Almost a month has transpired since the last blog posting (28 December) …... a month that included a New Year, two birthdays, a wedding anniversary, a deferred office Christmas party for those who don't 'do' Christmas and the normal run of social events. A small amount of work also occurred and the relentless task of settling into Rome continued.
The end of 2009 included an expatriate dinner at Pasquilinos – a nearby ristorante maybe 150 metres from home – the meal was delivered in relaxed style between 8 and 11:30pm. Then we wandered down to the Colosseum for the turn of the clock. A light rain fell so we had to take umbrellas.
There had been a rock concert next to the Colosseum, but also it seems, we weren't the only ones planning to say goodbye to 2009 near the Forum. The scene was packed!!! I had heard of the sport of 'ambulance chasing' but had never previously imbibed but an ambulance pushing through the crowds was too good to resist so we attached ourselves to the wake of the ambulance and inserted ourselves about 200 metres into the seething mass of Italian humanity.
Then midnight must have 'struck' and a cacophony began, fireworks went off everywhere (including near us), flares flared and hitherto inapparent champagne bottles popped. Perhaps because Champagne is French, maybe because of the restraint imposed by the need to always look 'cool' – but it seems that Italians rather pour Champagne on one another than drink it!! So our umbrellas and wet weather gear had a valuable secondary purpose in keeping the sticky bubbles away from us. Being chiefly Aussies and Kiwis – we drank our Champagne next to the Colosseum rather than use it for ablutions!!!!
2010 duly welcomed, we re-grouped at our place for drinks (sans one Finn who got lost) – he was found at home later that night.
Thence to first Cathy's birthday and then Ian's with the usual wedding anniversary found in between. We find that the 'precious metaphor' for 35 years is coral. Who'd have thought that – all that time and perseverance for something that you stub your toe on in north Queensland.
No big celebration for that but a quiet, romantic dinner at the Trattoria adjacent to us (it was a bit cold for old married folks to walk too far). We were shown to a delightful table for two (tavola per dua) ….. next to a group of four Irish seminarians, out for a bit of Sunday night fun and Italian lessons. So amongst the hilarious tales of what Father O'Callaghan had been getting up to lately, we had some precise, if slow, Italian intercessions - “I like the music and singing” (Mi piace la musica e il canto!!!).
So we celebrate 35 years since walking down the isle with a remake of “Father Ted”.We are in deep winter here now – not as deep as northern Europe but quite cold enough for Queenslanders. But the rain has eased and we have beautiful clear skies and clear (cold) air. Rome always has tourists, but less now. The sales are coming to an end. They have real sales here where they clear out this year's fashions to make space for the next year (not like Australian stores buying in things for the sales). So for a couple of folk not so aware of this year's fashions, the sales are great!!
Not a sale item, but we have invested in a cool new iMac computer. This is the first iMac blog posting prepared on a machine completely free of Microsoft products – at last!
The photos you ask???? Well, restaurant scenes on the 31 December, before a rainy walk 'down-town' and the first Douglas portrait for 2010 – the wet bits are champers not rain. Then a typical lunch out with the girls and a pose near one of the restaurant's many marble works. The famous turtle (tartaruga) fountain near the Ghetto, the Tiber in flood, view from the roof, ice-skating near Castel Sant'Angelo. Also young Roman mimicry and a couple of unique-ish vehicles on the streets of Rome. And finally – election time again it seems and the quintessential Italian bill posting of candidates' materials – soon to be covered over by the next candidate's bill-posting crew.
Arrivederci – here's to 2010!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment