Pierre the Peugeot and Pasqua!!!

It had to happen eventually …... the coming of the much promised car – Pierre the Peugeot!!

On the 24^th March, the proud new parents met Pierre for the first time. Of course, not without a few birth-pains and a very long labour (four months is pretty long for a Peugeot). Armed with an insurance certificate (in order to get a reasonable premium of course we had to import insurance history proof from Oz), roadworthiness certificate (essential for new cars these days – just ask Toyota), our TomTom and a good modicum of 'hope' we set out once again for the dealership. This time re-directed to the Administrazione where an entirely new bunch of people ignored us. All in Italian, an hour or so later we are introduced to all the cute behaviours of Pierre by a delightful mechanic chap who drove the gleaming new(ish – remember it had sat there for four months) car to the car-park and handed over the keys.

At that point, I installed the TomTom (as shown doing so in the photo) and leapt into the vehicle to drive off. If you click on this photo to see the large version, the astute observer may notice a red light shining through the windscreen. That was actually the brake light of the car that backed towards me, unseen until, we having travelled precisely one metre, he nearly ran into me. So our first Italian accident was avoided (just) within one metre of assuming driving control.

Italian new cars are little different to Australian new cars because the first thing you see when you turn them on is a warning light that says that you are desperately low on fuel. You can't ruin profits by putting more than a thimble full of fuel in the new car at delivery. So task #1, after waving to the chap who nearly hit us, and belting out onto the wrong side of the main road outside Pierre's erstwhile home (actually the right side, which is the right side here but the wrong side in Australia), was to find a servo. It was by then the evening peak hour in Rome and a great time to get to know a new car.

TomTom took us onto the freeway. Not a good idea, I thought, when one doesn't really have any fuel – running on the fumes from a proverbial 'dirty rag'. But I took heart because there on the other side of the divided freeway was an excellent servo. I thought “If they can have one on that side, so should we”. And I was lucky to be on my side because the other side was a car-park with very congested traffic all the way back from the lovely servo to the entrance of the tunnel. Wouldn't want to be stuck there with no fuel!!!

TomTom takes a bit of getting used to and when he said (I had purposefully chosen the Irish chap's voice) “Take the second exit” - I thought I did. But it was a U-turn exit that put us back onto the other side of the freeway. Remember ….. the side with the nice servo and the traffic from Hell. So … there we were.... evening peak hour..... brand new car …... no fuel..... about to run out in one of the two lanes that ran through the tunnel..... and cursing the Irish!!! After a gut-wrenching ten minutes we freewheeled into the servo and all was well again. Saved at at last!

I hope I haven't bored you with all this but I am dedicated to truth, drama and pathos through the agency of this blog.

On the following Saturday we went to where we most fantasised about driving to during those cold, winter, car-less days and nights ….... Ikea!!! Well, first to the massive shopping mall next door – Porta di Roma. Not easy to find the car-park entrance but enough parks. Does not communicate with the Ikea car-park so back outside looking for the even harder to locate Ikea entrance, then some time cruising for a parking space in very short supply.

We later discovered that above the parking spaces there are sensors that shine a green light when no car sits beneath and red when the space is occupied – cunning. Does not take into account all those double parked or parked in the isles. But we confronted a sea of red lights. Got one green one however and got the household things too heavy to carry home by bus and metro so were happy. The apartment looks much better now.

The next morning, Sunday, we drove to Frascati for coffee – only a short drive, but mostly spent getting out of Rome itself. Then, over Easter (Pasqua) we drove to show a young Australian friend her first snow, and to the devastation that was lovely L'Aquila before the quake. And on Easter Saturday, to the hill town of Soriano nel Cimini, where an old workmate of mine is holidaying. Wonderful lunch with him overlooking spectacular scenery. Easter Sunday was 'wet' but a good day for a short drive to Rome's current port – Civittavechia where the cruise liners dock.

I think I may have scored some fines over the weekend. TomTom took me to some areas where I wasn't meant to be and I suspect I was photographed for later attention. Also, although the slowest car on the roads of Italy, I think I may have exceeded some speed limits in my innocent attempts to avoid being hit from behind by maniacal speedsters. But I am learning to ignore my Irish mentor and go to more proper places and discovering how very friendly Italian drivers are.... they all want to toot their horns for me …. nice!

Spring has certainly sprung and the flowers are out in many places. The trees are starting to break out in green and, although still cold here, there is starting to be a summery 'vibe' about.

In the park near us is the site of Nero's Golden Palace (Domus Aurea) – all now ruins but interesting. Last week some of the ruins collapsed. No one was hurt thankfully but some small part of the ruins was ruined. They are just not making ruins like they used to!!!

Anyway – the wish here is for Buona Pasqua – happy Easter to you all (tutti)

Photos this time:- Pierre on delivery and in garage (the apartment we rent for him), coffee (caffe) at Frascati, snow at Terminillo, the Appenines with snow in April, beautiful downtown Soriano nel Cimini, the Soriano view from the restaurant toilet, Spring flowers in Rome and a ruined ruin.

Life is full of the peculiar and surprising!!!

Dear Followers – this blog (perhaps a little over-due) I have dedicated to the odd or weird – mostly as captured on digital imagery. [And you thought all the other blogs were “normal”!!!!!]

So first, how does a cunning marketer of Italian sport (football – that which we call soccer) drive his marketing niche crazy wanting to subscribe to the premium channel. Answer: a “teaser”. What you do is sort of provide the game for free. But not all the game!!! So here we see in this photo taken of our TV set, the Roma vs. Milano game (direct from the Olympic Stadium), balanced on a knife-edge at 0 – 0 (it finished up with the same frustrating score!!). But the whole program amounts to the lovely male and female commentators, sitting snugly behind some floral arrangements (on the left wattle or mimosa – the flower for international women's day here). They call the game with great excitement but the video is only of the excited fans in the stands – never of the game. Never see the ball. Never the goals. Never the players, not the referees. Oh! Dear! Makes you want to be there – or at least to pay the extra to actually see the game.

A new meaning to the term “renter”. Here in Rome, you can “share” cars – provided by the transport authority “ATAC”. If you enrol and presumably get the common key you can just grab a car from wherever you find one (in especially marked and reserved bays) and use it. How about that! Seems to be cutting the number of cars in Rome down by …. ooooh... maybe 10!!! A start. They do the same thing with bikes but they seem to get stolen a bit.

Weird air-travel!!! Well, for now the Airbus A380, supports a funky bar down at the rear of Business Class. I expect that it will make way for more seats and paying customers one day, just as the lounge in the hump of the earliest 747s disappeared under the pressure to get more butts on seats. But for now – cool!! And when its late and you can't sleep and the flight attendants start to relax a bit after the main service, they sometimes even invite you to work behind the bar for them. So, “yours truly” serving the Moet, entertaining the staff and making sure everyone has enough little middle-eastern snacks. And a photo of the lounge replete with mood lighting, seatbelts and a representation of the Palm Dubai on the wall.

No photo – but we have previously mentioned the TV games shows that Italy is famous for. A new one has the contestants choose between two options for which the producers have previously surveyed the Italian population. So, “do most Italians prefer spaghetti or lasagne?” – that type of thing. But one notable question asked last week was “Which of these two famous Italian women do people think has the best decolletage?”. This is a topic as close to the hearts of Italians as the topic is to the heart of the displayer. And the contestant got the answer correct!!!

Other weird stuff – no photo (yet!) but buying a car here is really weird. It is paid for, and now registered. We have known the chassis number for four months, it is brand new but has passed its compulsory roadworthy and has a nice little number plate. And I received an Italinglish email yesterday to tell me that I had to pick it up at 4:00pm on next Tuesday. Nice thought except I will be at 30 000 feet over the Atlantic then. So the little macchino remains a myth – unseen – unloved and growing old sitting in the car yard. If that isn't weird, don't know what is.

I had a couple of trips away recently so Nonna visited the lovely family in Yorkshire rather than batch. I had a few days in Cairo – almost like going home again! - and another few days in Bangkok (first time I had ever slept in Bangkok although I had called in for day trips before). My associates were keen to “eat on the street” which (although it did not include bitumen) included weird food like roasted frog. I ate sensibly and found the non-froggy food simple, but fairly tasteless if unbelievably cheap. So, no pictures of roast frog, but a nice one to end with of the morning river traffic on the Chao Phraya.

Ciao belli

Monumental events in Rome!!!!

Wow! A month of big monumental things. The most notable was that it snowed in Rome last Friday!!! Some of the photos in this post show the scene. It is not unknown for snow to fall here and it apparently does every 5 or 10 years but that is always very light. Last week we had quite heavy snowfall over a three or four hour period. Heaviest for 26 years. So the snow coated the ancient monuments and made them pretty and white – for a while. By night fall nearly all the snow had melted away.

Everybody, including us, was very excited. We were having breakfast and aware that it had been raining heavily. But then as we looked out the rear doors of the apartment, the rain seemed to be 'slower' than normal. There was a period of uncertainty when we really couldn't be sure but then the heavens opened and flurries of very large snowflakes started floating and swirling about.

We went about our windows taking pictures (naturally) – as did many of our neighbours. So I walked to work in the snow – something that I never thought I would do in Rome.

The snowfields may have melted, but the photos and the memories remain!!

Another monumental event? Well the scaffolding came down last week. So we now can have daylight in all our rooms and we can see out (terribly important should it snow of course!!). They have done a great job and the apartment is now a lovely shade of 'pink' – not everyone's favourite colour but very neat with cream trim and brown shutters (the old shutters are also to be replaced). I have included a photo for you. We are on the second floor but that isn't counting the ground or zero floor, so we have two floors above and below us. The astute viewer will notice that there are still wires running casually down the walls into windows. That is because of the age and construction of the building that makes running wires through them almost impossible. Seems that they didn't adequately anticipate cable TV.

And the third monumental thing? Well, more of a monumental st@#f up! You know that car that we purchased in November? It seemed only a couple of weeks away from delivery yesterday morning when we went to pay the residue for it, but a paperwork error was noticed by the keen-minded salesman and I now suspect that we will not be driving about Italy for another six weeks. Not all monumental events are good events.

We are about to abandon meat for Lent with Ash Wednesday next Wednesday. And Rome is in Carnevale mode (goodbye meat). This will culminate on Tuesday with 'Mardi gras' - fat Tuesday – the time to pig out before the fasting starts. So there is a good deal of dressing up, mostly of children, who walk through the streets pelting confetti at everyone – the little darlings!! So a picture of the parade down the Via del Corso last weekend.

When you live in a snowy country (as we do) you need those warm wintery clothes (which we have been buying) and we now look reminiscent of eskimos. So maybe some pickies of the Douglases of the North next time. Mind you, we are yet to embrace the fashion for skinning small furry animals and making full-length coats out of them – something about not liking paint thrown at one? But we seem alone in Rome for that reticence and we are here where the fur coats are in abundance. And not just for the opera – at any time of day, as testified by the photo this time of a Gina Lollobrigida look-alike at the local fruit market with her trolley.

Oh! And another monumental event that will enable me to name-drop. A week ago, whilst walking up Via Sistina, a narrow-footpath-ed minor road that runs from the Spanish Steps to one of our regular gelaterias, I thought I recognised this stocky little grey-haired bloke who moved off the path to let us pass. We exchanged those sort of “G'day” nods and walked past, but I became aware of this chap having quite a few mates – maybe eight or so – who walked with him but in a sort of semi-circle around him. Some wore black suits – a bit ostentatious for a Sunday walk even in Rome - and they all seemed very intense. The the penny dropped (or more properly the cent) and I realised that we had just had a moment of fame with the US Defence (Defense) Secretary who must have been passing through after a NATO meeting in Istanbul. Quite proud of myself for noticing but I got the name wrong. I thought he was Robert McNamarra but then realised that this was a name from another era, another warlike 'defense' – my mate is Robert Gates. Anyway, he wasn't assassinated and neither was I.

Ciao ciao ciao from monumental Rome

The Month of the Party!!!

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!!!

Alien Forces at Play!!!!

Just when you think that you have survived Christmas festivities (again!) one’s composure is sorely tested by “alien invasions” – as a couple of our photos depict this time.

First, my bride looks wistfully out her rear window to gaze upon the intimate domestic scene, when a white cloud appears on her horizon.  Is this some form of rare meteorological phenomenon or is this something more sinister?  Well, turns out to be ‘normal’ but an extension of the fore-mentioned ‘intimate domestic scene’.  Our upstairs neighbour was washing her curtains and hung them out on her back landing, and, being long curtains, they drooped onto our balcony.  Communal curtain cleaning!

Then, in a scene reminiscent of that great and moving Hollywood movie ‘Independence Day’, strange lights appear over Rome and weird life forces seem to emerge.  The ancient Roman pyramid (Pyramide) is lasered to advertise some mob who clearly need advertising, and dozens of huge spot lights make the Colosseum look light a sparkly porcupine or to be ‘under alien attack’.

And then again, on Christmas Day, a whole bunch of ‘aliens’ descended on Casa Douglasio for a lunch that ran into the eighth hour – two other Australians, four Kiwis and four Finns.  We ate some alien food (exotic hot and cold smoked salmon for example), drank alien drinks (Glögg – or mulled red wine, raisins, almonds and spices), and wore silly Christmas hats, normal for us but alien at least to the Finns.

Thank goodness that some people remain down to earth and stick with ‘natural’ things – such as the skins of dead animals.  Indeed, as the weather gets cooler, no varmint seems safe around here.   The days of animal liberationists throwing paint on fur wearing fashionistas must have long passed.  Included are a couple of examples for your viewing pleasure, including a heart-warming shot of a father taking his two young daughters for a stroll on a Sunday afternoon.  He probably even paid for the coat!!

Anyway, as you can see, we have set up a palm tree in the lounge and perform strange rituals before it whenever we can (to ward off the aliens).  Cathy seemed to enjoy the experience even if our two friends seemed to be badly affected.

And the bonus photos ....No not our future car but if you thought that the Smart car was smart then this one is smarter; the illuminations from our rooftop terrace; and a cute and slightly bizarre place called 'The Library' behind Piazza Navona - just right for an aperitivo.

This weekend – a brand new year.  Here’s to what 2010 will bring!!

Arrivederci 2009 and to you all!!

Greetings from Roma

The Great Step Forward … Climate Change … Ancient Traditions Reignited

OK – Va bene! – inspiring title this time but an interesting two weeks since the last post.

Climate change – well Copenhagen is going on as I write, but the real climate change here is that we have the central heating on permanently now with the winter now with us in strength.  Some of the days have been glorious with Brisbane Blue clear skies but that makes the evenings much colder.  Today was plain ‘bleak’ with overcast and even light rain. 

We both went on a walking Italian class – almost three hours and wonderful but cold (Cold) with a capital C.  We walked around Monti and discovered that in imperial times it was the suburb just outside the city where the scruffy people lived.  It is now kind of ‘hip’ and has some delightful streets with cool shops.  Our favourite was the chocolate shop that did a great hot chocolate today (after the walk) at 3,50 Euro a cup - $5 Oz.  Visa – priceless            !!!  No hot chocolate – priceless!!!!!!!

The great step forward – yesterday we went home-making – by bus and train to the ‘sticks’ where one of the really big shopping centres is (dwarfing any Brisbane centre) and where homemaker stores like Ikea reside.  But restricted by not having a car, we had to bring our purchases home the hard way (could not even find a taxi there).  We bought curtains for the lounge and dining rooms, a cool standard lamp, a stand for the TV, some Ikea bric-a-brac (boxes, candles, plant pots etc), and an Ikea stainless steel ‘wagony thingo’ that lets us sort out the kitchen.  But all of this took not one but two round trips to the centre …. and real stamina to carry the items that became very heavy the further we carried them.

Another promising step is that our sea shipment is supposed to be delivered to us tomorrow, Monday, provided Italian customs clears it.  Given that I have an import duty exemption, unless they are looking for illicit items, or want to be ‘slow’, we should be right.

And finally … ancient traditions reignited?  Well, after the great fire, Rome instituted the fore-runner of today’s fire services with the Vigili del Fuoco – the ‘alerters’ of fires.  They still exist under that name but these days there aren’t many fires.  The odd apartment explodes due to a gas leak, but the buildings are all made of largely non-combustible materials.

So where is the current demand for the Vigili?  It seems that Romans lock themselves out of their apartments with a regularity.  The Vigili have hugely-powerful magnets that they use to turn the locks (usually a lot of them) without the key.  We didn’t lose our keys.  But ‘we’ did close the door with the key in the door – but on the inside of the door.  Ian has spare keys and came home to fix things, but of course with a key in the lock, you can’t put a key in the lock from the other side. 

As it was no deadlock at this stage, Ian thinks he can slide some plastic sheeting through the crack in the door and push the tongue of the lock back.  Good idea but a failure.  But the bride came to the rescue and called the Vigili on her mobile, who arrived in a big red truck after Ian had returned to work – four of them – 50 minutes later (she had been told that they would come in 10 or 50 minutes – not a mistaken ‘15’ – No!! either they had to come straight away or after lunch.  The stomachs (four of them) won out. 

So these chaps used the Douglas technique but with stiffer plastic, a used xray film – and with three of them jiggling the door at the same time – voila!!  A delighted bride, a few moments convincing them that she actually lived there – no charge and a photo opportunity to boot (at least of three of them).

Ah!!  Roma!!! 

Arrivederci for now.

The photos?  Centurians ordering pizza at the Colosseo Metro entrance (as you do!); Copenhagen comes to Roma; Christmas preparations overwhelm Piazza Navona with stalls and likenesses of La Befana - the Christmas witch - noice!!; JWs Romano-style - attack at the bus stop;  and the lads - vigilis one and all.