last moon

giovedì 29 dicembre 2016

London for ever - 5

What a shame has been Brexit! Of course I respect the decision of British people, though is not a fluke that Londoners majority have voted for  "Remain".
And how could it have been differently?
Surely the "genius loci" hidden in the old stones has drived the voters' minds for remaining.
Aren't you,  London,  the capital of our dreams?
Haven't you been, at least in the last four decades,  our shelter and salvation?
Haven't we searched on You for our lives of destiny?
Yes, we have come your paths for fate, London, attracted by your music, your art, your leisure.
And we have searched our sense of life through the misty streets, in the smoky pubs, in the busy  working days.
That's why I say London for ever.

5. to be continued...

sabato 10 dicembre 2016

London for ever- 4

London is a word of six letters. But how many Londons do exist?
Each one of us has got its own London on his heart.
Still there is a London of great Hotels, made of excellent shopping, top of reastaurants and parties on old mansions, full of glory and history though I might suppose not all the hosts would understand where they are really celebreting their or someone's top life.
There is a London of young hostels, very crowded, full of emotions, of expectations, full of love.
There is a London in front of  following pints of tasteful lagers wherein to forget the sorrows of life.
And the London of busy people in search of honest and rich profits, in the city or in the west; and also the London of dirty profits, lascars and moneypickers, thieves and scroungers.
Whatelse you can add, and there is surely a lot to add, all these palpitateing souls are accommodated in the same large sorroundigs we use to call London.
And London is for ever.
4. bo be continued...

domenica 27 novembre 2016

London for ever - 3


Despite of  its high cost rating of life, London free time can be considered cheaper than other great europeans capitals like Rome, Madrid and Paris on regard of spending your free time.

First of all let's mention  newspapers and magazines. Well they mihgt be considered the first step of employing your free time. Not only because reading is leisure time par excellence, but also because in papers and magazines you can find how to spend better your leisure time.

If you have follow me in the previous articles on London, you have already acquired the great importance that the underground transports (the famous Tube) have in London. Well, in all the Tube's stations you can find daily free papers as good level such as Evening Standard, Metro and CityAM.

Furthermore, now, you can even found the topic enjoying magazine for free: I'm talking about TimeOut, the historical, most ancient and best magazine for shows, events, rendez-vous and anythingelse going on in London.

We must also say that all the biggest museums in London are free: we quote one for all: "the British Museum". Do I need to say more about?

And now Theaters. In London there a lot of theaters for all tastes and any kind of shows: prose and classical  dramas, opera houses, musicals, movies, ethnical and anything else. And some of them are even free.

Personally I remember  a Hamlet representation in the late seventies.

My first love in theatre has been Shakespeare, though the first drama I have read of his, is The Tempest.

But Hamlet has made me think about the real importance of life.

I wanted to attend a school drama in London, when the odd events of life took me far away from there.

But there is  still time to dream over in London!


sabato 19 novembre 2016

London for ever - 2

London has got a lot of things to see. That's why you need to know how excellent are the London's transports. Let's say that the best way is to subscribe an Oyster card. It's a very cheap card and thanks to it you can use both the tube and the double deckers, what I call the two big monsters in the London transport system.
The tube is something unthinkeable and not imaginable if you don't see try it personally. It covers all the 33 boroughs on which London is spread. At any time the trains pass by to collect the passengers and carry them wherever they like to go. The most important stations are connected with the airports: Victoria to Heatrhow; Liverpool station to Stansted; Kings Cross to Luton and Gatwick. But if you need to buy a ticket dont'worry about, plenty of staff  are ready to help you. And if your bank has a convention with London Royal Transport you can even pay your fare by simply  swipping your credit card in the entrance and the exit gate.
I personally prefer the double deckers. In many towns in the world tourists are offered  to visit the sorroundings by hiring a panoramic bus and paying for it the right fare (which might cost you from five up to twenty pounds for the ticket. In London you don't have such a cos. Every single double decker bus has a panoramic sight form the uplevel stage. So you can go anywhere, and enjoy the sorrounding pitches without any overcharge but paying only the simple fare.

2. to be continued...

giovedì 3 novembre 2016

London for ever



You can say what you want about London; That's too chaotic is true; the wheather is not good for most of the year along; the pollution, specially in the central areas is still at an high level,  and the cost of the life, well, leave off 'cause is much better.

Nevertheless London plays a very strong appeals for a lot of people,  if is true, as it is true, that its population is all the time increasing; you can see buldings yards everywhere, expanding the borders of the town ever and ever.

And so, why is London a place of so much interest?

Well I cann't be very impartial answering the question 'cause London for me represents a  special place of the memory.

I've lived there when I was a young man. Nothing out of ordinary. But in those far years I found there a shelter for my troubled soul; there I found a job: very hard at the beginning but lighter and brighter with the  increasing of experience.

London is a great mother, strict but fair, who receives anyone and pays to anyone his own tribute.

I've been there in the past few days, after almost four decades from my first journey.

It has been exciting to be in again.

Though I'm another man now, so different from that young boy full of dreams, naive and idealist, who searched at the time a inexistent  world, I must recognise that London is still a beatiful town.

In the following posts I'll point out details and circustances which make it so beautiful.

1. to be continued...

venerdì 14 ottobre 2016

Bob Dylan Nobel Prize



"For creating new poetic expressions within the great tradition of American song"

With this motivation the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2016 to singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.

I am an admirer of the American singer-songwriter for a long time. I have worked  since the early seventies in the translation of his songs.

I considered his lyrics highly poetic, dreamlike and visionary as befits a great poet.
 I ‘m talking not only of Blowing in the Wind, The times are changing and Mr Tambourine Man.

 I’m  talking about much of its poetic production.

But I must confess that as a young man did not consider him a great musician, but a minstrel (in the best and highest of the possible meanings).

Today perhaps my judgment on its stylistic musician figure should be revised.
Nevertheless I prefer to continue to consider as a great poet.

 For decades I wanted  to see in our school anthologies lyrics  by Bob Dylan, Fabrizio De Andrè, Francesco De Gregory, Leo Ferre and many others; I say this has to be done without taking away  Leopardi ,  Carducci , Pascoli and D'Annunzio (Leopardi in particular is my favorite poet).

 I’m  only saying  that the anthologies of where our boys study should be updated  allowing the entry of these new poets.

Perhaps with the Nobel literature to Bob Dylan, something is going to  change.


Finally.

domenica 9 ottobre 2016

Waiting for parity


In your life you can be what you want.
You can be a dreamer, waiting for the ideal world to come or you can be a money maker, a business man, applying your knowledge to increase your incomes.
Of course most depends on the opportunities that someone calls the fate or the destiny.
If you were born in a rich family which starts you to economic studies; if your father is a millionaire who already knows the way to make money is more likely you become a money maker on your turn.
It's easier to be a dreamer when you belong to the land of dreamers; i mean that if your background is class working is most likely you become a dreamer, fighting for more equal distribution of the national richness or national income.
Nevertheless i believe that everyono has got inside some instances of equality which lead him toward a certain direction.
I mean that if someone believes all the men are equal in fornt of God, and of course believes in _God, unlikely he'll be spending his life or setting up his own time just to make money.

Of course being  a dreamer does not mean you are a stupid or a silly man.
I mean tha t the fact you haven't sold your soul in the temples of business it does not mean you are not able to cdhoose the right moves to improve your life and the life of those who depend upon you.
 For instance, if you want to buy a house in London you  better wait until the prices go down, as they are expected to do in the next years. And if you need to sell a property in Europe and its price go up when you sell it;  and if you want to change the euros income into pounds; and the pound gets the parity with the european currency when you exchange them with the pounds, well, all that is pure fortune, not skill for sure!
Eventually I believe that fortune plays a great role in your life; may be more than that 50% is believed to play by common beliefs.

lunedì 26 settembre 2016

Are you a potential freeholder or a leaseholder?

If you want to buy a house in London you must first know a few things to manage it in the best way.

There are three ways you can own a property: freehold, leasehold or commonhold.

Let's first of all say that for a continental mental habit (I mean specially for an Italian, but I think the same can be said for a French, a German or a Spanish buyer) only the first and the third patterns are quite normal to understand and to be accepted as normal way of buying a flat, or a house or other kind of living estates.

As matter of fact as a freeholder you get the outright of a property and you become the absolute owner of the compound you are going to buy, both in good and in bad sides (I mean that being the freeholder the owner of the ground where the property is built, you 'll to pay all the taxes and all the expenses due for maintenance, such as external walls, ceiling, basement, roof and so saying). Of course you won't pay any rent to anyone, such has the leasholder to the landlord.

In fact when you buy as leasholder, you are in charge for an amount of time (usually from 80 to 999 years) and you recognise several duies to the freeholder, who becomes a sort of landlord.

In Italy this kind of contract resembles from one side the ancient usufructus and from another side the renting contract. It's a sort of mixture, difficult to accept more than to understand it.

Of course you're going to pay less for a leashold house than you pay for a freehold one.

Recently a third kind of buying has been introduced in England (in Scotland the leashold is not very spread): the commonhold.

By the commonhold you buy a flat in a block, buying at the same time the soil where your flat stands, the walls, terraces and roofs and all the common parts which belong to the other owners of different portions of the block (flats or commercial shops or deposits or whatelse the block has been divided in when built on.

In Italy such a buying is almost the rule when you buy a flat in a big town, where buildings are made of so many floors, while in the small towns you usually buy as a freehold.

My personal advice is to contact a professional reference, such as a solicitor and/or an agent in order to acquire all the knowledge you need in a such expensive and definitive field.

A special way of acquiring a flat in Englad is with the scheme "buy to let". It's a good way for investors by which you can pay the fractions of your mortgage by renting your property.

In Italy recently has been introduced another interesting formula called "rent to buy", which is almost of the previous scheme. In such agreement the buyer asks the freeholder who wants to sell the property, to start with a rent's contract. 

The canons you pay as a tenant will be deducted form the final price you'll pay to redeem the property as yours for ever.

lunedì 12 settembre 2016

Just a searcher of love




“Ubi sunt qui ante nos in mundo fuere?”
This question grows in my mind, from time to time;

 “Where are those who lived the world before we did?!”

It’s a question I make searching for God or investigating on Him!

One day I discover that other people have questioned God
 or themselves about the same matter: 
surely Kindleben
 and before him some unknown poet in 1271 
or maybe a classic latin poet…

Is that to be a poet?

Asking all the time the same questions?
We need something new in the world…
I just wanted to be happy, not a poet…

If I were happy would not be a poet…
But a poet is not just a rhymer, or a versemaker…

A poet is a searcher for love!


venerdì 12 agosto 2016

Like Poseidon in the Atlantic Ocean

You might think that the New Neptune God (Poseidon for the Greeks) is a long beard man with a trident in the right hand, as the iconography represents him everywhere. But the New God of the Seas is actually a  Triton submersible, called Nomad, piloted by Patrick Lahey, co-founder of Triton Submarines from Vero Beach, FL, U.S.A..

Jim Clash has interviewd him for Forbes.com under 1,000 feet under the surface, in the deepness of Atlantic ocean.
You can read the hole interview through the link below. 


http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/08/05/guinness-world-record-intrepid-interview-conducted-1000-feet-deep-in-nekton-sub-near-bermuda/#6213992d3b0c

sabato 30 luglio 2016

Forty years ago


Forty years ago, more and less, I was leaving home. I had London in my mind and a lot of dreams in my head.

My mother cried after my departure, complaining with father that I had left because I didn't have enough money for myself, or may be not enough appreciation. As a matter of fact it was hard, in those days, to find my own place in a pathriarcal family like mine was; I was the  sixth of eleven sons, the older brothers all engaged in the family commercial activity, and the youngers still at school; I have been the first in my family, as far as our living memory arrives, to start university and not alawys my fatigues were valueted for what they were (and they still are for those who have a full time engagement at University).

But it was not that. It might also have been that situation but there was a force inside my soul that pushed me away to travel around, to make aknowledge of the things of the world.

The same force that compelled my daughter. 

Now she's in London, spending  summer time, bound to attend at University in September.

I didn't find what I was looking for in London though I remember meeting a lot of good people over there.

And after London I tried to peace my search of unkown travelling around for a while before getting back home and finish my University.

That's what makes a great difference between my own story and that of my daughter. She's registered at University over there and there she will be searching, I might suppose, her future.

Yet it's a strange feeling, after almost forty years,  to see my daughter facing in London her lot.

Good luck my dear and might God watch after you.



domenica 26 giugno 2016

And now the United States of Europe



I hope our English friends (also for the memory of our dear MP Jo Cox) will have a thought back on their self harm decision to go out the EU, but now it's the time to close our ranks and make a political stronger European  Union.
The single states must put apart their selfishness (specially Germany and France) and understand that the the transfer of portion of sovereignity to the European Union is in the interest of all.
Please leave off your antiquated ideas of "grandeur" (if we measure with that comparision, each one of us can recall a shadow of greatness from the past; the Italians with the Roman Empire, the Austrians with the Asburgic Empire, not only the French with Napoleon) and please start working for the United States of Europe.

domenica 19 giugno 2016

The European blood


I must confess that until Thursday, the  16th of June,  I had followed the debate on Brexit in an almost indifferent mood.

"That's domestic, internal, British affair" I used to say  to myself.

In short, I was waiting the 23rd of  June ready to accept the outcome of the referendum for what it would be.

I've always thought that the English (a little 'less the Scots and the Northern Irish) were inside the European Union without  any real conviction, with the head standing on the the Atlantic's  major issues and the feet   in the Mediterranean, but only to control us closely, enjoying only the economic benefits of the  European market.

But after the barbaric killing of Labour MP Helen Joanne "Jo" Cox I changed my mind.

Now I feel that England (but this should be extended to the whole of Great Britain) is an indissoluble part of the European Union.

Now I look forward to the outcome of the close referendum.

Now I know that if the death of Jo Cox will tip the scales on the "no" to Brexit (and then on the permanence of the United Kingdom in  the EU), the valiant  Labour MP   did not die in vain.

For her I will continue to be a convinced European.

But from now on I will consider Britain an integral and true part of our European Union.

Let's stay together,  European brothers, stick in our common Christian roots. Without hatred and without racism, but with our well-defined  identity.

It will be easier to deal with those who come from outside and profess another religion if we rediscover our spirituality. I'm not afraid of the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus or the Jews, even though as a Christian (and Catholic in this case) I  rest firmly in my convictions, attached to my roots.

We stick together, to cope against the resurgence neo-Nazis, which lead to hatred, intolerance and violence.

Let's stay united to face any kind of fanaticism and do not allow the unquenchable thirst for spirituality that afflicts humans since the dawn of civilization, be filled with dark mysteries, with vacuous quackery and stray spells, or with false and superficial esoteric convictions.

Beyond all religious convictions (I do not know  anything about the religiosity of Jo Cox but I know that  faith is still a personal matter) Jo Cox was an example of seriousness and commitment in politics and society. An example to follow by all Europeans.

Time will tell us if Jo Cox has contributed with his innocent blood to build a Europe more united and supportive. And if in the great book of our Europe will have the recognition she deserves to have.

One thing is certain: Jo Cox will forever have  an important place in my heart.

Thanks Jo, for what you were and for the example that you have been able to give, while you were alive, with your commitment in favour to the most vulnerable and marginalized.

The hand which  wanted to suppress your ideas has done nothing but give wings to those same ideas, which now fly, free, in the most sensitive and mature minds of your Great Britain and of our Europe.

Yet another demonstration of how useless and foolish are all forms of violence.

lunedì 30 maggio 2016

El sol sobre las Cinco Tierras



 El sol sobre las Cinco Tierras

Yo sé que tú estás allí
donde el sol brilla
sobre las Cinco  Tierras
mientres  las vueltas del mar
se quedan susurrando en la orilla
Yo lo sé
porque tanto me dijiste sobre ellas
y sé que tu has ido para allí
por siempre
Aunque cuando tu lavaste mis pies, ese día en Londres,
' te acuerdas? Yo no entendì
, pero ahora yo sé, quien tu  fuiste,
yo sé quién tu eres,
allí , donde el sol brilla,
sobre las Cinco Tierras.

En Cagliari 1981


The sun over ligurian lands

I know you are there 
Where the sun shines 
over ligurian lands 
While  the sea laps
Keep on  whispering on the shore
 I know you are there
 Because so much you told me about them
 And I know that you have gone there 
Forever
 Though when you washed my feet, that day in London,
 ‘ you remember it? I didn't understand 
But now I know, who you were, 
 I know who you are, 
Over there
 where the sun shines 
over ligurian lands. 

In Cagliari 1981

domenica 29 maggio 2016

Mi Mantra


Mi mantra me lleva lejos
fuera de las diarias fronteras
del espacio físico circundante:
y me parece tan diferente y engañosa
la concepción ancestral del mundo,
cuando la mente se establece
en puntos indistintos sin forma y sin  color
ahora ahoga en ellos, felizmente inconsciente,
y persigue las golondrinas
a lo largo de los pasillos de sonido
que ellas trazan por  el aire ,
perdido en sus  cantos
que nada explican al intelecto humano
y  todavía aligeran sus mentes inquietas!

Y mientras el mundo recupera
sus formas habituales,
una duda resurge lentamente a la superficie:
si no fuera mejor para nosotros descubrir
cómo estamos conectados a la naturaleza
antes de buscar nuevos mundos,
remotos y distantes
!

En Cerdeña 1985



My mantra leads me far
out of the daily usual borders
of the surrounding physical space:
and it seems to me so different and deceptive
the ancestral conception of the world,
when the mind lays down
on shapeless spots of indistinct coloured flashes
and now drowns on them, happily unconscious,
then pursues the swallows
along the sounding corridors they trace in the air,
lost in their twittering accents
which nothing explain to human intellect
but yet lighten up all its restless minds!

And while the world regains
Its usual forms,
a doubt re-emerges slowly to surface:
if it were better for us to discover
how we are connected to nature
before seeking
new, remote and distant worlds!

In Sardinia 1985

sabato 28 maggio 2016

El misterio de mi amor





Mystery of my love
I
I have never loved,
   since never  loved me
the women I loved
and I didn't love
those who tried to love me!

II
I  first pursued
Impossible loves,
and when the overwhelming body
 forced me, I loved,
but it was not love;
surely  it was sweet discovery of pleasure,
flesh into flesh, fire with fire
fury subsided into the abyss of life;
but it was not love.

III
Neither  was love
the spasm which I waited
to see the air colored  
by your forms,
when was  enough for me
to feel your  presence
ethereal and impalpable, although present,
yet not mine
and it was not love.

IV
So, I'm  still in search of you, sublime, decanted love.
Who are you fleeting present of God?
Are you  for all of us or just for a few?
Do you really exist oh my Elem?
Are you  a catcher of   hearts and reason?
Real or unreal?
Liar or truthful?





V
Still I'm seeking of you,
poignant love
unveiled eyes,
flying mate,
slave and mistress,
mother and lover,
mystery of life!


El Misterio de mi amor

Yo nunca he amado,
puesto que nunca me amaron
las mujeres que yo amaba
e yo no amè
las que trataron de amarme!



II
Primero perseguí
imposibles amores,
y cuando la el deseo de la carne
me obligó, fue abrumado y me encantó,
pero no era amor;
seguramente era dulce descubrimiento del placer,
carne en la carne, fuego con fuego
furia que se derrama en el abismo de la vida;
y sin embargo no era amor.

III
Ni fue amor
el espasmo con que yo esperava
a ver el aire
colorarse por tus formas,
cuando era suficiente para mi
 sentir tu presencia
etérea e impalpable, aunque presente,
y a pesar de todo tu  no eras mía y no fue amor.

IV
Así te busco  todavía sublime, decantado amor.
¿Que eres tu? fugaz presente de Dios?
¿Es para todos o sólo para unos pocos?
¿Realmente existes oh mi Juana? ¿
Eres un receptor de corazón y la razón? ¿
Real o irreal? ¿
Mentiroso o verdadero?





V
E yo te voy buscando,

amor conmovedor
ojos de misterio,
compaña de vuelo ,
esclava y amante,
madre y amante,

misterio de la vida!



domenica 22 maggio 2016

Adios

Adios Juanita
flower of Antioquia
I sucked your
nectar for a day
and  after
I flew away from you

Ah, if Nature
didn’t make  me a bee
I would still be
in your arms
instead of looking


happiness that does not exist.




Adios Juanita
flor de Antioquia
He chupado tu nectar
Por un dia
Y despues
he volado lejos de ti

Ah, si la natura
No me hubiese hecho abeja
Ahora yo seria
Todavia entre tus brazos
En vez de buscar
La felicidad

Que no existe.

domenica 24 aprile 2016

El mundo no lo entenderìa/The world would not understand



El mundo no lo entenderìa

Vivamos juntos
en este sueño tierna Juana
Como si fuéran
Los albores de nuestra vida
La inocencia cariñosa
De quien todavìa
Cree en el amor eterno
Suspendamonos
Fuera del mundo
Que no entenderìa
El lindo amor
Que nosotros  vivimos

The world would not  understand 

Let’s live together 
 in this tender dream Juana
Like we were
At the dawning of our lives
with  the loving innocence  
of whom still believes in the eternal love.
Let’s suspend our existence 
out of the world
they would not  understand

The tidy love 
we are  living through.

domenica 17 aprile 2016

Taking care of our planet


Taking care of our planet: the things we can all do to help.

Each one of us can do  little things you can do every day to help reduce western countries’  impact on the environment. As somebody has wisely said before me, we must keep in mind that we borrow the Earth from our ancestors and we are obliged to preserve it for the future generations.

So  here I write down five  things we can do on respect of what does not belong to us.

1)      Save  water. When we take a  shower, let’s try to close the water while brushing ourselves or while shampooing.
2)      Let’s do  carsharing or take a train to go to work. And let’s cover little distances going on foot instead of taking the car (my father used to say that some people, if they could, would go by car even to the toilet).
3)      Let’s recycle. It’s very important to collect the rubbish in different bins, according to the materials they are made of: glass, paper, plastic, organic stuff and so on.
4)      Let’s try to drive slow when we drive the car. We can save a lot of fuel going at a moderate speed (let’s say at maximum 90 kilometer per hour).
5)      Let’s turn off the lights during the day and when don’t need them. Very often we turn on television and lights in different rooms of our home. That’s a mistake. Even leaving the so called stand-by lights implies a great decrease of energy and a waste of money; consequently this means more pollution and damage to the environment.


Of course there are many other ways of preserving the environment with wise and prudential behavior but if anyone of us respected just five of them the planet would be more easily preserved for future generations.

sabato 26 marzo 2016

Brexit-III

Meanwhile sterling has slid to its lowest lever against the dollar in the last seven years. And many big companies in Britain have expressed the choose to remain in. These are part of the result for fearing Brexit.
It's useless to say the the political destiny of Mr Cameron is now in the polls. 
It's very hard to imagine his staying still in Dowining street if he looses his campaign for UK remaining in the European Union.
Now the debate between the two parties, pro Brexit and against, is getting warmer.
The Brexiters say UK will become greater again out of the European club. They also add that economic adavantages can be provided by bilateral agreements as many other countries have done with the EU; and they quote Canada, South Korea, India, China and many others.
Nevertheless observers note that bilateral economic treaties might not work the same with Great Britain. Furthermore there is much more involving of EU in the fight against terrorism that Britain could not achieve on its own.
It seems to me that most of the Brexiters issues are only nothing but a nostalgic dream over a greatness which can be reached only staying inside the European Union.
And this is woth also for France and Germany.
But the road for an integrated political EU is still hard; just paved with good intentions, at the very moment.
I still believe, none the same, the European Union has a great future: with or without English people.
3. the end.

domenica 20 marzo 2016

Brexit -2



Britons already voted once the same issue in 1975, but that was another EU. At that time EU was still formed by only 9 members and the strict laces which today smother number 10 Downing were yet to come.
Today EU it's more bound to run after the six founder's dream: to become a federation of states with increasing power to the centre and less margins of sovereignity to the single states.
It's this the major worry of conservative's brexiters and fundamentally almost all the average  English media class people.
But pay attention please! We are talking of English people only!
And here start Mr Cameron politic ploblems involved with the poll appointment in june!
Scots have already claimed the call of new referendum to leave the British Union if Brexiters win! And same have made the Northern Irish which threats the reunification with Dublin's  Republic if Brexiters will be the majority.
And another  great amount of problems are coming for mr Cameron on the financial  and economic side both inside and outside the British borders.

2. to be continued...

domenica 13 marzo 2016

Brexit


The referendum which will ask all British people to express if they want to stay in the European Union or not has been called by Premier  D. Cameron for June 23rd (it will be on a thursday).
The voters have to say if on their opinion is better for UK to proceed on Its own through the enigmatic and crucial challenges  this epoch of globalisation is putting forward the western states, specially the more advanced and reachest, including the mass of poor people moving from Asia and Africa on the routes of a search of a better life.
Though Great Britain has an important political and economic background, mostly due to its colonial heritage, it's a relatively small country compared with the emerging colusses such as China, India and Brazil.
I'm personally convinced that the European Union must tighten its politic bonds to form a stronger political union capable to face the increasing and rising economies of the globalized new world.
Nevertheless, though I'm fond of the British culture (both of english and scottish and even of Irish), I've alawys seen London very uncertain on the path of European integration.
And I could say the same for Paris (of course for different reasons from Great Britain).
But now we are coming to a turning point.
I see on the next future a double scenario: if Great Britain decides to go out, the other partner will probably tighten closely trying to find new strengh and new reasons to stay together; if, vice versa, British voters call for staying also in this case the other partners will ask Great Britain to abandon its hesitation, which has often trespassed into ambiguity.
1. to be coninued...

martedì 8 marzo 2016

women's day



Today I want to remember Emmeline Pankurst, the first activiste for women's movement rights.
In 1914 she found the Sufragettes' movement for women's liberation. At the time women couldn't vote and left school very early. bounded in housekeeping and childcare.
After ten years women obtained eventually the right to vote and so many things changed in their lives above all for the fact that couldn'be ignored what women had done during the First World War, replacing the men in the factories, in the farms and all over the Country needed people to work.
Nowdays more than  60% of women get a work in Great Britain and not only in shops and as housemaids like it was before.
Obviously there is still much to do for their complete integration in the society.

giovedì 25 febbraio 2016

A lonely summer


It was the last day of the summer holidays of too many years ago,  and I wasn't expecting much to happen. Suddenly I heard the phone ringing. For the first time in my school records I had to repair one subject: Geography. It might seem incredible but it's true. Of all the subjects, chemistry, maths, latin, phisic I showed my limits just in Geography so I had to spent my summer trying to improve my scarce knowledge in that particular subject. In a few day, in the first days of September,  I would be attending my fall examination in order to be admitted at the final course to graduate ad eventually go to to University. I picked up the telephone: what a nice surprise! It was Laura at the phone! Laura was a school mate who had also to make up for Geography. She was very nice of her to invite me for joining and prepairing together that boring subject for the repairing examination of September. So my summer had an happy end that unfortunate year.