March 26, 2019

Rome, Italy

This morning we woke up in a very sunny and warm Rome. Well, Fiumicino to be precise. Rome’s one of those cities where you fly to it, then realise that you’re not yet in the city and have to hop on a train for 45 minutes!

Yesterday we had an afternoon concert in Grosseto, a seaside town a couple of hours up the coast from Rome. An afternoon concert in Italy is quite a rarity — concerts are normally pretty late there (often starting at 8pm or later). So it was rather nice being finished by dinner time! It was a nice concert, with a very appreciative audience. Eddie even got a marriage proposal during the signing. But a possible highlight of the day for me was when we were accosted by a TV news crew, the presenter of which was under the impression that Bruiser was a fluent Italian speaker and addressed a series of fast flowing questions straight at him. Bruiser is a keen linguist and has some handy Italian, but wasn’t quite prepared for an impromptu on-camera discussion of the various musical styles in regional Italy. I am very keen to see the resultant interview, with subtitles, and probably a shot or two of the rest of us giggling in the background as Bruiser valiantly did his best!

Today, we got back to Blighty, and we have tomorrow off before we head to Oxford for a concert at the Sheldonian Theatre on Wednesday. For the quiet day, I’ll be nursing a small bout of man-fluenza complete with cough, and cooking something (hopefully) tasty for Ellie. I hope you’re well, wherever you are,