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A Devil of a Blog! Posted by Geoff on Jul 17, 2014
I love discovering interesting expressions. Every language is full of them, and Italian is no exception. Some of these expressions have obvious meanings, some are similar in both Italian and English, and others are just downright obscure. What the Devil can that mean? I ask myself in English, or Che Diavolo vuol dire? in Italian…
Two More Days of Rain … Posted by Geoff on Jul 14, 2014
That’s what they’re telling us, “Ancora due giorni di pioggia poi arriva la vera estate”. (“Still two more days of rain and then the real summer will arrive”). Personally, I’m quite happy with the way the things are right now. I can put up with a few showers and thunderstorms if it means having a…
Berceto Posted by Geoff on Jul 9, 2014
The plan was to go to Parma. My sister and niece are here from England for a few days, and as part of our itinerary we had hoped to spend Tuesday at San Terenzo on the Liguria coast … but the weather had other ideas. Martedì: Temporali (Tuesday: Thunderstorms). Luckily, as we live right on…
It’s Wonderful – Via Con Me Posted by Geoff on Jul 3, 2014
Paolo Conte, singer, pianist, composer, artist and lawyer, was born in Asti, Piemonte, in 1937. The first time I became aware of his music was when watching one of my favourite comedy films, Anthony and Joe Russo’s Welcome to Collingwood, a remake of Mario Monicelli’s 1958 film I Soliti Ignoti (English title: Big Deal on…
I Gigli Posted by Geoff on Jun 16, 2014
People often ask us where we get our ideas for blogs. Well, the source of inspiration for a good many of them is the view from our dining room windows, a view that mutates continually: with the season, the weather, the time of day, and depending on what happens to be going on in our…
A Trip to Ravenna Posted by Geoff on Jun 13, 2014
“This spring” we said, “we’ll go ‘somewhere’ … We’re always promising ourselves that we’ll go ‘somewhere’. When it’s not too cold … too rainy … too hot. When we can afford it. When we can find someone to look after the cats. Well, let’s just go … ‘somewhere’. Okay, Ravenna, how about Ravenna? We haven’t…
Indifferentemente Posted by Geoff on Jun 9, 2014
Hand in hand, a couple watch the moon setting. Their love affair is over, there’s nothing left to say. The man waits for his lover to confirm his fears. “Do what you want with me, I know that I mean nothing to you anymore” he says, and begs her “give me that poison … if…