Full Steam Ahead -Avanti A Tutto Vapore

It's New Year's Eve and I'm homeward bound. 

Sludge- trudging done, I can finally head back to warmer climes. Through the window the sun is already a glowing orange orb and soon the last daylight of 2022 will be gone. Another year has hurtled past us.  Where has all the time gone eh!

Readers you left me in September travelling at full tilt and - as you have guessed from the title- I've continue in similar fashion.. During the autumn I've blasted doen roads and railways to see temples, churches, monasteries, ancestral homes, amphitheatres and even dancing horses.

It's not been an easy ride. On the way I've sometimes been travelling at half-steam. We've been delayed by burst boilers and flooding, cracked ceilings and falling plaster and freezing fridges and iced lattes. Yet still I've steamed on.

Sometimes I've travelled faster than time itself. Often waiting in Caserta station for the last train home at 8.30pm whilst the clock told me it was 3pm. I barely noticed this, though as cappucino in hand I was completing yet another practice exam question. Yes, it was the dreaded Italian Citizenship Exam that I was preparing for. Scribbling furiously, 

I knew that time for me was running out. Exam Day was almost upon me!

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Up at 5am I kept going at full tilt to the end. I just hoped that I'd stay awake until I completed all the papers! As the Italians say: 'Il buon giorno si vede dal Mattino' (A good day begins in the morning) However already at  9am things were not looking very promising! 

Having arrived before the invigilators I already had some misgivings. My doubts increased on learning that the only toilet was out of order. Crammed around 5 large tables, I soon realised that my bladder would not be the only distraction. My 'tablemate' to the left kept interupting me to ask for help, whilst my companion opposite's eyes kept moving between the exam paper and her mobile phone.

  'A Chi da'l il dito si prende anche il braccio'. (Give an inch and they'll take a mile) With fools to the right of me and jokers to the right and no usable toilet in sight, it wasn't long before my head was pounding.

Luckily I had just enogh fuel on board to go full thortle. There was never such a good time to adance a tutto vapore! 

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A month on. With no blood on the tracks, I can look back and laugh. What a year 2022 has been. I've certainly covered a lot of track. As the legendary journalist Clarkson puts it: 'Speed has never killed anyone'. Yet after a long rocky ride through 2022 I 've decided to apply the brakes.

As the Italian proverb advises: 'Chi va piano va sano e va lontano'. (He who goes slowly, goes safely and far)

2023: The new journey begins. I wish you a good one. God speed! Who knows? We may need it!

 

The Heat Is On

 It's early July. I'm out in the mini. Hood down- well only partially. It's very hot (38 C) I'm tootling along leafy lanes listening to Radio Monte Carlo -'Musica con Classe'. They're playing Dire Straits. 'Money For Nothing'.  So who's arguing?!.  School's out and I'm in summer mode.  And  I'm looking pretty chilled.

In fact the exams were 3 weeks ago. I've enjoyed that scarce commodity,Time. I've had time to read. Time to write. Even time to make lemonade.

Then suddenly on Saturday an email arrives. The oasis of calm is disappearing fast. A journey is ahead of me. The heat is well and truly on!

And who could be so important to persuade me to abandon the oasis in high summer? Only the Ministero dell'Interno. Who else would be crazy enough to write to you in the middle of a heatwave having not communicated for 2 years????? And to say what?

Now for the straw.....

 

You must send your B1 level  certificate in the Italian language  to be considered. Trusting , of course, that you have one- which I don't! 

Have I mounted my camel and left you behind?

Well let's rewind the clocks to BG (Before Giano)  to the time I was still  quietly esconsced in the luxury apartment in Capua. I  had come across some cushy job that was only available to Italian citizens. And my husband had offered to put his life on hold filling in all the paperwork if I assembled all the necessary documents No mean feat when originals are needed of everything and also certified Italian translations of all said documents. (Not cheap either) Perhaps it was a glass too many? Maybe I just needed another challenge?

'Tutto cio che la mente dell'uomo puo' concepire e credere, puo' essere realizzato'.

Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

 We will never know now but I'm inclined to the former explanation. God knows I would have saved a shedload of time and money. I would still be in the oasis with A/C, Peter May and a glass of red. The heat would be on outside. Lucifero could do his worst. But my temperature would not rise one degree. 

Even if I was in Portugal there would be no problem. Apparently it is the easiest country to obtain citizenship. There is not even any physical presence requirements. ('You don't need to spend most of the year in the country')  Hey ho!  As some Italians would say:

 'La felicita' non e' qualcosa di pronto all'uso. Essa deriva dalle nostre azioni.'

 Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.

 Indeed!

                                         https://youtu.be/Y9tWDqrfM2U

                 

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So there's nothing for it but to bite the bullet. I order the book of practice test papers and dutifully complete some exercises each day. The book is soon full of red corrections, wasting yet more of my husband's time. What else would be be doing anyway with his retirement eh??? 

Nothing perhaps! However he is already commited to various engineering projects and is doing online university tution. In addition, we have a garden to tidy, a bathroom to install and new doors to hang ahead of two lots of friends arriving in October and our first B and B clients. No pressure eh!

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There's mist  over the hills. Dew glistens on the grass. Pomegranites turn orange. Summer is coming to an end once again.

Summer ends as it began. I'm wrestling with Italian bureacracy. I've just driven back from Calvi with my 16e  government stamp and passport photos for the 'Permisso di Sogiorno'. I'm listening to Radio Monte Carlo. 

'Like a vampire stealing time'........'This girl is on fire'.

The gods of music are clearly still with me.

Will we finish the necessary renovations by October? Will I pass the Italian  exam and gain citizenship in November? ' Se sono rose, fiorianno'. If they are roses, they will bloom. Time will tell. One thing is for sure. I'm pulling out all the stops. The heat for me is still on.