It's late June now. My second year and second summer here. And quite a different one from last year! More later.The summer sun signals final year exams for some but for all it signals the end of another long academic year. Time now to rest and plan something fun for the summer days ahead.
However there is certainly no fun on the immediate horizon for me. I'm sitting in a dark vaulted tunnel. It is the waiting room of the plastic surgery department of a converted convent. Now Santa Maria hospital. Indeed a few streets away from the anfitheatro where Spartacus fought. Bet he wished it was built then!
It's only 8am. The sun has barely arisen but already there lots of activity going on. Big baskets of laundry being delivered and trolleys of patients being pushed briskly into theatre.A porter walks past pushing a large wheeled cage. What type of being is he tasked to bring to surgery? A wounded minotaur?
My contemplation is cut short. My name is called. I look around desperately for my husband. I am informed by the lady next to me that he has disappeared for a fag. Clearly I missed this in my minotaur moment. Anyway it's just my paperwork and ticket they need to check. (Unlike the NHS every hospital visit has to be paid for).So I get by. My husband returns shortly. We're there all morning though. By the time we're all released to see sunlight again, battered, bruised and bandaged, we're like old friends. An old Italian lady comes out from her post surgery meeting to kiss me on both cheeks. The nuns would be smiling down on us!
The house of God indeed seemed to be a fitting place to deal with the works of Lucifero. Last summer's heatwave left me with an enlarged mole and eye infection. I walk around now with sunglasses constantly on. I look like a film star but feel like a vampire. Looking on the bright side(!) I think I've perhaps gained an insight into Shelley's writing. I'll go and watch the new film and find out. 
This summer has been quite different though. After a number of days of rain in April, the summer began in May. Pleasant summer sun? Indeed I couldn't complain. Few days in June exceeded the seasonal 30 degree norm. It's no wonder that visitor numbers to Italy are increasing. Airbnb report a 20% increase in bookings to Italy last year. Our region, Caserta, is where many of them are heading, containing no less than 5 of the Top 20 visitor attractions! Pompeii comes in highest at Number Two position,(after the colosseum in Rome) Caserta Royal Palace is at Number 10, Herculaneum, not far behind at number 14, the Archaeological museum in Naples at 15 and - not forgetting!-the blue grotto in Capri comes in at number 18.Who could??
This year we have been privileged to share some of these with our first clients on Tourhq. This summer I'll never forget the colour of the sea as we arrived at Amalfi by boat, with a surprisingly fresh wind blowing on a hot summer's afternoon. Equally memorable was the exquisite dinner and sunset we enjoyed on the sands of Positano. After a stormy afternoon, the sky cleared for us to witness an explosion of colour before disappearing into a darkened sky.Very likely the same restaurant that inspired Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to pen 'The Midnight Rambler' in the 1970s. Our 'working' (!) day indeed ended at just that time as we dropped our client off at their hotel. As they say: Everything is possible. Under the pleasant summer sun.
It's mid-July now and already half way through the summer. Many things that seemed impossible last year are already a reality. Many days under the warm Campanian sun have ripened diverse seeds I've planted. There may indeed still be fields to plough. But they'll keep for anoth
er year!This year I've even ploughed through Website Creation Tutorials to successfully plant my first website. Surely it's time to sit back and enjoy my fruits! Recently I've taken time out to do just that. Enjoying gelati with a new friend in Santa Maria (old Capua) we discussed our dreams for the future. This morning my husband may indeed have found our dream home. Will you be ploughing through Airbnb to find us next year? Who knows? More in my next post....
Its a quiet Sunday afternoon in Capua. I stand on the balcony and enjoy the breeze and gentle bird song. Amid the trees in the green orchard below some pink roses are blossoming. Everything is still. Yet I think I can hear a voice whispering: 'Be patient now. There's still a lot that can happen. Under the pleasant summer sun.'
