Edamus Bibamus Gaudeamus! Primum Vivere Deinde Philosophari.

Where else in the world can you find graffiti in latin?

Edamus Bibamus Gaudeamus! Primum Vivere Deinde Philosophari.

Let's eat, let's drink, let's cherish. First live, then rationalise.

I have the luxury of, in order:

having a sister and brother in law
having a nephew
having them living in Rome
celebrating him for his birthday every year (but one, so far!)

This time was no exception and I went visit.

We forced them to be a tourist in their own town and walked around for two days: he was such a good sport!
And he's beginning to grasp the fact that he lives in one of the most beautiful, meaningful, poignant city in the world, or he will for sure figure it out when he comes visit Manchester :D.

Good thing he's becoming a Potterhead , to which I take all the blame, and he seems to love anything British.

I told him, beauty is the eye of the beholder, but he'll soon understand that nothing, nowhere, can compare to this.

 

Always magic, even with rain.

remember: then rationalise.

{Last year} A Walk in The Woods

December 17, 2016. 

Sunday walk on my hills, the one I've know for all my life, with my new found friend C. 

We met through her dating of my very good high school friend and just like that we discovered so many things in common

Isn't it weird how friendship works? It can come from long times spent together or more surprisingly from coordination of thoughts and balance of attitude. Hard to find. Gift to treasure. 

I'm pretty sure that wasn't her really first impression of me, as I'm told, I defended him against her on the very first day we met . I have no recollection of this whatsoever.

But I must have recovered somehow because I really consider her a true friend.

   

                                    

Manchester Lately

It's been a while since I've written, those are long days, and weeks!
So many things going on, I have to wrap my head around it.
I also wanted to tell things chronologically here but I haven't had the time or better the inclination to work on the pictures from our latest trip .
I'm having many difficulties with the Apple method of storing pictures and even the easiest task takes me a long time and many nervous breakdowns.

It's been cold! It never gets many degrees below zero, but some mornings i find ice on the windows of the car. It's winter and sunny and cool and brisk. Finally!

Sunday I finally went to Mass . Once a month there is a Mass in Italian in this little Church downtown called the Hidden Gem , for good reason!
After Mass I stopped for coffee with a young couple I already know and a family of four. It was good. It just felt good, and connecting and normal and peaceful after a rough and emotional couple of days.

There is one music shop very close to where we live ; they sell vinyls and used CD and coffee and tea and guitars, very peculiar, especially in our block.

I saw a CD from the Ocean Colour Scene and I had to buy it.
It's been so nice to listen to the group lately: it brought back memories from the old days but warmth with words and pronunciation that are now familiar.
My favourite: The Day We Caught The Train.

Talking about music and old days, I really felt like I missed something not going to see one of my favourite bands when I was a baby that came here in Manchester, so when Hanson published their tour I really couldn't resist and bought 2 tickets for the Sunday night concert. MMMMpop!

Brexit talks are going on and on and things are still very unknown.Manchester is still, however, very on the labour side. So it's easy to spot graffiti like this.

Whenever I randomly find something from home I have to buy it! It was nice seeing it there and they definatly tasted better :)

 

Yesterday it was my last Chinese lesson, for this year. 

The teacher was one of my best teacher I've ever had. She always  knew the how to respond to our ( my) questions and never reply with a non conclusive answer.

She is Chinese, engaged to a Polish boy, going back to China for a bit now and than moving to Norway. How crazy I got to meet her? 

How crazy is it that for 4 months you spend 3 hours a week one to one with a person almost one to one, and then all of a sudden you know you most probably  never going to meet again? 

Or maybe some day I'll move to Norway and take her class again :)

What I've Learned This Week | Eight | November

November in the United States is the month of thanksgiving, and therefore a reminder of what lately I’ve been thankful for.

1.The people I love. My husband, or better form of his character. (this is of course just a few things that I particularly noticed lately) He doesn’t’ really complain about anything, not even being sick on a 10 hours trip home;

(I always knew this as I don’t do much)he does so much in the house , but having to do everything myself for a couple of days made me realise this even more; he calms me down when I have to many ideas on what to do next: sometimes it’s frustrating, but for the bigger picture it’s probably the best!

My parents and my parents in law. I find myself asking myself what my parents would do fairly often. And we are so lucky that the four of them jump gladly at any, any of our requests, no matter how random.

Some fine friend that spent time and money just to come see me. We had a wonderful weekend!

2.My time. I start working at what feels like the crack of dawn, but I’m enjoying the long afternoons…too bad the battery dies at 9 sharp after two and a half minutes of Stranger Things.

                                                   

3.Weather forecast. Like seriously, how do they do it I’m not sure. And they must go crazy in England because it changes literally 154 times a day. But I’m so glad I get to see this. Finally rain is coming where needed and the sun is shining where rare.

Yeah, you see those rays? That’s a sunny day here up north!

4.The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. Christmas is hereee in full blown! Santa is up on the tower of  the hall in Albert Square and in fact, they will inaugurate Christmas Market this coming Saturday and I can. not. wait. 

4. Changes. Winter is coming ( as the only Game of Thrones reference I know) and we’re switching  “The Humid” ,as I lovingly  call our apartment, for a house we’ll hopefully get to call home soon! I feel like such a grown up!

Here’s to gratitude! and how it turns everything into enough.

The Mancunian Sky

Manchester

the Rainy City

where a hat is only good for fashion 

and a rain coat is a constant piece of clothing 

where an umbrella is a clear sign of utter weakness

can offer wonderful sights 

if we just learn
to look up. 

(I know, I should be a published poet!)

just outside the office

on the way home in Stockport

in front of the Central Library

The Principal 

On the way home

Stuck in traffic

and stuck again.

What I've Learned This Week |Four|

One. I believed I knew English pretty well, but then I moved to Manchester.

Today I couldn’t spell Fulfilment. Turns out there is only on L!

How long before I’ll comfortably say Aubergine, Flat and Lift?

Long live the Queen!

(but the City Center (or Centre?) will always be “downtown” for me. The Boss cannot be wrong)

Two. When you ask for a password and they insist the password you’re using is right, even after many failed attempts, before involving the whole IT office, try the Caps Lock. You won’t regret it. Believe me on this one.

Three. The view from my office printer room is amazingly weird.

Four. For my improvement September I started to declutter my inbox. In the past week I counted an average of 5 emails a day I didn’t need or want to read.

The button Unsubscribe gives a certain level of satisfaction.

Five. My phone, as of now is: my clock, my watch, my alarm, my secretary, my phone, my social media manager, my dictionary, my ipod, my magazines , my GPS, my camera, the source of many of my communication with family and friends, what the hell, I even watch movies on it. 

The thing is though, lately is not been working really well, or maybe I should say it’s not been working at all. The battery dies after a few minutes of it being unplugged (the joy of technology!) , the memory is always full no matter what I delete, and now even the clock refuse to keep with time. After having a fun couple of mornings not waking up because my phone was two hours behind, I realised, once again , I need to let it go and don’t rely on it this much.

I’m leaving it in by bag at work and I need to indulge in a splurge, spend five pounds and buy an alarm.

When in doubt, go left.

Summer days in England are long. Long like I've never experienced before.

And it's such a privilege to be able to relish these long hours.

On a rainy summer weekend we visited the south part of the Lake District.

Long and very detailed conversation with some friends made me discover that only one of those water puddles is a "lake" but none the less I think there is a reason for that name :)

The region is crossed vertically by a walking path called "The Cumbria Way" : I would like to walk it all one day.

We spent the night in Barrow in Furness, a little town by the sea: British stereotype as much as you can imagine.

 

Early the morning after we took the car , drove for 20 minutes through tiny, steep streets and parked in Coniston, where we started our walk.

We asked for directions and decided to take the renowned walk of "The Old Man of Coniston"; it brought us here. And we really couldn't complained about it.

We reached the peak, about 1000 m asl , in about two hours: it was windy and so cold! 

We rushed down and didn't really know which way to go; a middle aged couple must have seen us a little lost and gave us directions to reach Coniston : "When in doubt, go left!" 

      

We reached other lakes, walked around them.

By the last thirty minutes or so even the sun came out!

Because we still wanted to wander a little, we took the car and reached Ambleside.

Unbelievable place, seems a movie set! Small white houses, with chimneys popping up roofs, cozy dehors of typical pubs and old shops with local specialties.

 

The day after we took it easy, went up a little hill in Windermere and visited both Windermere and Bowness on Windermere.

These two towns are bigger and more touristic, with their ports on the lake , their tour agencies and their shops of Peter Rabbit. The author, Beatrix Potter, was from here and they are letting you know! Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle Duck and Benjamin Bunny are everywhere!

It started to rain just in time to get back to the car and drive home.

I realized I love , love road trips and hope to take many more in this country I’m starting to feel mine!