As I write this, I am looking into the Cannaregio apartment that my family and I have been staying in since last Friday. On the wall in front of me there is a watercolour of a big white cruiseship entering Venice, browns and blues and mustard. To my right, three windows line the wall, and through them I can see old tiles and older tiles, wires and antennae, the odd rooftop deck and in the distance, a hazy blue grey horizon. Rain must be coming, I think, until I look up into the bright blue sky. Just a dirty sky then.
The whole thing is 32 square metres, twice the size of the Saarbrucken apartment I called home for a year waaaaay back in 2000. It feels small because of the design, not the absolute size. The bathroom is a walk in closet, narrow enough to make turning around a difficulty. The kitchen is a kitchenette, fitted out with gas hotplates but no oven. The bedroom is probably the nicest room in the house. No need to make things cramped there. Just a nice big bed, beautifully firm yet soft (how do they do that?), a set of drawers and a wardrobe. There is room for little Saskia’s portacot to sit beside the bed.
The worst feature of the bedroom is the low doorway, against which I have crushed my lovely head at least three times.
We are on the fourth floor, and despite my best intentions I do not foresee any of us (save Saskia) gaining weight this holiday. Not only do we need to drag our sorry carcasses up four flights, but there’s a 7kg baby, a three kilo pram, a variable weight backpack and any shopping we may have been foolish enough to do. Last night this included 18 kilos of water, half naturale and half frizzante. I was comforted only by the though that we weren’t drinking osmium, 22.4 times denser than water.
I continue to be amazed by our little girl Evie. Just now she put herself back to sleep by plunging her head down onto the recently abandoned dummy lying in her cot. She has been sluggish this morning and is covered in mosquito bites, the poor thing. Dio mio, for a fly screen. The day before yesterday she rolled over for the first and second times. The first time Rebecca and I both missed, as we studied our phones with new sims intently. I looked down, saw Evie on her stomach, nonchalant as you like, and gasped in shock and delight. A few hours later, the scene was repeated, fortunately I saw the whole thing. Sadly for Rebecca, she was in the can at the time. Even worse, her parents saw the whole thing too (Evie rolling, not… you know).
Evie charms and woos people wherever she goes. I can almost see her ego swelling as she fells one stranger after another with her knockout smile. It has been hot and I hope she’s not suffering for it too much.
Venice is an amazing city, in a totally different way to how Saskia is amazing. It’s like a golden rock rolling downhill into a bottomless chasm, onto which hundreds of thousands of people keep flinging themselves. It’s hard for me to imagine how this charming, difficult city has a future.The people grow old and the local population wanes, the city gets dirtier and dilapidateder, supplying it with food and energy gets costlier, tourists demand more and more, but contribute little to the infrastructure needs of the town. And if those crazy scientists are right, sea level rise is a’coming too. But I love the lack of cars.
Today I’m off to the Ludoteca, an ye olde church being used for an art exhibition by some Aussie artists. I’m supposed to bath Evie before we go, but it’s getting on and I don’t want her to go totally psycho and still be 45 minutes away from Rebecca.
I’m finding myself more and more in harmony with the Tao these days, though of course having said that now I’ve thrown it off balance and it’s disappeared. )Incidentally, I also discovered there is no Tao on airplanes.) I’m thinking of my family and friends. I’m wondering if the Bulldogs beat the Dragons.
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She rolled! How exciting. I hope she is well now and all the rest of you as well.
Just a brief note about your last question, the dogs trailed I think 0-14, but made a good comeback, then saints snuck in front, the clock wound down, and down, the dogs had really been the better team, but it was the final minute...then the general got the ball at the back, he sliced through, suddenly there was panic in the ranks of saints and sinners alike, the general did not stop, he curved to the left, saints 5/8 Soward stood open-mouthed as he raced swiftly by, he drew the full-back - he passed! A fine pass to the dominating figure of that school-kid with pig-tails, young Mr Idris, who had scored an unstoppable bulldozing try already, plus had another disallowed that was probably 50/50...anyhow, Idris caught it! He was in the clear! Only metres to go and there he was, planting the ball triumphantly over the line with about 3 seconds left on the clock, and a large crowd half stunned, half enraptured, at what they had just witnessed. Stirling stuff indeed. But wait...what's that, gone to the video ref? What for? Obstruction? But no-one was there? Surely? Let me see that darned replay. There, it's true, there is no-one there. Here's the result...No try...what the??? bottles were thrown, but for once there was no howling in the media about violent thug Bulldog fans, for days it was all just "worst video ref decision of the last 200 years", callers to talk-back radio saying things like, "I hate the dogs with a passion but they wuz robbed". Yes a fine to-do. The youngster Idris also impressed with his sportsmanship immediately after the game in an onfield interview. Moments after the no-try ruling, he said with a smile, "I thought I had it, but I guess I didn't" (or similar).
Anyhow, the short answer to your question is no they lost, and this week they play Storm (at Gosford) which will be an interesting match.
Anyhow, keep the Reports from Italy coming, love to you all from anonymous !!
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