Eighteen degrees at 7am, but with a stiff breeze that makes it seem much colder. Raging storms all night, with associated power cuts. (Yes, with the merest sniff of a storm, the lights go out here in Carmine...) Once again, the water is thundering down the hillsides to the lake and the secret streams have reappeared.
In the USA, they say that the weather changes the day immediately following Labor Day, marking the end of summer and making it easier for everyone to get back to work. I have a feeling the same can be said for August 31 here, and the summer is, at least meteorologically-speaking, over.
Pedagogically-speaking, of course, we still have another week before, I hear, we are back in school time. "I hear" only because no-one's bothered to let us parents know when exactly the start of the new term might be. Last year I would have been jumping up and down hyperventilating for lack of this information. This year? I guess I'm just that little bit more Italian in my outlook. You know. Last-minute. On a need-to-know basis only. That's the Italian information society at its best. And perhaps it is better than all that efficiently-British plenty-of-notice, information-overload stuff. Who am I to say?
Psychiatrically-speaking, I'm secretly delighted that this holiday has only one more week to run. If it's a single day more, I think I might have to book a holiday of my own. Perhaps a Georgian country mansion with varied, carefully-landscaped gardens, gravel walkways, lots of wooden benches, a small private room with a view of the sea. I could spend my time wandering around in a floral nightie and purple fluffy slippers, accompanied by a nice young man in a white coat...
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Friday, 5 September 2008
The end of the holidays
Eighteen degrees at 7am, but with a stiff breeze that makes it seem much colder. Raging storms all night, with associated power cuts. (Yes, with the merest sniff of a storm, the lights go out here in Carmine...) Once again, the water is thundering down the hillsides to the lake and the secret streams have reappeared.
In the USA, they say that the weather changes the day immediately following Labor Day, marking the end of summer and making it easier for everyone to get back to work. I have a feeling the same can be said for August 31 here, and the summer is, at least meteorologically-speaking, over.
Pedagogically-speaking, of course, we still have another week before, I hear, we are back in school time. "I hear" only because no-one's bothered to let us parents know when exactly the start of the new term might be. Last year I would have been jumping up and down hyperventilating for lack of this information. This year? I guess I'm just that little bit more Italian in my outlook. You know. Last-minute. On a need-to-know basis only. That's the Italian information society at its best. And perhaps it is better than all that efficiently-British plenty-of-notice, information-overload stuff. Who am I to say?
Psychiatrically-speaking, I'm secretly delighted that this holiday has only one more week to run. If it's a single day more, I think I might have to book a holiday of my own. Perhaps a Georgian country mansion with varied, carefully-landscaped gardens, gravel walkways, lots of wooden benches, a small private room with a view of the sea. I could spend my time wandering around in a floral nightie and purple fluffy slippers, accompanied by a nice young man in a white coat...
In the USA, they say that the weather changes the day immediately following Labor Day, marking the end of summer and making it easier for everyone to get back to work. I have a feeling the same can be said for August 31 here, and the summer is, at least meteorologically-speaking, over.
Pedagogically-speaking, of course, we still have another week before, I hear, we are back in school time. "I hear" only because no-one's bothered to let us parents know when exactly the start of the new term might be. Last year I would have been jumping up and down hyperventilating for lack of this information. This year? I guess I'm just that little bit more Italian in my outlook. You know. Last-minute. On a need-to-know basis only. That's the Italian information society at its best. And perhaps it is better than all that efficiently-British plenty-of-notice, information-overload stuff. Who am I to say?
Psychiatrically-speaking, I'm secretly delighted that this holiday has only one more week to run. If it's a single day more, I think I might have to book a holiday of my own. Perhaps a Georgian country mansion with varied, carefully-landscaped gardens, gravel walkways, lots of wooden benches, a small private room with a view of the sea. I could spend my time wandering around in a floral nightie and purple fluffy slippers, accompanied by a nice young man in a white coat...
5 comments:
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Anonymous said...
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Its pouring with rain here as well and the forecast is for more over the next few days. It must be wonderful hearing the sound of babling brooks and the thunderstorms create a magic firework display. I can't understand why you get power cuts tho, you aren't that far from civilisation. I suppose you have overhead lines which get struck and blows the fuses.
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Friday, 05 September, 2008
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Louise | Italy said...
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Who knows why the lights go out...I don't think it's a matter of lightning strikes - we get cuts even with the slightest suggestion of a thunderstorm on the weather chart...
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Friday, 05 September, 2008
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Anonymous said...
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Well, my dad was the director of civilian labour in Rome, a long time ago, and there would have been a lot of kicked bottoms around if the lights had gone out.If we can get reliable power to the top of Snowdon, whats the problem ? I suppose its all to do with a willingness to do the impossible, that some nationalities don't have.
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Saturday, 06 September, 2008
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Louise | Italy said...
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Sounds like they could do with your Dad in Iraq and Afghanistan right now!
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Saturday, 06 September, 2008
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Anonymous said...
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Yup, school holidays make parents crazy...You need a strategy...It's you or them, baby!
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Thursday, 25 September, 2008
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5 comments:
Its pouring with rain here as well and the forecast is for more over the next few days. It must be wonderful hearing the sound of babling brooks and the thunderstorms create a magic firework display. I can't understand why you get power cuts tho, you aren't that far from civilisation. I suppose you have overhead lines which get struck and blows the fuses.
Who knows why the lights go out...I don't think it's a matter of lightning strikes - we get cuts even with the slightest suggestion of a thunderstorm on the weather chart...
Well, my dad was the director of civilian labour in Rome, a long time ago, and there would have been a lot of kicked bottoms around if the lights had gone out.If we can get reliable power to the top of Snowdon, whats the problem ? I suppose its all to do with a willingness to do the impossible, that some nationalities don't have.
Sounds like they could do with your Dad in Iraq and Afghanistan right now!
Yup, school holidays make parents crazy...You need a strategy...It's you or them, baby!
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