Still in the fire / 20th agosto 2011

Wow, it's hot. It's been 35C or more here every day and the heat shows no signs of abating. The apartment is not so good at dealing with the heat, the walls aren't very thick, the shutters are not total blackout, and this means that the place is constantly hot. It rarely drops much below 30C in the house, there is no aircon and fans create very little movement.


I am doing a lot of soul searching about life in Italy at the minute, what is good and what seems odd. This morning, well morningish, still feeling unwell I didn't leave the house until just after noon, to go shopping. When I got to the edge of town shopping areas the place was deserted. This is very common in Italy on Saturday. Shops open from about 09:30 till 01:30, then they close until 17:00 and are open again until about 19:30. Often on Saturdays you can see bemused tourists wandering around looking for something to do. Sundays are shut down often, until Sunday early evening where everything opens for the passeggiata - the family stroll around town. Another shocking thing is when shops close for the August holidays. Feragosto is a public holiday in Italy - 15th August. This is a bad time to be in Italy, all of Italy seems to go on holiday around this time. And when shop owners go on holiday - they don't arrange coverage during one of busiest times of the years, oh no, they just put up a notice saying that they're on holiday for 2 weeks and are closed!

Well, this is something that would not be tolerated in the UK, in the UK every little drop of commercialisation would be dragged out of every little chance. Italy does not embrace this. Shops would be open at all times in all hours, no time set aside for family eating, no time for an annual holiday for everyone. Again, I find it fascinating that such a little thing makes such a big difference. It really is a much nicer way of life, especially if you have a family, but extremely frustrating if you are used to getting what you want when you want. Again, it is the Italian approach of being very happy with what is good and then sticking to that, religiously, dogmatically, without deviation. There are a number of perplexing things that I have encountered, for many of them I now have the answer, the reason as to why, but yet, I fail to understand why they are that way, even if the purpose remains clear to me. Again - is it just the perplexity of the way of life of the latinos being so completely different, that if you have not been fully ingratiated into it since you were born then you won't get it. Or is it the slightly stiff and stuffy arrogance of the Italians and the complete inflexibility and lack of understanding about how the world is changing? The Italian national debt is swept under the carpet and is actually triple that of Greece, Spain and Ireland, the countries that are causing such shell shock in Europe and knock on effects globally. Berlusconi is a fool and leads the derision of other nations, meanwhile the a@se is falling out of the economy.

Of course, I do have this doubt. Is a country like the UK where everything is so open and dynamic and changing and thrusting the right way to move? The UK is no longer a force in agriculture or manufacturing but mainly through financial markets, and we have seen how unstable that is in recent years. The state of play in the UK is fooked - family life is dead, tv internet jobs all terrible, look at the riots, look at the open failure of multikulti, however Italy has a great family life, great culture, strong links with the past, but an economy that is weak.

Where is the answer people? I am looking for it here but I have yet to find it!

Meanwhile, it is probably time to reveal this photo. Dawn has a haridresser somewhere about 40km from here, a transexual from the USA recommended him to her. One Saturday I got roped in to going along too and getting my hair done. I had been pretty unsuccessful before with getting what I wanted from an Italian haircut so I thought I couldn't lose. So in I go, get a good hair wash and a face rub, and then got about 5 mins of hardly any haircutting at all. Dawn is en route to a 2 hour headfest and I am done in about 20 min. So then they ask if I want it finishing. So yes, I requested a happy finish and they did the following to me. And made me pay for it. Really not me, and in the end I got a proper shaved haircut about a week later. And now I have finally resigned and am back to cutting my hair myself!

More Palio gubbins / 19th agosto 2011

It was Palio time again a couple of days ago. Martin was over to see it and unfortunately I managed to pick up some mega aids so couldn't go to the show - sorry dude, saw a little bit of the prequel build up though.

Being East Midlands boys we have decided that he and I should support Valdimontone (rampagin ram) and Selva (wood), respectively, for our local football teams.

Here we have an Italian teacher who gives an annual chat and presentation on the Palio. Using my stupidly expensive and overpriced magic pen (www.livescribe.com) I recorded what I wrote down. It is pretty interesting stuff and gives some good insight into the wierdness of it all here.

Of course, on top of the wierdness is the fact that the Palio just saps all the energy from this city, any energy that would be put into running social, art, sports clubs all goes into Palio balls. Harrrrumph. This explains why the Sienese are so closed (yet friendly) and so secretive for most of the year. I mean, when they win the Palio you never see anyone having a single drop of drink. Silly southern Europeans!

Ciao for now!

Italian music 19th agosto 2011

I've found Italian music a little disappointing I'm afraid to report. There is a healthy combination of american and Italian music and neither are particularly classy. The american music falls into two types: slightly behind the times, and really old and very offbeat. The Italian music falls into two types: old gits banging out old tunes, and younger kids doing some really not very good stuff. Particularly disappointing has been the experience of the videos - they fall into three categories: sexist claptrap that looks like it should be in the 70s, or strange home movies that are terribly badly made, or ones that don't even seem to be videos but rather a collection of still images shot together like a apple mac movie. Class. I will give a couple of examples below.

We no speak Americano ft. Cleary and Harding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iANRO3I30nM&feature=feedf_more


Zucchero - Vedo Nero

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZZs3cSASIM

Then of course Siena has something different - Gianna Nannini. From a big local family that own a large number of the biggest cafes in Siena. She is a number of things: famous bakery daughter, singer, multi multi album sales, lesbian, mother at the age of 54, and the locals flock to her concerts in the tens of thousands. Recently, eager to catch on this local flavour I picked up a triple CD set of all the best songs that she's done. And I have yet to find a good one!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianna_Nannini


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXd41y6NZbA&playnext=1&list=PLD573C1F5150189BC

But then Hey! What do I know? This is what I was expecting! Our dear favourite Joe Dolce - Shaddup You Face from 1981 or even Days Like These by Matt Monroe from the Italian Job in 1969.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-BKcKMS748&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBlOkvBu6Cg

However, I think there may be something a little more profound here. My expectations of Italy seem to be set by what I expected to find. Everything is different from what you expect, the longer you stay here and the more you learn, the further aware from anything that you could expect, and the little more uncomfortable it becomes, rather like a holiday that has gone on too long - yes, the sun may still be shining, the pool is still 50 yards away, and decent wine available for less than a euro a litre, but when it doesn't match your life's expectations it's not worth anything to you. There are some things when this is fun e.g. food - food here is great to eat out, supermarket shopping is still fun as I will never cease to be surprised, however on the flip - you are stuck if you want anything but Italian food. Music - there's some fun stuff here, but it ain't what I'm in to. The weather - it's great - but I'm a ginger blue-eyed honky with no chance to survive in these stinking heat. Work - it's a different approach and I see some great positives in the sincerity they put into it, the detail they express and the strong union and work rights, but at the same time it can be a frig in the frighole getting ANYTHING done around here without banging 80 peoples heads against walls. And the same goes for the music - I'm not Italian, and never will be. I consider myself to have extremely broad musical tastes but I still do not get it. I enjoy the palio, but I will never really "get" it. I like the food, but I still need a curry and a dirty red stripe once a week. I like the style, but I am more inclined to get my sports equipment dirty by actually sweating on it rather than getting hair product on it. I'm not sure what this means in final - that maybe the honeymoon is over, as I have no interest to go back to the UK, but I am now starting to feel quite restless.

Something needs to change, we shall see what...

Of course, back to the music...MTV.it is pretty good and does save me! Ciao for now!

18th agosto 2011 Ironman needs a bike

18th agosto 2011 Ironman

A few weeks ago Stu competed in his first Ironman at Zurich. Since we are on continental Europe we decided at the drop of a hat to drive up and see him, this is a pretty cool option in Europe, you literally can jump in a car and pop off anywhere, it was a long drive (7 hours) but well worth it. The Ironman was exceptionally well organised and great fun to spectate. We took our bikes and cycled around and even did a little running after him up a cycling hill just like they do on the Tour de France. In fact, it inspired us so much that somehow we both got inspired and have decided to enter Ironman Regensburg next June - so that is a 2.3 mile swim (I cannot swim), a 112 mile bike ride and a full marathon, not to mention 6 months of the longest training ever. Ciao life!

On the plus side it did finally make me buy a new bike! After many years of loving my Claud Butler Roubaix, I have gone for a full carbon bike - a slightly used Scott Addict SL . Everything is carbon and supremely stiff. The world of difference between this and Claud are incredible, especially on hills where it feels that every little piece of power being put in is transferred directly to the hill.

Of course a good bike needs good shoes. Being in Italy there was only one option I could embrace - when in Rome n all that :) So here they are - carbon Italian shoes, 30th anniversary from Vittoria - in Gold!!! Audacious. Of course, it was much cheaper for me to buy them in the UK and get them posted back to Italy such are the prices in Italy.

Smokey challenges these shoes. For him cycling shoes, a la Eurostyle, should always be white - I'm not convinced, I think he's be in California too long surely.

The shoes have not brought me luck so far. On their first spin out (53.8 miles, Siena to Murlo via San Rocca, stinking hot day, riding with Martin and a random) about 15 miles from home something happened. I am not sure as I really don't remember but my guess is the following: I was looking at my GPS watch versus my bike computer and I looked up and suddenly was heading towards the edge, I swerved away and rammed my brakes on, forgetting that I was riding a Eurobike with brakes on the wrong way round, I must've hit the front brake hard and I ended up doing a complete 360 degree flip forward and over the handlebars landing more or less on my feet/right front after completing the front flip. I was traveling at about 22 mph I guess and when I picked myself up I was amazed that:

a) I wasn't dead

b) I hadn't broken any limbs

c) I wasn't bleeding or cut too bad

d) The bike was ok



Martin picked me up and put the chain back on the bike, a car stopped and asked if I was ok and that was it. Got back on the bike and came home, through the stinking hot sun. Really my only memory is of Martin swearing something as I was flying through the air and he was swerving to avoid my debris - kudos to him for not being wiped out too.

Buying a 2nd hand carbon bike was a gamble and against a lot of advice. When you buy 2nd hand you have no guarantee that the bike has not had a big knock and the carbon is damaged. Well - I would have no comeback now, but I have to say this bike must be extremely tough as I cannot believe that it is still in one piece. So far, touch wood, there appears to be no cracks in the carbon, no damage to the carbon spokes, the wheels, even the handlebar tape. I will find out next time when I give it a bit of a bigger test but so far it seems to have survived.

I was not quite so lucky, a lot of bruises and cuts, cuts to my hands, and then I developed a really swollen throat (mal di gola) and ended up being in bed for two days. Nice holiday for Martin - sorry bud! After three days it was getting worse, very sore liver (doloroso di fegato), very dizzy (capogiro) so we ended up in Pronto Soccorso aka A and E. That was a nice holiday for Martin. Certainly its a little different to the UK version, Martin observed that there was a lot of paper driven action and he is quite right - this is rampant in Italian society so it is no longer a surprise to me. Anyway, they looked after me very well and did an ultrasound and x-ray to check I hadn't smashed my liver when I fell but all was fine. Then they gave me antibiotics and steroids - all free! Thank you Italian health service.

So now I am ill and off work for a couple of days to get better, still a little dizzy but getting better. Itching to get on the bike again too, to check it out and to check myself out, it will have to wait though. Middle of August in Italy is not a happy place to be. Every day it starts fairly cool, maybe 22C and gets up to about 35 or 36 everyday, peaking about 6 pm, not starting to cool till it gets dark after 8:30.

Off to get better - ciao!

18th agosto 2011 / The Foxy Knoxy archives

It's the story that will not go away - Meredith Kircher, British student was murdered at a college in Perugia a couple of years ago, some evidence exists but the story is not clear, there are a number of protagonists, suggestions of sexual games, an excellent nickname of the currently "guilty" female - "Foxy Knoxy" a lot of international attention, a movie, and the Italian media loves it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13930073

Foxy Knoxy (23 yo) and Rafaelle Sollecito (26 yo) are appealing their convictions of 26 and 25 years, respectively. The case is in Rome right now and there is a huge amount of media attention with daily updates.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13823473

From one article

From the start of the highly publicised murder trial in 2009, Amanda Knox was the focus of intense media scrutiny. But who is she?

Knox, whose pretty face maintained its carefree smile throughout her trial, was the ideal female suspect for an Italian murder - "the face of an angel - but the eyes of a killer," as one (Italian) commentator described her.

From the images of her kissing her co-accused and erstwhile boyfriend, to her cartwheels in the police station, Knox's seemingly innocent insouciance contrasted gratingly with the gory crime and general preconceptions of what a murderer should look like.

'Half demon'
The only explanation, according to prosecutors and feverish media coverage, was that Knox, now 23, was that most-loved of villains - the middle-class monster whose appearance hides a diabolical soul.

One lawyer was reported as accusing Knox of being "dirty inside and out" and described her as "half Maria Goretti and half demon".

The lawyer added: "Who is the real Amanda Knox? Is it the one we see before us here, simple water and soap, the angelic St Maria Goretti?"

"Or is she really a she-devil, a diabolical person focused on sex, drugs and alcohol, living life to the extreme and borderline - is this the Amanda Knox of 1 November 2007?"

Maria Goretti was a teenager made a saint by the Roman Catholic Church after she was murdered during an attempted rape.

Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote

The Amanda I know... lives a carefree life. Her only thought is the pursuit of pleasure”

Raffaele Sollecito
As the trial unfolded the two Amanda Knoxes vied for acceptance: the hapless student championed by her family and defence lawyers; and the manipulative hedonist described by the prosecution.

And despite her plea in court - "I'm afraid of having the mask of a murderer forced on to my skin" - the latter always seemed to gain the upper hand.

Details soon began emerging of Amanda's private life - her "Foxy Knoxy" nickname, the drug-taking and claims she slept with several men after she arrived in Italy.

In letters from his jail cell, co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito wrote: "The Amanda I know... lives a carefree life."

'Party girl'
"Her only thought is the pursuit of pleasure," he wrote to his father

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11823193

It rumbles ever on...I won't comment on the legal system in Italy at this time, as I do not have experience of this, and it does not seem that different from other countries systems. One thing however is the uniforms - the guards and the police all wear absolutely excellent uniforms. There are a number of quasi-independent police forces in Italy:

Carabinieri: Police/military police. Sort of normal police but also act as the military police

Polizia Municipale: local police

Guardia di Finanzia: financial guards for moving money

Corpo Forestale dello Stato: Forest police - surprisingly prominent, but there are a lot of national parks and they have a wide remit

Random others: Polizia Penitenzieria - jail, Guardia Costiera - coast guard, Polizia di Stato - traffic cops

I have asked about the reason for so many cops and the general explanation is that there is someone to police the police. The society has improved in the last 20 years, but there is still a lot of inherent corruption (hello Berlusconi, hello Mafia) and suspicion, so I guess there needs to be independent bodies so that control can be established.

However, the important thing is the uniforms. Wow they are so good. The current themes are a) guns, often in white, and b) lots of leather, always in white, especially belts. Sunglasses goes without saying.

And there's a picture of Foxy Knoxy with some tooled up police - awesome. In fact, the article that I took that picture from was quite interesting

http://sylverblaque.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/amanda-knox-convicted-of-cultural-difference/


Amanda Knox: Convicted of Cultural Difference?
Posted on August 3, 2011
What if American exchange student Amanda Knox wasn’t really convicted of murder?

What if she was sentenced to 26 years in an Italian jail for the crime of being different?





That’s what author Nina Burleigh investigates in her book “The Fatal Gift of Beauty.”





Says Burleigh, in a Fox News interview, “It was a misunderstanding between Italian police and this young woman who…was kind of a hippie. They didn’t really know what to make of her. She was so different from how young Italian women are supposed to behave…”

Of course we will never know, but the press will enjoy it however it goes. Ciao for now.

18th agosto 2011 my birthday remarkably well made

18th agosto 2011 my birthday changed

My birthday is 28th June, not famous for very much, maybe for a shooting that kicked off WWI, but otherwise it is quiet. However, this year I was made aware of 'Tau day' marked by opponents of maths constant pi!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13906169

Pi is of course 3.14159.... the ratio of circumference to diameter, however, tau, which is 6.28.... twice the size of pi is better for mathematicians, essentially it is the ratio of circumference to radius.

I don't have an opinion on the correctness of this mathematically but I do like my birthday being enshrined by something mentally challenging, so June 28th becomes 6.28 - result!

Bottom pinching 18th August 2011

Bottom pinching 18th agosto 2011

Hot off the presses - Italy is changing...

Today in MSN.com there is an article entitled "12 stereotypes we get completely wrong about foreigners" in which one is:

'Women will always get their bottoms pinched in Italy'

Reality: Old editions of plenty of guide books will inform you that the pinching of attractive (and possibly less-than-attractive) derrieres by Italian men is a big problem but in fact it's one largely consigned to the past. A slow-but-sure uptake of equality laws and sentiment in Italy means you are fairly unlikely to have to look around sharply and shout, "Who did that?" in your best phrase-book Italian. Indeed, in 2005, judges in the supreme court ruled that bottom-pinching was illegal, rapidly followed by a ruling (aimed at the same group of potential offenders?) that groping oneself in public was also against the law.

I can certainly say that I have not seen any of the sort of lechery from Italian men that I expected to see coming here. Certainly Siena is a very tame place so maybe I have not been exposed to it, but really I have not seen any of that. Most Italians seem to pick their partners very young, in their late teens and then stay together. The only embarrassing scenes I have seen in my time here are loud US college girls, drinking in the Irish pub talking about how big their houses are back home and how big a car daddy is going to buy them,

On that theme, last night was the first time that I have seen Jersey Shore for the first time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore_(TV_series)

A rather disgusting look at these exact same people before they come to Europe. In fact, Jersey Shore did hit these shores and come to Florence for a month a couple of months ago. It is fascinating and I shall probably watch because it is on MTV and is subtitled rather than overdubbed which means I can watch it. Overdubbing is a pain as my language skills are not skillful, and certainly not skillful enough to pick out the Italian quick enough to get a good understanding. Anyway, thank you MTV.it for throwing a few occasionally english language tv stuff my way. Although they do play that song by Lady GaGa - "I'm on the Edge" far far far too much.

These people are such scum, that even Abercrombie and Fitch want to pay the cast to stop wearing their clothes!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14562953

Apparently Geordie Shore is now rocking the UK, the same program uprooted and moved to Newcastle, this program sounds like scum, exactly the same as I saw on Jersey Shore last night. I can imagine the youth of the UK watching this before going out for a nice riot and a looting. Thankfully Italy in my experience has not been like this. So, back to the title of my article, if you are worried about bottom pinching, leave the UK and come to Italy!

Ciao for now!

Ciao horsey 10th agosto 2011

Palio time is approaching again. The next one is on the 16th August and everything is being readied. The barriers are up and there is a scent of excitement in the air. And of course the Nay-Sayers are out in force.

http://www.theflorentine.net/articles/article-view.asp?issuetocId=7074&browse-by=TuscanyNews

I do kind of agree with them, like I feel the same whenever the Grand National is run - there's always a death or two and it seems like these "horse-lovers" are quick to pull the trigger when they fall.

Meanwhile, the UK is going crazy, a shooting in Tottenham has developed into multiple riots and looting over the whole country including London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Birmingham. Now it seems that copy chat chavs are just using it as an excuse to get new trainers and DVD players. Glad I am the heck out of it all.