Readuponit: Travel and voracious reading

This Isn't The Way It Was Supposed to Turn Out

2008-05-15T07:49:00.002-04:00

What kind of country are we to be? This question was posed to me last night in a profound column by Thomas Frank, titled "Our Great Economic U-Turn," in the WSJ.

Thomas began the story by stating some of the stark economic facts that begin to define our society in 2008: The top hedge fund manager in 2007 earned a $3.7 billion, yes billion. The real hourly wages for workers have risen a mere 1 percent since 1979. Americans now clock more hours per year than any other country, even Japan, productivity is up 60 % yet wages are stagnant.

Health insurance continues to be a nightmare for just about everyone except state employees, and pension plans are becoming a relic. The column went on, following the downward spiral that the working man's world in the USA has become. It made me angry, and then sad, and then worried about my kids' futures.

It's been said a million times that this country is tilted toward the super rich. I meet travel agents who cater to them, I meet landscapers who 'only do high end,' I meet financial advisors who only want to work with the top earners. Everyone is chasing the 'whales' and even our president is pushing to make permanent the tax cuts that help the richest be richer.

But it isn't good, Thomas says. It is a plutocracy and we ought to be talking about it, and asking these three people who are running for president to address wealth inequity. And universal health insurance. And real mass transit, and rights for workers, who are on sad treadmills with little hope that things will improve.

Thomas talks about those who voted for Reagan. Yes, they wanted us to stand tall as a country, yes they wanted the government regulators off our backs. But did they want a banker's utopia? Did they, or we, want America to turn into a place with this kind of disparity?

Saying Good Bye to a Wonderful Gal

2008-05-14T12:45:00.004-04:00

This morning we said good bye to a wonderful member of our cafe staff. Liz Bagley is moving to British Colombia, and is today picking up a puppy to join her on her long drive west.

I wrote her a note of appreciation and inside I slipped two VIP passes for two night stays at any Red Roof Inn. I Figured that with this 3000 mile journey she'll need a place to stay en route.

People in the cafe business come and go. That's what everybody says when I lament about losing a good one like Liz. But what I have found out after more than two years here is that people do leave and then people who are working below them rise up.

Now we are bringing Samantha back as manager and Jesse will be our assistant manager. Both of these women will step up and cover all of the bases...I will let them manage with a free-hand and give them all of the tools they need to succeed.

He Translates the Scribbles from Bloods and Crips

2008-05-13T21:16:00.002-04:00

Nick Cotto speaks gang. His story was featured on Masslive on Sunday, this former military man who can read the writing on the wall. The writing scrawled by gang members, that he says warns of bad things to come and battles to be waged.

He took a reporter on a tour of graffitti scared walls, in seedy back alleys in Springfield. He pointed to the words that meant one gang was after another. "BK" for example, means Blood Killer. The two gangs around the city are the Crips and the Bloods, so someone here was praising a killer of the other guys.

Then the big dis....a writer crossed out blood and wrote 'slob.' The reverse would be if a blood crossed out crip and wrote 'crab.' That's a big diss, and to some of these guys, that is a reason to shoot.

Celtic Paul Pierce recently flashed a gang symbol across the Boston Garden to the opposing bench, according to Cotto. He held his index finger and thumb forming a circle with the other fingers straight out. That meant 'blood up.' said the gang expert.

The photo in the story shows a six-point star, and nearby, the number 5 is written upside down. That's another diss. Both of these mean that someone is being threatened, says Cotto. When you see gang graffiti, you don't have to run the other way...just be warned that there might be trouble coming soon.

In a Saudi Desert, Thoughts Turn to Romance

2008-05-12T14:37:00.001-04:00

The New York Times ran a story today that showed that love in Saudi Arabia is as arid and barren as the desert that surrounds the people there. Two cousins talk about romance in the safety of a remote desert outpost. Let's listen in.

“I am a romantic person,” he said. “There is no romance.”

What Nader meant was that Saudi traditions do not allow for romance between young, unmarried couples. There are many stories of young men and women secretly dating, falling in love, but being unable to tell their parents because they could never explain how they knew each other in the first place. One young couple said that after two years of secret dating they hired a matchmaker to arrange a phony introduction so their parents would think that was how they had met.

Now, in the desert, Nader’s candor set Enad off.

“He thinks that there is no romance. How is there no romance?” Enad said, his eyes bulging as he grew angry. “When you get married, be romantic with your wife. You want to meet a woman on the street so you can be romantic?”

Nader was intimidated, and frightened. “No, no,” he said.

“Convince me then that you’re right,” Enad shot back.

“I am saying there is no romance,” Nader said, trying to push back.

Enad did not relent, berating his cousin.

Under his breath, Nader said, “Enad knows everything.”

Then he folded. “Fine, there is romance,” he said, and got up and walked away, flushed and embarrassed.

A Final Thought About Sardinia's Kidnapping Biz

2008-05-11T18:21:00.001-04:00

On our final day of this trip to Sardinia, we took advantage of a long layover to take a train into Rome, where we had pizzas at the Campo dei Fiori. It was lovely sitting under umbrellas eating margherita pizzas and not having any wine, since last week had been so full of fine wine--and how many days in a row can you gulp down wine at lunch and dinner? I had reached my limit and was happy to have a Coke with my anchovy pie.

Before I left for this trip, my wise old friend Ed told me over lunch that I should be careful...I was entering a wild land where kidnapping is common. He added that many of the criminals send pieces of victim's ears to reinforce their demands for ransoms. "I'm not kidding," he said, "It's real."

A woman we met from the Tourism board in Calgiari scoffed when I brought this up at dinner the first night. "That's like me being afraid to drive by a school in the US, because someone might shoot at me." she said there was nothing to fear.

Then as we drove in the bus toward a national park on the eastern side of the island called Supramonte, our guide pointed to a little town. "This is a wild place, the capital of kidnapping. There have been two kidnappings this year, but it's not as bad as they say."

So I had to give my old pal Ed credit, he was right, there are still kidnappings on this wild island. But I don't think they are targeting journalists or tour operators, so we've escaped unharmed and lived to tell the tale.

Moore's 'Sicko' Gently Shows Us a Better Way

2008-05-10T21:53:00.004-04:00

I remember trying to rent Michael Moore's "Bowling for Colombine" at a video store here in Holyoke, and the clerk told us that they wouldn't carry the movie. It was censorship, and too bad for them, since they've gone out of business, like many other video stores.

Tonight through the magic of NetFlix, we rented his latest film, "Sicko" and it was poignant and very well crafted. I felt in the past with 'Bowling," and '9/11' that he is a snarky, knee-jerk kind of liberal who throws together lots of footage to try to hit you over the head to make his point.

But with this film, he simply shows the viewer what's out there, and contrasts it with our health care system. Seeing the ease with which patients get care in France, the UK, Canada and in Cuba makes me wonder...like many people I'm sure, what is wrong with us here?

I was actually jealous of the lives depicted in the movie, especially when he interviews a bunch of expats in a French cafe. Combine five to six weeks of paid vacation, free university, free medical care, unlimited sick days, and a longer life expectancy with the beauty and sensuality of France, and by God, it makes me wonder what I am doing here. Well at least I am going to France in a few weeks, if only for a week-long trip. But it seems that the French and many other people just have better priorities than we do. If that means fewer super-rich health executives and doctors, well that's good!

But the story of people who battle the HMOs and the bureaucrats were told simply, mostly in the sufferer's own words, and this made the film really work. And when Moore sends a check for $12,000 to help out a guy who runs an anti-Michael Moore website with his wife's medical bills, that made me realize that this guy is fighting for a just and right cause, and the bombastic approach of his other films has given way to a more human approach. And I hope that people see this film and like the French, make their voices heard.

What's The Best Thing About a Real Estate Recession?

2008-05-10T08:08:00.005-04:00

While Kent enjoys dining beneath Frank Gehry-designed buildings in Dusseldorf, I am enjoying time at our comfy home in Holyoke. Here I got a chance to stay up a bit late reading a story in the WSJ about how the real estate drop is helping out conservation causes. It's the green lining of the sour real estate sector.

It turns out that many large developments that have been bitterly opposed by preservation groups are now becoming massive conservation schemes, since funding from banks is drying up. The photo in the paper showed an aerial shot of a gorgeous green and blue arc, the coast of Oahu's north shore, that was once the place where a massive resort was to be built.

It's nearly all green and undeveloped, and by God, now it will stay that way, since Oaktree Capital Management has thrown in the towel on their plan to build a mega-resort with five new hotels and condos. It was bitterly opposed by Hawaiians for years, and, after they missed a $687,000 payment, they've taken up the governor's offer to preserve the land. That's what I call progress!

It's also happening in Oregon, and Groton, MA, and in many other states. In Oregon, a 27-acre parcel was added to an existing park for a 20% lower price. And in Massachusetts a developer abandoned plans to develop a 360-acre farm, and the town will now keep the land as open space.

Stephan Neveleff, who had planned to build on an oceanfront parcel in New Smyrna, FL in 2005 was happy to get in touch with the Trust for Public Land. His plan to build 23 condos was scuttled and now the land will become a park at a loss of between $300 and $400,00. "It's just time to move on to something else," he said

Sometimes Writing Is Easy...and Fun

2008-05-09T07:56:00.004-04:00

Last night I had a lot of fun writing my article about Huntington Beach--Surf City USA. That surprised me, because as any of the many writers who read this blog know, writing is not usually fun. It's a chore, it's a pain, and it's something we keep saying we'll get around to and some times turns into an obligation that hangs around your neck like a millstone.

But last night was different. I was researching Dean Torrance, of Jan & Dean, learning about the 20 million records they sold, and the way he helped Brian Wilson improve the lyrics of his greatest hit, "Surf City USA." My trip there was brief but it made an interesting story, with my surfing lesson and my long lunch with Dean. The city sparkles with that California sunlight, and the beaches are wide and out on the break, the surfers wait with bobbing dolphins.

Today I'll finish this up, and email a link to Wendy Haase, who set up the visit for me. It will be a great relief to see that story posted on our front page, with a little surfing photo as a 'thumbnail'. Now I've only got one more due, about Melbourne, which will no doubt be finished soon, if I can manage to enjoy writing it as much as this story.

Want a Slightly Wet, New Mazda? Tough Luck

2008-05-07T17:42:00.000-04:00

A few months ago I read a fascinating article in Wired about the Cougar Ace, a freighter that was disabled and sank two years ago with nearly 5000 new Mazda automobiles inside. The story focused on the team of rugged salvagers who managed to refloat the vessel and save it.

But what happened to those cars? On Neatorama, I found out the answer, from an article in the WSJ on April 29. Despite pleas from movie makers who wanted to blow them up, schools who wanted to use the cars for shop classes and other people who just wanted a really cheap new car, they decided to crush all 4703 of them in Portland Oregon recently.

They blew up all of the airbags with detonators and drained, gutted squished and shredded each shiny new Mazda 3 that came up from the airtight hull of the Cougar Ace. It turned out that fears of being sued trumped any good will gestures they might have considered in disposing of the cars.

Ford, Mazda's parent company, "also worried that scammers might find a way to spirit the cars abroad to sell as new. That happened to thousands of so-called "Katrina cars" salvaged from New Orleans' flooding three years ago. Those cars -- their electronics gone haywire and sand in the engines -- were given a paint job and unloaded in Latin America on unsuspecting buyers, damaging auto makers' reputations."

The company did manage to salvage the valuable catalytic converters but they punctured all of the new tires, and sliced the alloy rims in two, to make sure nobody tried to resell them. The rest of the vehicles become pieces of metal no bigger than an ashtray, headed back to Asia where they will be remade--into new cars.

An Awful Bite of Lamprey, or Gamey Brown Bear

2008-05-06T21:39:00.005-04:00

We were excited the other day when we got an email from a producer of the Travel Channel's "Bizarre Foods". He asked us about Ethiopian cuisine, since they were doing research for an upcoming show.

Since we had just published a wonderful article by Matthew Keady about a bike trip through the country, we replied with some links and our friend Marie Javins also got in touch with them about her experiences a few years back eating in Ethiopia.

Tonight I watched the show's host Andrew Zimmern dig into a small piece of marinated lamprey eel, while in St. Petersburg Russia. After a small nibble, he described the fish as 'really bad, with an ammonia after taste.' It was refreshing to see this big barrel chested guy actually admit that something was awful.

Then he was served a patty made of brown bear, which is a common menu item all over this city. Funny, thinking of these huge carnivores as a common food. They make it like meatloaf and it has this sort of mineral type of aftertaste that the host said was 'common in large animals.'

To drink on the street, St Petersburg residents like to drink very weak beer,from a portable keg that vendors pour drinks out of, charging just 25 cents a glass. It's 1-2 percent alcohol, they call it 'children's beer.'

We hope that this Travel Channel producer deems our advice on Ethiopia worthy of mention, either in the credits or on their website. It's always fun to hear from television shows, who seem to find us the way many others do...on Google searches.

The Bumpy Bikepath Is Finally Getting Fixed

2008-05-05T16:05:00.003-04:00

I read today some fantastic news for those of us who enjoy riding our bikes on bike paths. Someone is finally doing something about the ridiculously bumpy Northampton to Amherst Norwottuck Rail Trail. Today's Gazette had the story by Nick Grabbe.

Originally, the path was built using recycled glass....sounds like a good idea, and as my cousin Steve joked, "it must have come from some guy with a ponytail." Craig Della Penna, local bike path guru, said that the current trail has seen fewer than half of the original users because of the annoying bumps. That recycled glass is visible on sunny days and the shards come up and puncture bike tires. No, that wasn't a good idea at all, thought the guy in the ponytail after so many people complained about their tires. Now crews use blowers to blow away the shards every week.

Crews will level out the bumps and in 2009, bids will go out to resurface the whole 8.5 mile long trail. One thing for certain, says the Mass Highway Dept, they'll never try to mix glass in again.

A Shepherd Turns a Spit in Supramonte

2008-05-03T17:11:00.004-04:00

Today we got a chance to see the breadth of this huge island, the sweeping interior that is barely covered with civilization even though man has walked these hills and valleys for more than 6,000 years. Actually it was probably longer, since that only takes into account as far back as the Phoenicians, and somebody was likely to already be living here when they arrived.

The drive from the east coast to the tip of the far northwest was across a giant-sized valley. The sweep of the green fields, cut up broadly by stone fences, and punctuated by a surprising number of small extinct volcanoes, was breathtaking in how far you could see. Many of the little farm buildings we saw were abandoned, and some of the hills had the small conicle buildings that were once dwellings before even the Romans lived here.

Today's highlight was meeting a shepherd who lives way up on top of a hill in the Supramonte mountain range. We boarded four jeeps and drove up a rugged trail to the top, where this man has lived for decades, with no wife, just 70 sheep. A long wooden table was prepared for our large group, and strong local wine was served in pitchers, in front of our wooden plates. Sheep's milk ricotta with rosemary honey was the first treat, made that morning, and served on the wafer-thin bread found all over Sardinia. Then the salamis and the proscuitto, and then fresh sliced tomatoes...but inside a little conicle hut, the shepherd was busy.

He was turning a little spit and roasting two suckling pigs just for us. Deliciously creamy with crispy fat and tender lean meat, the pork treat came out right after the sliced fennel, and more of that tempting ricotta from a large deep pan. The setting was under bamboo reeds, and the views of the valley and the dramatic rocks above us were spectacular. A gorgeous sunny day, the buzz from that strong wine, and time to relax with a digestif...ahh, this was the pleasure that we knew we would eventually find on this big wild island of Sardinia.

Tomorrow we leave so early that we will be in Trastavere, Rome's famous neighborhood, by nine am. This hotel is gorgeous with a front row view of the inlet from the Mediterrenean. We got here at about 9:30 pm and will leave before the sun comes up...but no worries, as we are still thinking about that great mountain lunch with the lonely shepherd.

Here's a Place to Stay That Won't Break the Bank

2008-05-03T03:03:00.006-04:00

This is the Hotel Arathena, a jewel in the Costa Smerelda town of San Pantaleo. While many of the fancy hotels that line the beaches go for $500 or $700 per night, this gorgeous place is just $70-140 euros per night including breakfast and dinner.

It's light and airy, and the restaurant called Trattoria Balbacana served up some of the best food we had the whole trip. The beach is just ten minutes down a winding road, and there's a cute pool up on top of this staircase.

Roman's Yacht at Costa Smerelda

2008-05-03T02:49:00.005-04:00

Ugh...you know that sinking feeling when you wake up later than you meant to? We are staying in a four star hotel on the fancy schmancy Costa Smerelda...where Roman Abramovich's yacht (one of them anyway, a mere 300 feet) bobs in the harbor.

Yet we don't get a wake-up call and now Cindy is rushing to get all of her morning preparations done and still squeeze in some breakfast. Oh the tyranny of a multi-stop press trip with early wake-ups and dinners that go on until 1 am. But in true GoNOMAD fashion, we aren't complaining, no way! At least I've got a little time here in the sunny courtyard to blog, my favorite hobby.

This is the Gold coast, a place where people like Vladimir Putin have giant mansions, and the new President of Italy Berlusconi owns seven villas. It's spectacular the way that Amalfi is, with same dramatic cliffs and winding roads. Yet the rocks are more barren, more moon-like. The views of the water include these very large yachts, giant vessels that must be owned by sultans and shieks, not just rich dudes.

Today we travel inland, toward the other coast to Alghero, where we will jump into jeeps to see some of the territory a little closer up. An island of this size (just about as big as Sicily) with just 1.6 million people spread out over vast areas leaves a lot of room for sweeping views and giant spaces with no civilization. It's magnificent in its breadth and scope, to someone like me who is used to crowded New England...where there are few things I'd call sweeping or panoramic.

Meeting the Patriarch at Argiolas Winery

2008-05-02T13:17:00.007-04:00

Antonio Argriolas is the patriarch of one of Sardinia's largest winemakers, of the same name. We met this 101-year-old sprite during our visit to the winery. Since 1937 he's lead the company and now is the retired chairman.

He said he drinks a glass of his wine every day, and that plus Sardinia's good air is what he attributes to his long life. His grand daughter Valentina runs the day-to-day operations, where they have a cooking school and a large winery.

Before we left for our trip, we met a woman named Susan who told us about a wine she had discovered at a local restaurant. It was Costamolino, and in fact it was a product of this winery.

Antonio was clearly pleased to meet all of the nice women in our group, and was very proud as he posed for hundreds of photos with his granddaughter. Even though he could not see the visiting journalists clearly, as they kissed his cheeks you could tell he was enjoying the deserving adoration from the Americani.

Varoom, Varoom at Forte Village on Sardinia

2008-05-02T12:59:00.003-04:00

Where can you ride a speedy go-kart around a track built to resemble a real F1 track? And skate on a real ice skating rink, play soccer under the lights, dine in 32 restaurants, or stay either on the oceanfront, or in a more intimate hotel setting?

Hint, you won't have to drive anywhere, because it's all in the self-contained Forte Village, an all-inclusive resort on Sardinia's coast.

We got the tour and saw rooms that start at 700 euros per person per night, (that includes all meals and many of the best amenities) right up to 6,500 euros for the beachfront suites which look out over the beautiful Mediterranean.

This place might not be for everyone, but for the person who wants to avoid any driving, have a place for the kids to have fun, and enjoys lots of sports activities and a variety of restaurants and different lodging options, it might be great. Oh, and another great and unusual thing for Italy--they have free Wi-Fi throughout the property.

VIPs Enjoying the Parade in Cagliari

2008-05-02T04:18:00.006-04:00

Riccardo Strano, Luisa Anna Depau, head of Sardinian Tourism, and the Mayor of Cagliari, enjoying the parade.

Youngest Parade Member in Cagliari

2008-05-02T04:03:00.000-04:00

For 350 Years, This Parade Has Been the Highlight of Cagliari

2008-05-02T03:52:00.004-04:00

Last night we had a late dinner and while we sat at long tables, we learned a bit more about the festival and parade that we had seen in Cagliari earlier in the day. For 350 years this has been a very important event that takes place the first day of May.

Riccardo Strano, head of Italian Tourism North America, became quite animated when he spoke about how unique this festival was, throughout the Mediterreanean, and talked about the legends that drive the whole affair. It meant a lot to him that Americans wanted to know about the parade's origins and traditions.

"The procession, the horses, they all go out to Nora," he said. Nora is about 4 kilometers out of the city proper and is a site of ancient ruins by the sea. "They ride out there and then, on the way back home, the horses gallop as fast as they can. It's a spectacular sight!"

This parade features elaborate costumes and gold jewelry that is all owned by the families, kept in special places and authentic right down to their shoes. Each village wears its own unique style, a conical hat, or a swept back beret. Of the more than 350 villages in Sardinia, just 150 are selected each year to be a part of the parade, and have their oxcarts and horses march before the thousands of cheering local citizens.

One man is made the honorary mayor, (pictured) and gets to have his powers for just the day of the parade. He wears the ceremonial sash, and is an important fixture in the parade.

But the most important part of the parade is the wooden box that holds a figure of Christ, into which the archbishop places flowers in front of the dignataries in the stands. This is where the crush of film and video cameras created a vortex of papparazzi energy, everyone thrashing to get their lens into that perfect shot. All over the street rose petals blanketed the pavement, as the important carriage and the horses and the costumed locals made their way past us.

Sardinian Street Scene

2008-05-01T02:13:00.001-04:00

This dog was taking good care of its charges as we visited Phoenician ruins in the center of Sardinia yesterday.

Trying out the 50-foot Diet in Orroli, Sardinia

2008-04-30T17:52:00.006-04:00

Imagine eating an entire dinner that all came from within 50 feet from your house. In the US, we pat ourselves on the back for the 100-mile diet, and it's hard to do even that. But tonight we met a family that runs a museum, a farm, and a restaurant in central Sardinia where everything they serve comes from their own land and their own hands.

Agostina Vargiu and his 79-year-old mom plus various staff and other family welcomed us with a glass of fruity white wine served from ceramic pitchers as we walked up the cobblestoned driveway in the town of Orroli, near the middle of this large island. It's called OmuAxiu, and it is a memorable place to spend the night or just a few hours over a long dinner.

We had toured the ancient ruins of the Nuraghi, bronze age towers built by the Phoenicians and decapitated by the Romans, who feared that the strategic turrets would serve someone else's defense needs. These are located on windswept plains with miles of views of distant mountains. Carefully constructed without mortar, we shared this dramatic site with a hoard of about 100 teenagers, who were interested in talking to us about their favorite musicians (Genesis).

The town of Orroli has just 2700 residents, and boasts an amazing 35 citizens over the age of 100. So when we met the matriarch of the Vargiu family, who was celebrating her 79th birthday, we knew she was just getting warmed up. After touring their museum with ancient farm implements, including a Bubba brand tractor from 1918, we parked ourselves in their cellar for the meal. Like so many great foods, it was the simplicity that made it so delicious--roasted eggplant and fennel, redolent of sweet apple, crusty breads and a thinner bread spread with bruschetta, and thin homemade pasta and proscuitto and salamis with their own red wine. We stopped by a little store and bought a uniquely Sardinian pasta called Fregula, little balls that look like giant cous-cous but cook up like pasta. These were also in the farm's pasta course.

Then came the carne, veal chunks and pieces of roasted wild boar. We toasted our host and hostesses when they came out to say hello, and sang happy birthday to the smiling matriarch in Italian. During dinner a woman who's originally from Guyana told us the harrowing details she learned about the only thing people think about when they hear this country's name--the Jonestown massacre of 1979.

There is nothing that I enjoy better than fascinating conversation over delicious food, and the company of those with knowledge to share and curiosity about the world they travel in. A fine night indeed!

Nora Treats Us to a Glimpes of The Past

2008-04-30T02:31:00.003-04:00

We packed a lot into yesterday, but the highlight was Nora. She is an old gal who lives by the sea, a Phoenician-Roman ruins site that was once a well defended coastal town. Now these ruins show the levels of ancient civilizations, layer over layer, and as you walk by the former forum, or the home of the patrician, you can imagine life inside these tiny rooms that are just shells now.

The pounding sea made a calming background noise as we toured around the former town at the tip of land sticking out just east of the city of Caligiari. After cocktails and dinner with lots of the excellent Sardinian wines, we were regaled by a band that included a giant mandolin and a curious reed instrument with three reeds played at once. The backdrop was a 10 foot screen showing scenes in nature of the wild interior of Sardinia....it was quite a site combined with these five musicians to see the beauty and rough hewn cliffs that border this large island.

Today we get more of a peek into Sardinian ways of life and meet some of the people who make the wine and create the menus we have been enjoying during our stay.

The Little Piggies Roasted at the Monastery for Us

2008-04-29T01:55:00.003-04:00

We finally reached the island at about 7 pm, after more than 24 hours of travel and waiting. The group is a nice collection of journalists and tour operators, a large contingent of about 40 or so, all here for the Italy Symposium, where Sardinian tourism potential will be the topic.

We had a few hiccups when we go to the hotel, I immediately plugged in my power strip and the room turned all dark. We got up and moved to another room and boom, it happened again. Maybe I should not use that surge protector after all. But we managed to put on our nice clothes and were taken to a former monastery where an elegant banquet awaited us. A man was cooking little pigs on a rotisserie fire and there were abundant paper cones filled with calamari and fried vegetables.

At dinner we talked about the fate of Alitalia with a man from Eurofly who knew a lot about the inside of the airline business. It was fascinating to hear the point of view about the union largesse, the extravagant spending, and how important this carrier is to tourism in Italy. He said that since most passengers using Alitalia stay in Italy, the carrier is very important to the overall tourism economy, more than with other country's flag carriers.

With Air France, most don't stay in France, but use the airline to go to other countries.

Sardinia Awaits on Monday Morning

2008-04-26T15:26:00.005-04:00

I'm about to depart on another transatlantic adventure, this time with Cindy by my side. We fly from JFK to Rome on Sunday night and then over to the island of Sardinia, off Italy's coast. We will join a group of writers from around the US beginning Monday morning and tour the capital Cagliari and the ancient city of Olbia. We will even attend a polo match in Costa Smerelda.

We've both always wanted to see this big island that stands just south of Corsica in the Mediterranean, and it will be warm, sunny and we'll see a lot of the ocean. Cindy and I viewed some webcams of Sardinia and the familiar red roofs and emerald in the distance made us eager to board our Eurofly flight tonight at 11 pm.

While as usual, my demands here make me nervous about leaving, once again my cast of staff will handle all of their duties and I'm sure it will be ok.

Yesterday I was desperate after our sinks were clogged up and we had to get the grease trap cleaned. I had broken all of the stoppers in the sink and so I decided to ask my neighbors at Georgio's about a solution. Voila! Kirkos showed me how the top to an oil jar fits just perfectly into the bottom of the sink and keeps it plugged up better than a stopper. I love the way these guys always know the practical solution to any kitchen problem.

Again, the Parade is the Tiresome Talk of Amherst

2008-04-25T17:17:00.003-04:00

Larry Kelley isn't happy. He's the biggest booster of the Fourth of July Parade in Amherst, and he was dealt a severe blow by his nemesis, Gerald Weiss, whom he likes to refer to as 'his lordship.'

Actually it was the town Manager Larry Shaffer and Weiss plus the rest of the selectboard who decided this week that in 2009, the holiday parade be no longer be organized by private citizens. They've decided that the town will take over the job....because Larry and his friends don't want to allow anybody to carry any sign they want as they march in front of fire trucks and uniformed town and state officials. You see, their concept was that the parade was a big thank you to these 'first responders' after 9/11, and we can't have any anti-war, or anti-Bush protesters getting in the way of this solemn piety.

It seems like no big deal to me...I guess it's because I don't really like parades. But Larry has railed against the kinds of people who are likely to carry signs protesting the war in Iraq, or George Bush, and so the group organizing the parade has fought to keep those types of protesters out. But Shaffer said in the newspaper story in the Bulletin that free speech is the most important thing, so after this year, anyone can march and do anything they want.

Larry has threatened to carry an anti-Shaffer sign in 2009's parade. I'd actually drive down to Amherst to see that. The whole thing makes me happy to agree with my friend Ed, (an 20-year Amherst resident), who came to join me at the cafe for lunch today. "I love this little town," he said, as we sat outside the cafe sipping post lunch espressos, watching the busy street. 'It's a great little town, with everything you need."

Compared to Amherst with its political volleys, flag wavers and flag burners, constant bickering and arguing among officials and constituencies, sheesh, I'm glad I moved away from there when I was just 21 years old.