Dowd adventures in Bologna: febbraio 2012

mercoledì 29 febbraio 2012

Thoughts of the day

Warmth is back to Bologna, the last of the ice has melted away, no more icicles hanging above us, the streets are back to the buzz of scooters, and the Bologna shuffle is gone for another year. What is left is a thick surface of dust on the pavement under the porticoes, which leaves lovely foot marks in the house now, as we just dont remember to take our shoes off. Along with that is the dust gets stirred up, and coughing is the new thing in bologna, throats are sore, chest heavy and the chemists are making a fortune with throat sprays. the roads have got worse, all the snow and water has dissolved the base under the stones and so it is rather uncomfortable riding the bike, having to dodge the tough bits, but today in my haste to be comfortable, l elbowed a bus, neither of us was severely hurt.
But the warmth is terrific, as the rules for Italians are clear, you cannot remove your winter coat, until the local council has degreed that winter is officially over, and that spring is here. I of course am not Italian, and speak it badly, so l have dropped the coat most of the time, and can be seen wearing only a colourful check shirt, with bright coloured pants, ohh the looks of envy, well maybe not envy, but the looks l get. Jayne must have become Italian over winter, as she is still wearing her jacket, and got angry with me when l wanted to wear by boat shoes out.
Hunter has been sick with a bad throat and cough, but Ewan marches on. Hunter said to me today, "dad, you know when l bless you!" he has forgotten the word sneeze, and has not yet the word for it in Italian, or he has taken some higher than mighty approach with me.
And as the signs of warmth came, so has the scalffolding come down on so many sites around Bologna, it is as if a flower blooming, the beauty of the restored facias is wonderous.
The school fees have gone up, and the standard down, it is such a pisser that there is no other option, other than attend a local school, but we have been told that that could really bugger up the boys, unless we were here for a long time.
The studio is working well, have been busy as a bee, and though there is no true natural light, all is going well, though we shall see how it is in the heat of summer.
Jayne has just read the blog over my shoulder and has instructed me that she is wearing her mid season coat, not winter coat, so apologize for that.
Better go, before Ewan and Hunter start reading over my shoulder and insisting that other things are not correct.

domenica 26 febbraio 2012

Home Sweet Home. London

Well we are all back from a week in London, and what a week. catching up with Holly and Steve Thomson and baby Rose in Richmond, and then stayed with Kate and Mike Frayes family in Chelsea which was fantastic fun

For me it was a Picasso and English influenced artists at the Tate, then David Hockney "A Bigger Picture" at The Royal Academy of the Arts, and then Freud at the Portrait Gallery, finishing with new German artists at Satcchi Gallery. The Tate modern was terrific, but no major show on that l wanted to see. As well as that we had an exhibition of Scotts expedition to Antarctica in 1912 when he died at the Natural History Museum, and another photographic show of Ponting and Hurleys photographs from Shackelton and Scotts trips. So life was great for me for a week, and the boys enjoyed most of the shows, especially the natural history museums rock/ mineral display and a dinosaur exhibition. A few weeks earlier l was in New York for 5 days, and l must say that London has it on New York for art shows and exhibitions, London to me seems very alive and clever, were New York seemed tired and the same. Don't get me wrong, Central Park, the people, buildings of NY are amazing, and it is New York, but l guess I was surprised by London as l did not expect much. Now we have been in Bologna around 10 months, and it was quite lovely to have fish and chips, steak pies, pork pies with squashed peas to eat, but the coffee and brioches are just too good in Italy to compare, there was alot of Starbucks, which is really crappy. We loved the double decker buses, and you must get an Oyster card to travel with , big saving. The other great delight was so many green areas, my favorite is St James Park, the view and effect of light across the pond is picturesque, but any green area is good,especially from Bologna were there are none really except for Marguerita Gardens.

All our friends were so good to us, Mike kept going out of his way as always to make sure we enjoyed ourselves, and Kate was so relaxed and easy with us, though she had sick kids and no nanny that week. And of course Holly and Steve were Holly and Steve, perfect. It was also good to catch up with my old neighbour from Waterloo Street, Simon Lee who has been living there for 25 years, and has his own most impressive major gallery there, he kindly invited us to his place at late notice for drinks, and we hope to keep in touch alot more. So London was terrific, and l dont harbor the emotions l had of the English nearly as much as before.

We did the "EYE" the big wheel which apparently is London's biggest fund earner in tourism, and l must say it was terrific, we went up on a sunny day, so that helped. The thing we noticed was the queues, we lined up to go into the Natural History museum for 45 minutes, then another 20 minutes to get into the show, then it was 35 minutes at Hockney, 30 minutes at Freud to then get a entry ticket for an hour later, and the wheel was a bout 45 minutes. They say book your tickets on line, and in some cases that can be quicker, but often it is the queuing to get into the show that takes time. My best advice is get a pram and a doll, push up to the start of the line, and say you had to leave quickly from the show as the child had shitted itself, and l feel you will sneak in straight away and for free. Of course you will have to find a pram and doll. Everyone in London is incredibly friendly, from the hotel we stayed in near Richmond at Kew Gardens to the cabbie, underground ticket operator, bus operator, tour guides, it was hard to find someone who was rude or uncaring. Thank fully we made it back to Italy, where as Jayne remarked as soon as the plane landed everyone started pushing and being generally unhelpful, ahh its good to be back home!!!The first meal we had was dinner that night a solid tortellini broda, lasagna, gnocchi, and tagliatelle fungi, simple and perfect. Followed up with a gelati. Its amazing the difference in two places only 1 1/2 hours away from each other by plane, and thank god for that!

mercoledì 15 febbraio 2012

The Bolognese Shuffle

Winter in Bologna, they warned us how cold it gets, and the chill gets into your bones, but like Antarctica it is not cold if you wear a jacket!
So everyone in Bologna wears either a Woolrich or Pueterey jackets, l personally prefer the more fitted Pueterey, there are of course those who wear puffy jackets but lets not talk about them, as they often wear their Ugg boots as well, and need to have sun glasses on. So its not that cold, colder in New York, the most important piece of clothing are boots, l wear Sorrells or my Redback work boots, but no boot is designed for the terracco polished walkways under the porticos. With just a bit of water or snow, they become a skate rink. And so the Bolognese shuffle comes to life, you see well dressed people shuffling along the walkways, rarely moving sideways, which is something they continue in summer as well, so wearing large jackets is essential as there is a lot of shoulder work. You look forward to a stretch of regular stone floor or concrete, but then you hit the open area wear the snow and ice are stained with the yellow tinge of dog pee, or ochre colour of shit. And beware of the falling icicles from the blocked guttering high above, if there are not casualties from this l will be most surprised, as Bologna is decorated like a christmas tree with these icicles dangling down.
The streets are silent, no scooters, few cars, and the people go quite, there seems to be less smoking as well, snow is such a leveller, it flattens space and softens light, it reaches into the people and subdues them, calms them. Winter is when the Italian bars come to life, they are a sanctuary from the cold or snow, a quick pit stop for a una caffe e brioche, and back out again, just enough time to warm the face and let the snow melt from the boots, leaving puddles in the bar. And cardboard, the material that l search for around the bins in the streets to paint on, takes on a new life in winter. Everyone is busy looking for large bits of cardboard in the streets, its a battle , as they use it to place on the portico floors to soak up the water, make it less slippery outside their shops, of course this brilliant idea has one small drawback, its cardboard! And so a couple of hours later it turns dark, and begin to break up, there upon wedging small pieces into the sole of your boots, making them now less likely to grip a surface, and the cardboard ends up spread over a hugh area, thank god there seems to be a never ending amount of cardboard in Bologna.
Now on another direction, we have had two lovely weekends lately with friends, going to Ca'Shin in the hills of Bologna, a co-op style restaurant, that has courses and holds events, it is a most beautiful villa in the hills, at the moment covered in snow, the kids can play outside, and the food and service is relaxed and most enjoyable. The other place was a Brazilian restaurant out in a nearby town called San Lazzalo, great to eat lots of meat again, and the best thing is their is a ten pin bowling place next door. Finally all those years l spent at the Golden Bowl came back to serve me well. Those who know me well, may know l have my own bowling shoes, that l somehow pinched years ago from the Golden Bowl, a red/white/blue banded pair, with number 8 on the heel, leather sole of course, the perfect dress shoe. I wont harp on about the bowling just to say the kids had a lane, the mothers another, and the fathers another. I came a solid second beaten by Christiano, the gentleman! who bowled wonderfully, having two strikes. But if l could say, l still have that lovely style where my back foot slides behind and across me as l let the ball go, it is as professional footwork as you could get, years of watching the professional drop outs bowl, while having a super thick shake with Simon Lee and Jason at the Golden Bowl.
The boys school, has been closed for a week over this snow period, why is another question, as you can still move about, and suddenly every parent had to change their lives and job times to suit having the kids at home. No homework was sent out by email, no thought of asking the parents what they wanted to do, no leadership, no bloody idea what to do. Well l am glad to drop that heavy load, just dont get me going again on the school, the cost and the moronic thinking that comes from this supposed International School begs belief.
Jaynes Italian is better and better, she has classes every day from 9.30 - 1.30, as well a her friend Berenese, who speaks solely in Italian to her, with the occasional English for correction, she is French, but speaks Italian perfectly, and is learning English, and this is the way to learn a language, speak it. Sadly l am in the studio listening to talk back radio, and mumbling to myself in a language that is yet to be recognized.
The boys have a young girl who picks them up from school on thursday, and spends two hours talking only in Italian, and so they are improving well, and have a better understanding than you think.
Off to London with the family on Friday, the school has a weeks holiday, called ski week, don't get me going !!!! So we are going to London, to see Holly and Steve, (the boys god parents), and Mike and Kate Frayne, as well as the natural history museum, David Hockney exhibition, Lucian Freud drawing show and have a go on the big wheel.