Stet » Rome

Rinderpest begone!

Ria — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 09:41:00 +0000

Great feature in the New York Times today about the celebration in Rome of the eradication of rinderpest:

For only the second time in history, a disease has been wiped off the face of the earth.

I had a soft spot for rinderpest, or rather its eradication, and was proud to support FAO’s initiatives by

Mmm … Easter

Ria — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 03:08:41 +0000

Easter eating in Jamaica is not very exciting. The traditional Jamaican speciality of bun and cheese pales in comparison with the orgies of chocolate we’ve known elsewhere.

In Rome, one of our favourite shops was Valzani’s pasticceria (confectioner’s), which alone justified a walk over the river (Trastevere). The street and the shop itself were very

Continue reading Mmm … Easter

Where there’s muck

Ria — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 21:43:00 +0000

Out cycling this morning, I passed a field being ripped up. Walking a few metres behind the earthmover (It’s Scoop, mama!) was a man with a metal detector and a spade.

“Dude! WTF!!” I shouted, but he was too busy to look up.

I can’t imagine what he hoped to

Continue reading Where there’s muck

Grazie Madonna

Ria — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 04:29:00 +0000

Those whose prayers have been answered (see previous post), can show their gratitude at this ad hoc shrine in via Trastevere. The slot at the bottom of the wall for donations for “bread for the orphans” has been crowded out by a hundred or so plaques dedicated to the madonna. The oldest plaques are

Continue reading Grazie Madonna

Please please me

Ria — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:28:00 +0000

This statue is in Santa Maria in Trastevere. The hundreds of slips of paper are requests for saintly intervention. Note how the more enterprising supplicants avoided getting their requests lost in the mess at his feet and stuck Post-its on his cassock.

Although I forgot to note the name of the saint, it

Continue reading Please please me

SPQR

Ria — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 04:13:00 +0000

I always reckoned that if you were going to be a bum, there are worse places to choose than Rome.

I took this photo in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. The coat of arms of the city of Rome forms part of the fountain sculpture. The letters SPQR stand for Senatus Populusque Romanus

Continue reading SPQR

Last exit for Italy

Ria — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 06:53:00 +0000

Someone once wrote that war was composed of long periods of utter boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. That pretty much sums up my trip north from Rome to Friesland. The moments of terror came when an overloaded and swaying lorry suddenly swung out in front of me to overtake another slow-moving

Continue reading Last exit for Italy

Ciao Roma ciao!

Ria — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:28:00 +0000

Una mattina, mi sono alzatoO Roma ciao Roma ciao Roma ciao ciao ciaoUna mattina mi sono alzatoe ho trovato l’invasor

I passed out around midnight and was only woken at eight by the movers banging on the door and the loud crashes of thunder.

I flung open the shutters and was knocked back by

Continue reading Ciao Roma ciao!

Yackety yak

Ria — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 06:10:00 +0000

Honey, can youse take out the trash?

I even sorted my crap: plastic with plastic, paper with paper, oozing sticky fluids with noxious defrosting fish.

Three carloads up and down the drive and it was done.

A little bit of Al Green, then I’m done too.

Stand not upon the order of your going

Ria — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 00:29:00 +0000

But go already!

Yeah, yeah, I’m not gone yet. Like Peter Seller’s Indian trumpet player, I keep popping up when I should lie down and keep quiet. I’m waiting for the authorization from Paris that we can ship our stuff. Apparently, it takes several days to fax the form from one department to the

Continue reading Stand not upon the order of your going