There is a constant knocking from the flat above.
It's hard to imagine what they are doing?
They can't be laying carpets because the apartments have marble floors.
There is no metallic ring so it can't be plumbing.
They could be hanging pictures but by now they would have more pictures than the Louvre.
And it's definitely not the assembly of Ikea furniture which only requires an Allen key.
I can only imagine that they're trying to escape by knocking a hole in their floor, which is our ceiling.
Any minute know I expect plaster to start falling from the ceiling and a smiling and plaster smeared face to appear.
I will say Salve, which is pretty much the best I can do in Italian and move a chair under the hole in a friendly gesture of welcome.
Either that or, if it continues for much longer, I might go up, knock on their door and demand an explanation.
Sadly this will do little good as I won't really understand and will have to demand to be shown.
I turned up a week early for a meeting today.
I think that it was put down to English enthusiasm because Italians tend to be late for most things. This can be partly explained by the fact that most events, be it Concerts, Lectures or any public gathering are normally prefaced with long and detailed speeches, usually by three or four of the more important people present. so if you turn up at 5 45 pm for a concert advertised as starting at 5 00 pm you may well have another 15 minutes of speeches before the concert actually starts.
I am sure that the audiences are generally delighted by what they are hearing and even expect it, but if you have difficulty following the gist of the argument, then it can become tedious.
With the saga of the campers outside St Paul's going on and on and more campers appearing in a street near you anytime soon, apparently there are campers at The Monument in Newcastle and more in Bristol and Glasgow, the movement is growing and the debate about a better, fairer way of organising our politics, our economics and our democracy is being extended Mr Cameron's vision of a Big Society is being realised, but not in the way he hoped. As I have said before, you should always be careful what you wish for.
In fact I am thinking of changing the strap line for this blog because the big society appears to be no more. At least I am hearing no more speeches or reading any more reports.
Soon we will be renegotiating our membership of Europe. I wonder, if that happens, whether the French will close the Channel Tunnel?
Indeed the whole of Europe could turn its back on us which would be a tragedy really because it does seem to me that what makes society large, in both the geographical and spiritual sense, is its openess to celebrating difference and embracing the cultures and ideas from other nations.
Walking to my meeting this morning, a week earlier than necessary, I paused for a coffee and stood at the bar like an italian and drank my caffe, exchanging a greeting with the Barrista and the man stood next to me.
As I left I realised that the name of the bar was a pun in Italian, the name of the street crossed with the name for the person who makes the coffee, barrista, I had ordered my caffe in the Cafe Baribaldi.
The little joke made me smile and I tried to think up some other puns that might amuse the politicians as they listen to the boring speeches and negotiate and renegotiate their way out of the current financial mess.
But I had arrived for my meeting and still hadn't got very far with my first attempt ......
It's hard to imagine what they are doing?
They can't be laying carpets because the apartments have marble floors.
There is no metallic ring so it can't be plumbing.
They could be hanging pictures but by now they would have more pictures than the Louvre.
And it's definitely not the assembly of Ikea furniture which only requires an Allen key.
I can only imagine that they're trying to escape by knocking a hole in their floor, which is our ceiling.
Any minute know I expect plaster to start falling from the ceiling and a smiling and plaster smeared face to appear.
I will say Salve, which is pretty much the best I can do in Italian and move a chair under the hole in a friendly gesture of welcome.
Either that or, if it continues for much longer, I might go up, knock on their door and demand an explanation.
Sadly this will do little good as I won't really understand and will have to demand to be shown.
I turned up a week early for a meeting today.
I think that it was put down to English enthusiasm because Italians tend to be late for most things. This can be partly explained by the fact that most events, be it Concerts, Lectures or any public gathering are normally prefaced with long and detailed speeches, usually by three or four of the more important people present. so if you turn up at 5 45 pm for a concert advertised as starting at 5 00 pm you may well have another 15 minutes of speeches before the concert actually starts.
I am sure that the audiences are generally delighted by what they are hearing and even expect it, but if you have difficulty following the gist of the argument, then it can become tedious.
With the saga of the campers outside St Paul's going on and on and more campers appearing in a street near you anytime soon, apparently there are campers at The Monument in Newcastle and more in Bristol and Glasgow, the movement is growing and the debate about a better, fairer way of organising our politics, our economics and our democracy is being extended Mr Cameron's vision of a Big Society is being realised, but not in the way he hoped. As I have said before, you should always be careful what you wish for.
In fact I am thinking of changing the strap line for this blog because the big society appears to be no more. At least I am hearing no more speeches or reading any more reports.
Soon we will be renegotiating our membership of Europe. I wonder, if that happens, whether the French will close the Channel Tunnel?
Indeed the whole of Europe could turn its back on us which would be a tragedy really because it does seem to me that what makes society large, in both the geographical and spiritual sense, is its openess to celebrating difference and embracing the cultures and ideas from other nations.
Walking to my meeting this morning, a week earlier than necessary, I paused for a coffee and stood at the bar like an italian and drank my caffe, exchanging a greeting with the Barrista and the man stood next to me.
As I left I realised that the name of the bar was a pun in Italian, the name of the street crossed with the name for the person who makes the coffee, barrista, I had ordered my caffe in the Cafe Baribaldi.
The little joke made me smile and I tried to think up some other puns that might amuse the politicians as they listen to the boring speeches and negotiate and renegotiate their way out of the current financial mess.
But I had arrived for my meeting and still hadn't got very far with my first attempt ......
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