The flaneur is a person who sits and watches people around them, observes, notes, perhaps writes poetry or just imagines.
Sitting in the warm autumn sunshine in the park near our apartment this morning we read the Newspaper over a caffe corretto.
The addition of a shot of Grappa to the espresso or caffe normale in the Italian, 'corrects' it.
Families gathered, as did those exercising their dogs and even the sparrows are so comfortable with people that they take crumbs from your fingers.
It was a perfect morning.
And yet the news was terrible.
The imminent collapse of the Euro at a stroke taking the Eurozone with it and quite possibly meaning that when we head to the bank machine there will be no cash forthcoming.
The Chinese appear to have dismissed the European appeal for financial support on the grounds that Europe is profligate.
Floods in Italy in the Cinque Terra have only affected people locally but in Thailand the flooding will have an immediate impact on the cost of computers which are likely to rise.
The Arab spring looks increasingly as though it will usher in Islamic regimes in the Arab world.
Even Scotland it appears could exchange its role as a leading nation in the Union for one of independent actor in the ensuing maelstrom following the collapse of the Eurozone, probably unleashing a popular campaign for Carlisle and Berwick to join Scotland in its independent statehood.
Our current holiday reading is 1Q84 by Murakami.
Here the normal world of 1984 slips into a mysterious world with two moons the 1Q84 of the title where nothing is what it seems and the protaganists are pursued not by big brother but by the guardians of the 'Little People'.
As we drank our corrected coffee and looked around, nodding in acknowledgement of the friendly greetings from those around, we imagined how all these different geo-political scenarios will in the end play themselves out?
Will the Financial Services grind to a halt, will barter become the new form of trade, will the discredited bankers take up their beds and set up camp outside St Paul's?
It is too early to tell but it is also clear that the post war political settlement world has slipped into a weird and possibly dangerous world where we just possibly should start stocking up with dried goods and candles in case the supermarket shelves start to empty and the lights start going out in the City's.
And so it goes ..........
Sitting in the warm autumn sunshine in the park near our apartment this morning we read the Newspaper over a caffe corretto.
The addition of a shot of Grappa to the espresso or caffe normale in the Italian, 'corrects' it.
Families gathered, as did those exercising their dogs and even the sparrows are so comfortable with people that they take crumbs from your fingers.
It was a perfect morning.
And yet the news was terrible.
The imminent collapse of the Euro at a stroke taking the Eurozone with it and quite possibly meaning that when we head to the bank machine there will be no cash forthcoming.
The Chinese appear to have dismissed the European appeal for financial support on the grounds that Europe is profligate.
Floods in Italy in the Cinque Terra have only affected people locally but in Thailand the flooding will have an immediate impact on the cost of computers which are likely to rise.
The Arab spring looks increasingly as though it will usher in Islamic regimes in the Arab world.
Even Scotland it appears could exchange its role as a leading nation in the Union for one of independent actor in the ensuing maelstrom following the collapse of the Eurozone, probably unleashing a popular campaign for Carlisle and Berwick to join Scotland in its independent statehood.
Our current holiday reading is 1Q84 by Murakami.
Here the normal world of 1984 slips into a mysterious world with two moons the 1Q84 of the title where nothing is what it seems and the protaganists are pursued not by big brother but by the guardians of the 'Little People'.
As we drank our corrected coffee and looked around, nodding in acknowledgement of the friendly greetings from those around, we imagined how all these different geo-political scenarios will in the end play themselves out?
Will the Financial Services grind to a halt, will barter become the new form of trade, will the discredited bankers take up their beds and set up camp outside St Paul's?
It is too early to tell but it is also clear that the post war political settlement world has slipped into a weird and possibly dangerous world where we just possibly should start stocking up with dried goods and candles in case the supermarket shelves start to empty and the lights start going out in the City's.
And so it goes ..........
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