Catania is under siege. Every half hour or so there are more explosions. The sound booms around the city, always from a slightly different direction as the action moves from street to street. For a change, however, this isn’t anything … Continue reading
The noise comes from behind me as I walk home, exhausted after a day at school battling sickness, both in the kids and in myself. There’s someone following too close. My hackles rise and I move my bag to my … Continue reading
So, I’m over at Pam’s place today. No fish this time, but there is a train journey, spilt coffee and nervous tics. Oh, and hai! While you’re over there why don’t you check out the other fab guest posters she’s … Continue reading
All men are equal before fish – Herbert Hoover I spent yesterday afternoon on the rocks. Literally. There’s a small, pebbly, black-sanded beach near me where I like to go on a sunny weekend afternoon. Four harpoon fishermen snorkelled about … Continue reading
I should have known things weren’t going to go smoothly when I arrived at Heathrow on 23 December and it took two hours for our luggage to be unloaded from the plane. I’d had qualms about checking bags in with … Continue reading
Waves crash and a faint thrumming passes through the soles of my shoes. Black basalt rocks split grey-green water, revealing its bright opaque turquoise heart. A second later, and it is frothy white, erupting over the top of the front … Continue reading
The ticket has finally been issued. Amid much ciao grazie-ing I’m off to wait for the ferry, or ‘nave’ as it’s known around these parts. At Villa you can catch three different types of ferry. The slowest, but also the … Continue reading
The distance from Calabria to Sicily is so small that you can see one from the other. The Messina Straits are, at their narrowest point, less than 2 miles wide. Unfortunately, to cross them you must jump over various fiendish … Continue reading
I’m staying in a hostel in Siracusa. It’s a couple of days before Ferragosto and the place is packed with people from all different countries: France, Germany, South Africa, England and Italy – and that’s just in my dorm. I’m … Continue reading
(This post was written a while ago, but I forgot to publish it at the time. Sorry about that. I’m catching up slowly.) All I’m aware of is a look of gape-mouthed horror on Liv’s face. However, apparently she just … Continue reading
