My new found relationship with Rome is being tested. We haven’t come to blows yet but I am starting to see the cracks in his personality. It’s just about deciding if you can live with them or not. Let me explain.
I live opposite a building site. It dirty and noisy and strange machines wake me up at 8am. This is irritating but after leaving the apartment, which I do like, things get a little better. I have a great market just opposite where I have got to know the fruit and veg man, the meat man and the general-has-everything-from-buffalo mozzarella to loo roll man. They are all so friendly and tell me what is new in and what I should try. I could never see this happening in London where people look at you suspiciously if you try to mutter a “helloâ€. But here it’s all smiles and polite Buongiornos and Grazies and Ciaos.
Greetings are such a formality, one would begin to think this is a country more polite than Britain, were we are used to apologizing for a sneeze. That is until you venture on to public transport. Buses, trains, and trams are a general free for all where pushing, shoving and staring are guaranteed. On the Metro, the unwritten rule of letting passengers disembark the train before getting on is vetoed. And you would think it was just the men who enjoy a good stare at an unsuspecting female but oh no. The little old ladies are the rulers supreme in this area, casting judgemental eyes over bare legs or arms.
But then my journey takes me somewhere like Villa Borghese and all is forgiven. I have become a connoisseur in park life. And needs must in temperatures reaching 36°. Rome is seriously heating up. The pavements are beginning to melt, the milk goes off in two days and the tourists are getting tetchy. I, on the other hand remain cool by the pond and in the shade of Acacia and Pine trees. Villa Borghese is beautiful park and it high position ensures cooling breezes. It is also nice to see a bit of green and escape from the everyday city life. Other “cooling down†trips have included the beach and Lake Albano which is a half an hour train journey from Rome. For just three Euros I escape into a leafy oasis of serenity and laze by an enormous volcanic lake.
A view of Lake Albana
I am enjoying my new life in Rome but the bind is I miss my family and friends. So much so I am off to Blighty for a sneaky week to catch up on the family gossip and fill up on mum’s great cooking. (Life without sausages, roast dinners and cheddar cheese is so hard to bear!) I know what you are thinking, “oh you poor thing, with all that perfect sunshine, wonderful food and beautiful surroundings†but we all need our creature comforts from time to time. Mine is a hot bubble bath and a snuggle under a duvet and they do say “absence makes the heart grow fonderâ€. I am still very fond of the city, I have met some brilliant people and everyday brings something new and interesting, but one can get a little blasé with all the Renaissance piazzas you know. So I am looking forward to go home, moan at the weather, shrink in horror at the concrete seventies tower blocks, curse the price of aubergines and then skip back to my sunny, handsome lover, all afresh with adoring eyes once more.
