes, Princes and Politicos of Roman history. “Yeah, kewl” said the young man “but is that the place where they filmed The Bachelor?”*
  Sic Transit Gloria!

• Our friend Stephen was in an Italian hospital waiting for surgery. His Surgeon explained the procedure to him then asked him to sign the waiver prior to going under anesthetic. The good Doctor explained that he had two versions: the hospital’s version in Italian and an English version he had downloaded from an Australian website. He urged Stephen to sign the Italian one because he thought the Australian one “really too dramatic!”
  
  “Why they even talk about death,” he said with some astonishment! Stephen figured why tempt fate and signed the Italian one.

• Many of the streets in the centre of the city are still paved with cobblestone which looks romantic but is hell on suspension systems – of the automotive variety and those supported by high- heeled shoes. In wet weather those smooth black stones become slick, slippery and treacherous for anyone to walk on and bloody dangerous for moto drivers. In the more heavily traveled areas they are being removed – by machines that peel them off the surface in a matter of minutes – and replaced by asphalt. As cobblestone is becoming impossible to find these days the old cobblestones are being recycled in the more historic, pedestrian areas of the city. When new cobblestone is needed it is being brought in from…… China!

*And before anybody jumps to conclusions they were, I blush to admit, Canadians.

19 agosto – San Italo