Archive for November, 2006
There is plenty to say about Rome, our next destination after Ischia, as part of our Italy trip in October. One thing we hadn’t expected, however, was all the cats…
You can buy calendars of cats on famous monuments - and certainly if you go past any of the Roman sites at night, it doesn’t take long to spot them moving about among fallen masonry. In fact, some of the sites have put up notices informing passersby of attempts to neuter the cat population to try to keep it under control.
Observing cats at work, posing for cameras in various settings, led us to consider a day in the life of a professional cat in Rome:
Morning: the park on the top of the Aventine hill (close to where we stayed). Attract young German boys who want to sit and stroke you. Best achieved as a pack of three where each cat is a different colour, for pleasing photographic contrast.
*Cats who want to work overtime can also appear at the park on Saturday mornings, where there is a good chance of appearing in a few wedding photos as the bride and groom pose for photos after a ceremony in the adjacent church. Should the bride wish to sit on a seat with the cats, claws must be sheathed.
Late morning, early afternoon: a spot of calendar modelling. it is best to get into your favoured historic location in time to have a nap. This allows the photographers more of a chance to capture your best side, and to rest from the morning’s labours.
Mid afternoon: Appear outside the Colosseum. The well trained cat can keep the body motionless while turning its head to face each of the three photographers in sequence. Ideal for attracting attention of tourists who don’t want to pay the charge for being photgraphed with a gladiator.
Evening: a little evening stroll around some other monuments, or a quick look for food in any food bins outside restaurants. Nervous cats beware: this time coincides with the evening stroll, which can include humans with small yappy dogs.
Further options for suitable cat remuneration should be put to the editor.
November 27th, 2006
One feature of my job is that there can be a certain amount of travel around Scotland. I could be meeting new foreign language assistants who have just arrived to teach their languages in Scotland; advertising the English language assistant programme at universities around Scotland, or again visiting the universities to interview some of the prospective English language assistants.
Two of my nicest trips this year: visiting Inverness for the first time at the start of September. At that time of the year, my manager and I are usually out most days of the week for the first fortnight, meeting as many of the foreign language assistants as we can. I hadn’t had the chance to meet assistants working in Highland region before, and it was one of the most beautiful autumn days, heading up on the train.
The train staff seem to know their passengers well. Some passengers arrive on the platform by bike, and bring the bike on for the rest of their journey. The buffet staff member greeted them by name and pretty much had their morning tea (or coffee) ready for them by the time they’d tied up the bike. Who says we can’t manage service in the UK?
My visit to Gourock, along the Clyde, was sadly on a very wet and windy day in early November. However, it was cheered by the chance to visit my aunt Catriona in the neighbouring town of Greenock the night before, and a hearty venison stew…In fact, both foreign language assistants whom I saw at work were having a great time, and were being well looked after by the teachers there.
Despite the downpours, I still left with a big smile. The only difficulty? The assistants were not quite old enough to hire a car together so they can see more of Scotland. However, they too had been to Inverness by the time I met them, and had plenty more plans for travelling Scotland before their year was up.
November 27th, 2006
That’s mud to you…Ischia (see post re noise of the surf) is renowned for its hot springs and volcanic mud. As a treat, Dan and I decided to have one of the treatments each, and I went for the mud treatment plus shower (very necessary afterwards).
The room where they did the treatment had a little cut out at the base of one wall. When the lady in charge was clear what I wanted, she called ‘Bucket of mud please!’ or something similar through the wall, and they slid in a tin bucket full of hot mud…
You mostly lie back on the mud, which is spread out on a table with a useful plastic sheet to keep the mud in the right place. Further dollops of mud are added to hands, feet, knees etc. Then they wrap you up, add an extra blanket on top, and leave you to steam for fifteen minutes.
I would say it is pretty relaxing - the weight of the mud on your hands means that you have no inclination to move. Although you might worry what would happen if a fire alarm sounded, for example.
Clearly, the mud gets everywhere. You get the option to hose yourself down with a hand held shower after, but really you need someone else to help with the shower too, so you’re not left with mud anywhere too embarassing. Another option on the fango option is seeing the fumaroles elsewhere on the island, where steam comes up through mud.
After three: di mi fango, fango, fango…
November 27th, 2006
It sounds like something you create on a synthesiser, but this was actually the sea around the island of Ischia, in the bay of Naples, where we started our main holiday of the year in October.
As the water is less affected by tides than it is around the UK coast, the swell was pretty constant all day, and the sound too. There was a particular low growl to the sound, and even though the waves did come up the beach by varying amounts, the sound remained the same. I tried timing it, and the pattern was just under five seconds almost every time.
It was particularly good to listen to at night, and I tried leaving the French windows open so I could hear it as I was dropping off to sleep. Sadly, my enthusiasm for such a romantic sound was tempered by us both being bitten thoroughly by mosquitoes…Not so different from the midge bites on a west coast of Scotland holiday, then. But certainly warmer - even in mid October, temperatures were in the mid 20s centigrade, and even came close to 30 one day.
I had previously been unsure about a hot beach holiday - when you’ve grown up with Scottish beach holidays, rain is an expected occurrence at least at some point (and is indeed welcomed to keep the midges off). But after three days, I started to get the hang of sun loungers, particularly with a very useful adjustable part for shading my eyes. A pool that was the temperature of a warm bath was also a good incentive!
Our one word of caution: if you want to try Ischia, which we really enjoyed, it seems advisable to speak either Italian or German. Most of the other hotel guests were German speaking, and the hotel staff switched between greeting you in Italian and taking your order for dinner in German…Further practice for me, but it left Dan out a bit.
November 27th, 2006
One of the events we look forward to each year is the Edinburgh College of Art degree show. It cunningly coincides with our wedding anniversary, and we’ve had some successes finding items to buy over the last few years.
This year, we couldn’t settle on anything we really liked, and left empty handed.
Thankfully, in September, we were able to attend an Artists at Home event in Abbeyhill. A lot of artists live in the colony flats there (and other colonies around the city), and they’ve been opening up their homes for a couple of years now. You see as many or as few as you like, often enjoy a drink, and browse the art, which is also to buy.
Funnily enough, we’d also been to an Artists at Home event in London earlier in June - the first time we’d been aware of these events. Dan’s mum Jen teaches pottery in a couple of centres in London, and some of the people who attend her classes are also established artists in other fields. One particularly friendly student even fed us smoked salmon as well as a glass of wine…not guaranteed, of course, but a great way to get you in the mood for choosing some art.
So it turned out that at the event in Edinburgh, we were able to buy an oil painting for the first time, created by Emily Ingrey-Counter, who we know from church. Her collection was based on birds of various types, and we came away with a great picture of a heron. The heron is now just waiting for us to put up the picture in our study. Perhaps it’ll help keep the magpies at bay outside.
November 27th, 2006
One advantage of trips abroad is the opportunity to try out the local food and drink.
When we had a few days in Graz, Austria, coffee arrived on individual trays, each with an additional glass of water. We worked hard to try out coffees in lots of different locations across town - one way to visit stylish places on a budget.
Graz is getting well known for its ‘friendly alien’, the curvy modern art gallery next to the river Mur. Not as well known, though it deserves to be, is the ‘island on the Mur’, a shell shaped structure that acts as a bridge but includes an outside cafe and an inside bar. It’s particularly beautiful lit up at night.
Probably the most beautiful option is the bar near the top of the Castle rock. This can be reached up a slope around the side, but as the rock also includes a glass lift, and an interior that looks like a Bond villain’s lair, you can guess which option we chose. It was so pretty we pushed the boat out…and had a hot chocolate instead.
Sadly we’re not gaining any money from Ryanair for our support of Graz, but let us know if you want any more top tips on where to visit.
November 26th, 2006
No, it wasn’t my joke, but our other Festival treat was seeing Bill Bailey, the comedian, in concert at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. The EICC tends to be used for big conferences, and Bill started his set by asking whether we were expecting a PowerPoint presentation…
Having seen Bill on TV in Black Books and some comedy panel shows, it was quite a buzz to see his show live. It included him bringing out an Alphorn (which folded out from something the size of a hat box to a musical instrument several feet long), and exiting the stage hugging a large pot plant.
November 26th, 2006
The Edinburgh Festival comes round faster every year, and it’s hard to fit in seeing shows with work.
This year, however, we made an effort, as the Nederlands Dans Theater was back in town. We managed to see them a few years ago, Dan’s first time to see a contemporary dance show. That time, they put a sprinkler on stage during one of the pieces, so that by the end, the dancers were kicking water at each other and doing skids along the stage, all to very elegant strains of Bach.
This time, no sprinklers, but a combination of films showing on panels and dancers interacting with them. One of the most striking points was when one dancer came up out of the orchestra pit with a huge black fabric train behind her. As she moved further back on the stage, the train filled the stage. If it wasn’t based on part of a real silent film, it deserved to be.
The theatre included a lot of well-dressed dance fans. We hoped that we didn’t let the side down by zooming across the road for a bag of chips in the first interval…but they were well worth it. As was the dancing.
November 26th, 2006
We’ve been lucky on our holidays that we’ve been able to see some great buildings, paintings etc. One particular treat this year was being able to visit Madrid, on a work trip in May. Dan was able to come with me, and we stayed on a couple of days afterwards. The Spanish national agency where the meetings took place was conveniently on the same street as some of the main art galleries, making it fairly easy to plan what to see.
We visited the gallery which houses Picasso’s Guernica towards the end of one afternoon. It meant that we could view this particular picture for longer than we might have done. Looking around other rooms nearby, part of the impact was coming past the entrance to the Guernica room and catching sight of the painting again. It’s surprisingly big, allowing you to move along and look long and hard at different sections.
Stepping back outside into warmth and colour, after the monochromes of the painting, it was great to feel alive. However, just a few blocks down the street from the gallery is the Atocha railway station, which you may remember was affected by bombings. It was certainly a reminder that some of the big themes on display in the galleries are not that distant on the outside.
November 26th, 2006
We managed a night away around Easter time. Having had a great time walking in Slovenia in the summer of 2005, we’ve tried to do a little more of it in 2006.
Fife has a coastal path which stretches through towards the east. We stayed in Aberdour, with its picture postcard station and castle. Heading along the coast towards Burntisland, we followed the train route, and enjoyed great views back across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh. Burntisland is directly opposite Granton, the nearest stretch of coast on the Edinburgh side to our home.
We also came close to Inchcolm Island, one of the islands in the Firth which includes the remains of an abbey. In its day, the abbey was known as the Iona of the east. The island was also where our friends Rachel and David got married, so it was good to be able to see it again.
It’s nice to revisit the walk if I’m going on work trips to St Andrews or further up the east coast. Perhaps we’ll get a chance to see more of the coastal path next year.
November 26th, 2006
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