Getting down to being a Roman 'local'

Allora!!  So you thought that I had given up on this blog.  Truth is that two things inhibited me.  First, every time I looked at the blog with an addition in mind, I saw our new addition’s edition, the beautiful William, and I thought “I just can’t top that”.  Second, and partly because of William, I haven’t had much time this past six weeks.  Busy, busy, busy!!

 

After the birth I made an overnight work trip to Paris.  It was a good work trip but rather rushed.  I did have an excellent dinner and lunch however.  I have to recommend Confit du Canard – I can ‘ardly speak highly enough of the duck, cooked such that its skin was like fine ‘crackling”.

Then, I eventually travelled to Yorkshire to become acquainted with my new grandson and embrace son and daughter-in-law (as well as a spouse who I hadn’t seen for a month).  William and I seemed to hit it off just fine and it was lovely to see the new family, all so very keen on one another.  Yorkshire was Yorkshire and the weather forgettable.  A highlight was attending the 60^th birthday party of the local vicar’s wife.

On return to Rome I was able to carry the bride over the threshold of the new living space as she had never slept there.  Thereafter she was busy building on the survival-only possessions that I survived so well on.  So we now have some plates etc and news that our shipment of possessions has arrived at the Italian port of Milano (well inland you geography-buffs are saying). But Genova has a dock but no parking for miles.  Anyway, if the Customs authorities are in the mood we ‘might’ have it all by next weekend.

Yesterday we bought (or at least ordered) our car.  Gave up on the mid(?)-life crisis fantasy of an Alfa and opted for a Peugeot 308, mostly because it offered more and I hired one in the UK and was very impressed.  Anyway, we won’t see the car for at least six weeks due to the way things need to be done here – but we do have its compliance plate number.

And we have had our first visitors.  They largely behaved themselves and were safely dispatched with the sorts of memories that only the Eternal City can provide.  We took the opportunity to dine out, with local friends, while they were here and enjoyed some of the ‘dolce vita’ that you have heard about.

Anyway, conscious that some of you count the words, and hoping that you will start offering some encouraging comments so I go on with this onerous chore ;-)  I will stop here.  Save but to tell you what the photos have been this time.

So…. Langcliffe, Settle, North Yorkshire – former home of my grandson;  what Romans do on a Sunday afternoon when they close off the road beside the Colosseum (and William would have enjoyed) – cart rides; what Savoyards do on a Saturday night when they present a wonderful version of the Taming of the Shrew complete with mixed accents (being mostly expatriates); what the local parish church folk of the Basilica of San Clemente do once a year on the good saint’s feast day – processing around the streets to the opposition churches accompanied by a full band (this shot from our bedroom window); ‘the office’ decked out with flags of every member nation for the world food security summit and its annual ‘share holders meeting’; an Australian visitor starting off on the wrong foot by trying to dress like a Roman but being typically a couple of thousand years behind the fashions (and causing considerable distress to my wife who was bent double just prior to this shot); and of course, a more recent photo of the star of 2009 – William.  Oh! And my mate and me!!!!

Arrivederci

Special Edition Post for Sunday, 18 October 2009

This “special edition” celebrates the joyous fact that a new Douglas is breathing the Lancashire air this morning.

We welcome William Lachlan DOUGLAS to the family. By all reports, after a very lengthy gestation, he was born without incident in the early hours of today at Lancaster, weighing around eight pounds. Mother and child are well.

The last Douglas to be born in Lancashire was my great, grandfather - James Douglas - born at Bury, 30 March 1852 - a long time between drinks!!!

Who knows what the future has in store for William - be it a long life or short, complex or simple, he will go through many of the highs and lows of life that we have all shared and that, at the end of the day, make life worth living.

But one thing is certain, he is already much-loved by his parents, uncles, relatives, supporters and by his new grandparents, including Cathy and me.

Bravo, William – I can’t wait to meet you in person.

Love

Grandad

This is livin’

Well at least we now have some of the usual accompaniments to living.

Finally, we moved into a proper apartment, or at least Ian did – last Saturday. Not such an ordeal though as the move was only about 150 metres. A series of strolls along Via Capo D’Africa, trailing suitcases on wheels – four round trips did it.

We had purchased some furniture – two lounges, a dining table, a cute coffee table that converts to a dining table, and a credenza/sideboard that contains a dining table that rolls out of it and unfolds. We are clearly planning to “dine”.

The furniture was ordered to be delivered after 4:00pm on the day of the move and arrived spot on time (actually a little early). The chaps struggled it all up four flights of stairs - we are on the (….. ground, first, second) second storey (or piano) – without a complaint. Even if the streets had to be blocked off for a while with the two vans required!!!

Similarly on Friday morning, four cartons of (chiefly) clothes arrived exactly on time at 7:00am, having been air freighted to us. The rest, is spending some time “before the mast” – eight days into a 45 day voyage to Italy. That shipment contains our cutlery and crockery so we will have to make do for a couple of months maybe.

It wasn’t easy, or pretty, but Ian was persistent and within a week (actually it took a week) he has also purchased, in Italian, a digital TV set, bench-top oven and a toaster. And also, a modem-router, enabling this posting to be conducted with comfort, on the dining room table while watching TV over the red, leather lounge, next to a Vegemite sandwich. So what more could life deliver?

Perhaps the answer is my darling bride, who is awaiting a delivery in England with some increasingly anxious young-uns.

Soon Ian will travel to Paris (for one night and business), to England to rendezvous with Cathy, and maybe to Washington for a few days.

The summer has been a long one here – delightful weather just now when it should be colder.

And Italy in general – well there have been demonstrations here for a range of things, everyone is back from holidays it seems, the grass is getting greener and the leaves on some trees just seem to be browning off. They painted the zebra crossings outside my bedroom window sometime on Thursday night – what a waste – everyone ignores them anyway and they could only paint those parts that no-one was parking on anyway.

And our little neighbourhood ticks on as it has for decades. As a nice example of this, when I found I needed a TV antenna cable this morning, two trips of about twenty metres across the road from home got me the necessary from the local (I’ve got it all in this tiny space) hardware store.

Ah!!! This is livin’!!!

Settling Down

We have been here in Rome for some 16 days now, and thought we would let you know how we are settling in.

For starters, the jet lag has ended. Now when we set an alarm we awake just before it goes off – just like the old days.

And we have had a rest – such that the exhaustion of departure has declined, tennis elbows are healing,

bruises disappearing.

We are now recalling which bus goes where and can move around the city at ease again.

Italian words that we had not heard for so many months arise again and we recall them, even surprising ourselves with some modest phrases that just seem to slip out but satisfy waiters.

We have met most of the people we knew when here last time.

But the new experiences have also started. We are discovering delightful little streets that we must have missed before. We are meeting new people and having the privilege of showing them the ropes. We have been facing new challenges. We are finding new things that amuse us or impress us. Take for instance the Sunday morning choir at the Basilica of San Clemente, a rather famous church in Colosseo. Twelve male and female choristers and a conductor – singing in at least four parts, Latin and all a capella – magnificato!!!.

The weather is about to turn. Still hot in the middle of the day, the mornings and evenings are idyllic – and this week rain.

This time for your viewing pleasure, variously, Caterina puts out the garbage in the shadows of the colosseum (well, if it had not been raining), which bank (che banca) is copying which other bank, a graffiti artist expresses “why?”, a centurion trudges home from work (as they have done here for millennia), and a friend’s son is baptised and we are privileged to witness it.

ROME - the Return!!

The Douglas Report risks becoming more of a sequel to the Rocky movie than Homer ever imagined, but after an 11 month sojourn home in Brisbane, this ‘Ulysses’ has again taken flight. Telemachus (#2 & #3), or should that be ‘Telemachi’, remain in Ithaca (actually other nearby suburbs) while Telemachus #1 sits in England awaiting the birth of ‘Telemicollo’ or ‘Telemicolla’ next month.

Anyway, one can only take a metaphor so far. We’re back in Rome!!! Been here for 9 days now – and arriving at Fiumicino was like ‘coming home’.

This time we are here for a two-year contract, so life will be different and we will put more effort into ‘settling’ down.

Departure from Brizvegas was an ordeal. About a month of flat out, hard physical labour to prepare Chezstardust for departure and we did not get it all done. We had to step over major renovations as we left.

Even leaving was a shock. The airline was to send a car for us at 5:00pm – plenty of time to get across the peak hour traffic to the airport for our 8:30pm flight. But at 1:30pm while at Indooroopilly Shoppingtown doing last minute business at the bank, we received a call to say that our flight had been cancelled, we would be delayed for two days but that we could fly QANTAS to Sydney to connect to our planned flight from Dubai to Rome – BUT we had to be picked up at 3:00pm. Fine if we were fully packed but we weren’t.

We made it – QANTAS had no booking for Cathy – we made Sydney and then flew on the new Emirates Airbus A380 to Dubai – very plush. It even has a funky bar down the back.

In Rome, we stayed for six nights in the delightful little Villa San Pio Hotel in Aventino but Cathy found an even better ‘residenzia’ in Colosseo, so we moved on Thursday morning. As you can see from the photo, we are about 100 metres from the Colosseum. A stone’s throw away is tourist central, but our little street is very residential and very quiet. The place is as neat as a pin and air-conditioned – very important right now because it is ‘hot’.

Cathy spends her time apartment hunting – some possibilities are popping up, and Ian works. We are seeing all our old colleagues and friends and it is just great. On Wednesday night we had a big staff dinner on a roof top in Testaccio. The ‘coffee culture’ is still operating.

So this blog is now active again, although we will be only as regular as would people who are in one place for two years. Enjoy – buon pomeriggio!! [And…. Buon pomodoro for those who like tomatoes!!!]

Punctuating the experience and some favourite photos

I promised in Hong Kong airport, en route for Brisbane, that I would post one more blog about our six month Rome adventure.

Now, nearly eight weeks later, I sense that I am in a position to sum up my reactions to this year.

Maybe my re-orientation to Australia and the way Rome has changed some of my outlook on life is typified in my reaction to coffee. I lasted four days drinking 'ordinary' coffee before buying my own expresso machine. Now I drink but one coffee each day but that is my own version of an expresso.

The daily coffee ritual, the late night magnificent pasta dishes, the shopping in small 'bites' at grocery shops and markets, the joy of walking almost everywhere ... all these are the quintessential Roman building blocks for what is a relaxing and perhaps a slightly decadent life. We were fortunate to have had a pleasant and secure apartment with a lovely landlady; to have had an interesting work and social life that provided contacts with delightful and interesting people; and, in some respects, to have had the advantage of the knowledge that we had six months to make the most of it.

When we first left Brisbane in the 70s we went to Cairns, supposedly for a twelve month stint before moving on (we stayed for 15 months in fact). A good friend advised us that whenever we moved we should consider that we would only remain for 12 months. Then you will be, in part, a tourist and do all of the things that you should do when you are fresh. The alternative leads one to always put off things for the ephemeral future. And then you depart after so many years and have yet to do these important things.

Life for an Italian is different of course. It is impertinent of me to suppose that I know what makes an Italian tick after so short a time but I will chance a few observations.

I suspect that most Italians are conservative insofar as if something worked last year, why change it. If I worked successfully as a waiter at this restaurant last year then why do something else. If a shop paid its way last year, decorated and stocked as it was, why move or expand it this year. So the waiter works all his life in the same restaurant, with the same menu and the same tables. The hardware shop sits where it sat 30 years previously. Change is not generally valued in Rome. This is not a city prone to faddishness although fashion is an important industry and mobile phones and computers are at least as popular here as anywhere else.

Some people think that Italians are rude. Indeed, in Rome they have to put up with loads of visitors and I guess the novelty would quickly wear thin. Not that Australians are always paragons of considerateness, but they generally seem to be aware that they may be standing in a doorway that you need to pass through and will step back. Romans do not seem to have that awareness but will obligingly step back once you say “excuse me”. So I think that this is a lack of awareness, an ignorance of the problem. On the contrary, Romans seem to be very welcoming and warm.

The “not-done” items on the bucket list? Well our circumstances did not really allow me much time off to explore the rest of Italy or any of its neighbours. Although not an immediate attraction, driving in Italy seemed a possibility and we survived a three day weekend to Tuscany. So I would now be prepared to drive and explore the roads “less travelled”.

The language and cultural issues are really not an issue for us but on the contrary, something that we really enjoy.

We have been blessed in recent years with some wonderful travels and we have learnt a great deal. This particular odyssey has certainly come to an end but life goes on and we still think of Homer.

Arrivederci – cosi basta (that's enough)

Arrividerci Roma - goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

It seems once again that my final report comes from an airline gate lounge.  In this case, Hong Kong, almost at the end of a 17 hour transit where we managed to play (very tired) tourists for as long as we could stay awake.  Home in Brisbane in around 11 hours from now, QANTAS willing.

Just right now, we can hardly wait to collapse on the plane.  But on this occasion, I promise that I will put cyber-pen to cyber-paper once more, when I am up to it, and I will try to sum up my impressions over this past six months.

The Fontana de Trevi has scored a couple more coins from us - so who knows??

Note this new record posting for shortness.

Ciao tutti amicis