Caput Mundi?

I love Italy. Romance can be found in it's people, landscape and cuisine. You must absolutely surrender yourself to it's lure because being fussy will get you nowhere in this magnificent country. They call Rome Caput Mundi or capital of the world. Its stylish, cool and ever so relaxed way of doing things is a way of life that I envy and forever remind myself to strive to duplicate. This is a task that will take me forever to duplicate because I'm a little neurotic. And the lack of organizational structure drove me mad on my last night in Italy!

Is your train late? Normale. Why does the Trenitalia website display journeys that are no longer available? Normale. Did your departure station change without notification? Normale. The night went something like this...

Purchase ticket.

Metro line A.

Transfer.

Metro line B.

Metro line B (other direction).

Alight at Rome Tiburtina.

Paris bound:)

Arrêt:(

Concrete. Construction. Confusion.

Rome Tiburtina is closed!
Metro line B (original direction).
New rail station - Rome Station Termini.

Locate train.

Board.

Normale.

The Broomstick

Let me be clear - what happened in London this week is bullshit. A bunch of punks wanted a fight and some free stuff. The greater question is why do they seek these things? One cannot deny that social disadvantages and unemployment are both rampant in London and a destitute living situation is the result. Unfortunately, those most adversely affected by today's economic conditions are choosing to express their frustrations unproductively, but perhaps the only way they know how.

This week, I was relieved, on the radio and even riveted!

RELIEF: I wasn't attacked or a passenger on any of these buses that were set on fire, but while shopping I was evacuated from a grocery store in Clapham Junction. Heeding all warnings, I went straight home. An hour later, that grocer and it's surrounding retailers were mobbed by rioters.

RADIO: Amazed by my close brush with danger, I was contacted by a friend who works in Canada as a reporter to be a guest on her station's talk radio show. I agreed and participated in a panel conversation about the London riots. I was introduced as a "Canadian living in London, a city under siege" and immediately asked if I was safe. I wonder if people in the middle east ever get tired of answering that question?

RIVET: If there was any doubt about safety, Borris Johnson, the mayor of London, extinguished all fear as he appeared in Clapham Junction the next day and spoke to a crowd of proud Londoners ready to clean-up their streets and carrying brooms. As a symbol of solidarity and fearlessness, the broom stick was held high... And sure enough, the many heads that hung low in the days prior also began to rise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fgapIFUTVI