Illness annoyingly continues, but if you have to be coughing, sneezing, headachy and snotty then where better than Rome in the sunshine.
We took it a bit easier today and sat on a table outside a cafe in a smart piazza for most of the morning, reading and writing and taking in the passing world. My favourite sight was a strange, slight woman wearing a heavy coat in the sunshine and carrying lots of fashionable bags, with what was probably a messy blonde wig and with lipstick smeared all over the lower half of her face and a white line drawn down her nose. In a city where street performers are everywhere (we had just seen a slightly excellent one in which someone played the invisible man with a hat and glasses suspended above a torso - which presumably concealed the actual head of the mime artist) it was hard to tell whether this woman was insane or just someone pastiching the vanity and ridiculousness of rich middle aged women. She did look like a clown, but alas it quickly became clear she was a real person who had lost touch with reality. She skulked around talking to herself before then heading off at pace across the square and aiming a fairly hard punch in the back at a perfectly innocent woman who had been unlucky enough to cross her path.
But maybe it was just a very committed street performer. So committed that unlike the others she didn't come back and ask for money. That would have spoiled her artistic vision.
At the Spanish Steps the sun was beating down and it was like a hot summer day. You're probably thinking, "Shame, bad news for those blokes who sell umbrellas that they've conjured up from nowhere to tourists!"
You're wrong to say that.
Because those men (maybe not the exact same ones, but I suspect the ones from yesterday were doing the same thing) were now selling parasols. Where had the parasols come from? I don't know. Don't ask me such questions. But those men who sell umbrella and umbrella like things are pretty much covered. Unless it's an overcast day when it isn't raining. When maybe they sell mittens.
The first reviews for my book managed to wend their way to me despite me being in another country.
Two very positive three star reviews. Reminding me of the turmoil and excitement that will greet me on my return. Hopefully there will be better to come.
