cabin fever

No time to write much in my blog for the next couple of months. So I will share photos instead.
A photo of sweet Mimo, in abandoned sleep (notice the impeccable whiteness - that takes time and dedication on his part) and a few pics of a day out to Hidcote Gardens about a month ago. xxx

Well it was over a month ago...sob. But I did say I would write about our journey back.
We were on the North West part of the island with a view of Corsica... just to give you some idea.
It was our last evening. We had had a glorious holiday. Perfect September weather, swims in the sea, not too many jellyfish days, just enough wavey days to enjoy the sea in all its moods, not one moment of rain. And our last day was idyllic - the sea was calm and transparent - maybe a hint of changing season in the air. So after packing, we went up to our little restaurant, a short uphill walk from where we were staying. We are old friends of the owners ,we've been customers for over 20 years! - seen them get older, have children, etc.

It was our last night, we went up to the restaurant in summer evening clothes, we would walk back, pack, ready for a not too early start.

As we tucked into our last meal, we saw that one of the owners was carefully folding up all the table cloths outside and basically packing up...and then came the thunder, lightning and rain. It was torrential... the lightning lit up the whole horizon and sea. It was spectacular. We hung out until late, but there was no end, we would have to walk back. We would have got totally drenched in a short walk back so the restaurant owner made us get into his van and drove us home! Our towels were on the line. Usually they would have dried - this time the line was broken and they lay filthy in the dirt. So we had to wash and spin them and hang them up inside instead of pack them.
The night was incredible - the rain lashed against the window, the wind howled.. although it wasn't cold at all.
We lay there worrying - would the flight leave, would we get to the port. WOuld there be blocked roads in the woods along the way? In the morning incredibly the towels were dry, the wind had dropped, the sky was wild but it wasn't raining. We said farewell to our restaurant friends with a last (free) capuccino, a long tradition, and we set off. Luckily the drive wasn't that bad, a lot of debris in the road, but we got there. We left the car with the car hire people, you have to understand, we have been going to Elba for so long that we kiss our car hire people hello and goodbye! That must be a first surely!
They lent us an umbrella to go and get our tickets - we were naive - why? it had stopped raining. And then again.... the heavens opened and it started to bucket, I mean bucket down. So we got back to collect our bags from the car hire, and a son of the lady, we didn't know him particularly, said... you can't go there on foot, I'll drive you, jump in. He took us down to the port area and insisted that we stay in the car, and that he would wait with us. We couldn't refuse. Rain was flowing past us, people were rushing past, having taken off their shoes to negotiate the floods. Tourists were piling out of coaches, looking totally miserable, soaked.
We waited at least half an hour ...I have never worked so hard to keep a conversation going in my life, in Italian as well... He was a sailor, most of their income (apart from our car hire fee!) came from renting out yachts - so we got sailor lore.In those seas at least, the lore is that the sea is not choppy when it is raining - he reasured us as we expressed concern about the crossing.
The guy was so sweet that he broke the rules and drove us right to the steps up to the ferry. And he was right about the crossing - despite the weather the sea was calm. Weird.

Anyway, our train journey to Pisa was long and tortuous as usual - and there was some lightning on the way, but generally the weather calmed down. We had a lovely afternoon wandering around Pisa, as the sky darkened and big drops of rain started to fall just as we were waiting for a taxi to the airport. We arrived at the airport in a rainstorm, and as we waited all we could see was sheet lightning lighting up the sky. Spectacular, if you weren't waiting for a flight!
Suffice to say that as we took off up into extreme turbulance the woman next to us got hysterical and started swearing and saying - What the f.. does he think he's doing going up in a thunderstorm?!
But we survived...as you can see!

Two views of impending 'weather' and me on the ferry!

Well I could write about all the hundreds of drop dead gorgeous males I know - but actually I'm asking for advice!
Our editor has just emailed and said that we have to remove this dated expression from a photostory we are about to record, where we have a teen saying it about a guy. She says that no-one under 35 ever ever says it. Now she has daughters who are under 35 so she should know.
However, we happen to know that in the previous edition of our book, teen language learners liked this expression in particular. But, poor things, will they hang out on the internet, meet English speakers etc, and sound, like, soooo sad.
I have seen that there was a TV series called Drop Dead Gorgeous about a 15 year old teen model - but was that the last-gasp use of the expression? What do you think blog friends? Keep it in because we like it, or cut it because it will let our little learners down in the real world!!??

I love these songs and I have a few recordings but I heard a sublime performance last night live on Radio 3. If you have a spare 20 minutes please listen! There is a listen again on Radio 3 for a week from yesterday (Broadcast 1. Fri 9 Oct 2009 19:00 BBC Radio 3.)
Strauss: Four Last Songs.
Anne Schwanewilms (soprano)
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Jiri Belohlavek (conductor)
The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jiri Belohlavek plays Martinu: Symphony No 2 first. The songs come in after 28 minutes with a short intro, worth listening to as well.
This should be the link, otherwise go through the Radio 3 website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n1qsm
It is a SUBLIME performance and a brilliant introduction to the songs for anyone who doesn't know them!

Enjoy

xxx
Starr

I can't believe it! I'm so unfit and scared of getting ill that I've actually joined a sports club. It's a David Lloyd club and it's just down the road from us, we can walk or cycle there if we want.
It's expensive but something has to be done to get me off this office chair! I imagine my heart as like those chicken heart giblets with fat all round it - I have to get fit urgently!
I hate gyms, I hate sport. But I have to bite the bullet!
There is a swimming pool and a sauna too - I was surprised at how nice it is - better than my last experiences of 'such places' in the past.

xxxx

I wanted to write about my favourite island holiday but I'll let the photos speak for me as I don't have much time.
Her you can see views of Elba, my friend's incredible 'botanical garden' overlooking the bay, amazing sunsets and the car I rent (it has a pretty good view itself!)

Well...what a long break from blogdom. I missed my blog friends but when the nearest Internet Cafe is a 40 minute drive away, along a coastal road and down a windy forest road, and is in fact just a few old computers in the back of a small photo shop and no broadband, then we were only able to check our work emails and send a few work documents - and anyway I don't actually know my password - my home computer knows all that sort of thing!! Also if it's sunny outside and there's a harbour-side cafe to enjoy a cappuccino in and you're on holiday - well that beats blogging I'm afraid!
So... if I'm still blogging in a a few years' time you'll all be groaning and saying, oh no not Elba again, oh no not another sea shot, sunset, etc, but at the moment I hope my photos will bore you less than they do my old friends and family, who don't want to hear any more about it!
So here are a few of this year's photos. These photos make it look rather cold and stormy. But it was very hot, and we only had a few Mediteranean-style storms. But I'll tell you about our journey back in another blog. The photos are:
1 the bay we spend all our time in
2 children defying the waves
3 the road down to the beach
4 freshly caught fish - we know the fisherman - called 'big eye' in Italian- guess why?! They were delicious, grilled, if a bit bony.

SO the fluffly old 22 year old boy is still fine. The 'borrowed time' to quote our feline-cidal vet is now three months! And he hasn't had to go back since. Of course,we are changing vet!

Anyway despite the laughable nature of the idea that we are leaving in three days, we expect to be going. So he'd better stay well! Our neighbours as usual will look after the cats, but in the second week my sister is going to house sit, so he gets the companionship he is used to - he is so spoilt! Of course, the other cat, Mimo benefits as well! And he's an old boy really at 15 years old! We are paying for my sister's trip down from Derbyshire and for her dog to go into kennels! What with the cancelled flights earlier this year - it is turning into a very expensive holiday! But I'm glad she can do it - it means I can relax on holiday and it takes the pressure off our neighbours. Here he is in his current favoured place - woe betide if I bung a few working documents on the sofa which is next to my desk. He moans and groans until I move them!

Well, I don't have time to say very much so I will let the details I photographed in the art galleries speak for me!
These details are of Brueghel paintings - the winter scene and the cattle. Then I focused on animal details because they attracted me and I wanted my photos to be a record of where my eye lingered. I liked the detail of the shoe. And then cupid and Venus - much more robust than some depictions!

Well, it's difficult to say everything you want to say about a new place and country. There are so many levels of impressions - the people and the way they live, the city and its appearance, the impact of history on the place; the street life, the buildings, the shops, the traffic, the cafes, drinks and food, the smell, the sounds. Then there's the thing I focused on most in my last blog - the art and cultures.

We have a rather good guide - the AA guide. It had an intro section called the magazine with very useful and interesting little illustrated articles by local writers. One that amused us was about the horse dung. There are a lot of horses and carriages in Vienna and a new bylaw had been brought in to much public debate apparently. It requires the carriages to collect their own dung in what the locals dubbed as nappies. Well... in terms of the smell of Vienna there is no doubt that it is horse pee and dung! But I rather like that, having been brought up in the country - and it gives a rather oldie worldie feel that goes with the archtecture.
We did notice that for the quantity of horse and carriages clopping around there wasn't that much visible dung in the street despite the perfume of horse in the air. This was because carriages had a a rather nifty sort of canvas catch all which was supposed to catch the poo before it hit the ground. It rather depended it seemed to me on the horse pooing at the correct angle!
We were staying in the Imperial Riding Stable Hotel, which added to the horse theme. Amazing marble interior and pillars which must have been there when it was a stable! Horses are very very important in Viennese history. The royals adored them and seemed to have stables everywhere. Even one of our taxi drivers, explained that his English wasn't that good except for place names and held up a 'form' magazine for horse racing in England and read out really quite well, Goodwood, Cheltenham, Sandown Park.... He bet every day and expounded a rather scary philosophy about the place of gambling in his life - just below paying for his family's basic needs it seemed!
On our first early afternoon mooch around after we arrived, exahusted after a 3.00amish wake up to get to the airport, we stopped in a brilliant little restaurant with a garden at the back and a horse chestnut tree in the middle. We were completely dependent on the English menu, which is always embarrassing, but the waiters were lovely and we realised that we were in a real local place, We had grilled trout with delicious potatoes and a big salad. And beer of course! It was incredibly hot and we then walked across the green and tree filled Stadtpark full of people enjoying themselves, sitting on the grass, bands playing etc. There were lots of statues ot musicians, as you would expect- some rather heavily gilded.
We had a wonderful European city feel and commented that having lived in Italy for so long it all didn't seem so strange or alien to us, bur rather familiar and comfortable like coming home, even though it is a new country and a language we don't unfortunately speak!

More Vienna and art to come in a later blog.