I miss Italy. I miss Italy a lot. Not Italy in general - I miss the mountains from Valsugana, I miss it’s beautiful landscapes and the simple life. I miss the colours.

I miss the solitude from the time I was living in Italy.

Villa Maria, Roncegno (TN), Italy

There is a great poet from Roncegno - the small city where my family is from - named Marco Pola.

I am not good on translations, but I will try to translate this one…

La solita ora. / The same time.
La solita strada. / The same road.
L’ansia che pesa de dentro e de fòra. / The anxiousness from the inside and from the outside.
I dì che passa come na sventada. / The day that passes as a windblow.
E i dì che torna ancora. / And the days are back once again.
La solita strada. / The same road.
La solita ora. / The same time.
L’è come che i te déssa na peàda / It’s like kicking you
per farte rudolar come na bora. / making you spin as the bora.*

Desmentegar quel’ora / To forget that time
Remenga, quela strada, / Frustation, that road,
quel colp, quela peàda, / that hit, that kick,
quel rudolar come na bora… / spinning as the bora*…

*bora=cold northeast wind.

By Marco Pola. BRAVO!

Roncegno

People are talking about the credit crunch for months now, some are still losing their jobs, etc - we all know that.

But why an Economic crisis provokes so much frustration, enough to make people killing themselves? I think, the answer is the consumerism society model.

On Monday two people jumped under trains in the London underground.

BAKERLOO LINE: Suspended between Elephant & Castle and Paddington due to a person under a train at Oxford Circus. Minor delays are occurring on the rest of the line.

CENTRAL LINE: Severe delays on Central Line due to person under a train earlier at Bethnal Green.

Then yesterday, it happened again…

CENTRAL LINE: Suspended between Leytonstone and Marble Arch, with severe delays occurring on the rest of the line due to a person under a train at Liverpool Street.

And in the beginning of the crisis I remember a british millionaire killed his family - and pets, including dogs and horses - then burned down the house and killed himself. Apparently the reason was his company had gone into liquidation and the pressure of it was too much for him.

When I was in high school, I remember reading about mass consumption and I was surprised to see that suicide rates are higher during the x-mas period. Propaganda all over the city telling us to buy, because it’s x-mas! and because of the credit crunch, stores are reducing prices even before x-mas. You cannot miss it! Buy, buy, buy!

There is pressure to have money to buy things and frustration comes when we cannot fulfill our consumerism expectations. Some are more affected than others but in the end it’s impossible not to feel touched by this necessity of buying, particularly on x-mas time when we face this ritualistic behavior.

Some say it’s quite common to see people under trains in the UK - they say not a day goes past without somewhere, at least one person a day, jump under a train. Even though I still believe suicide rates are higher during x-mas period.

It’s not that common to see two suicides in the same day. Would be nice to find statistics about it…

Last night I went to the British Film Institute to see an on stage interview with Ralph Fiennes. He was receiving the Variety UK Achievement in Film Award as part of the London Film Festival celebrations.

I’ve been a big fan of Ralph since I was much younger, since I saw him in the movie Wuthering Heights playing Heathcliff, one of my favourite novel characters.

“I pray one prayer, I repeat it till my tongue stiffens. Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living! You said I killed you, haunt me, then!… Be with me always, take any form, drive me mad, only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you!… I cannot live without my life. I cannot live without my soul.”
Heathcliff’s quote for Wuthering Heights

If I could resume why I like him so much, I would say: I love his intensity and he is the finest gentlemen in every situation - LOL at least, in my fantasy he is.

Back to yesterday’s celebration, Ralph said one of the most delightful person he has ever worked with was Juliette Binoche because of the intensity of her performance - they worked together in the movie Wuthering Heights and in The English Patient.

He mentioned István Szabó several times, as Sunshine was definitely one of his favourite works ever.

And me… well, I felt a huge connection with him yesterday, because Sunshine is one of my favourite movie as well, I would say it is on my Top 5 list. I think it is divine being able to feel how good the movie is when the actor is really in love with the character and enthusiastic about the work in general.

If wasn’t for Ralph mentioning them, nobody would, as they were talking about his most known movies such as Harry Potter, The Constant Gardener, Schindler’s List and The English Patient. I like those movies as well, but not as much as I love Sunshine, Wuthering Heights and Onegin.

Ralph Fiennes (right) being interviewed at the NFT during the LFF. I shoot this picture!

In the end of the celebration we could watch a special trailer (15′) that is from one of the last Ralph Fiennes’ movies, The Reader. The film is from 2008 and it is in post-production stage.

I don’t need to say I am looking forward to see it in the big screen!

Last Friday I went to the Head conference with Gui. It’s a web conference and I really had fun!

I loved Simon Wardley’s presentation and his LOL cats slides! By the way, he loves ducks.

I also enjoined Tim O’Reilly, it’s incredible how I felt inspired by him, even if I am an Economist!

I took this quote from Chris Heilmann’s presentation, another great one!

The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.

Unfortunatelly I don’t have many pictures of new places I visited in the City during my lunchtime so I am not posting every day.

Yesterday I went to a small green area in Aldermanbury. I thought it was just a little green square but indeed it is the St Mary Aldermanbury church, better saying the footprint of the church that no longer exists.

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire, then rebuilt and destroyed again during the Blitz, leaving only the walls, that were transported away and the church was not rebuilt again.

The footprint of the church remains in the City, planted with bushes and trees and I had lunch in this place yesterday.

The gardens house a monument to Henry Condell and John Heminges, key figures in the production of the First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays and co-partners with him in the Globe Theatre.

They lived in the St. Mary Aldermanbury parish and were buried in its churchyard. This monument is topped with a bust of Shakespeare.

The First Folio, Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories. & Tragedies is the first published collection of William Shakespeare’s plays. It was prepared in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare’s death.

“We have but collected
them, and done an
office to the dead…
without ambition either
of felfe-profit, or fame:
onely to keepe the
memory of fo worthy
a Friend, & Fellow alive,
as was our Shakespeare”

John Heminges
Henry Condell

The footprint of the church remains in the City, planted with bushes and trees.

Henry Condell and John Heminges were buried in its churchyard.

I was having my lunch near to the Royal Exchange in London on Monday when a reporter came to me and asked for an interview as I work in the City.

Here is the final video.

Today I went to a little charming garden near St. Paul’s Cathedral and had lunch there.

The cathedral is very imponent and was a target during the Blitz.

A time-delayed bomb that had struck the cathedral was successfully defused and removed by a Bomb Disposal detachment of Royal Engineers. Had this bomb detonated, it would have totally destroyed the Cathedral, as it left a 100-foot (30 m) crater when it was later remotely detonated in a secure location.

Impressive, isn’t it?

The little green garden is hidden among Cannon St., Watling St., and New Change.

The Cathedral was a target during the Blitz.

Today I had lunch in Finsbury Circus Garden.

London’s first public park is Finsbury Circus Garden. Unlike many other squares in London this one is elliptical, and in the centre is a bowling green.

There is plenty of seating area around the bowling green so I made use of it.

You will see marvelous buildings around Finsbury Circus, surround the oval square.

The bowling green was laid in 1904.

There are marvelous buildings around Finsbury Circus.

Graceful curved terraces.

It’s been quite a long time I decided cycling to work…. and I am doing great!

Doesn’t matter if it’s sunny, rainy, windy or cold - I cycle to work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Just the beginning, 3 time per week, to start getting in shape. Then, I hope I will be able to cycle to work every day.

Let’s see when the winter comes, if I don’t change my mind…

Me and my bike Josephine, cycling to work on Monday.

I was on my way to one of all the same restaurants in the City. It’s raining a lot today, a classic British day. I picked a sandwich, something to drink and start looking for a table – as usual, they were all occupied. Then, I found a place to sit near two ladies and asked if I could sit there. As they said “yes”, a woman came from nowhere and said she was queuing and the place was hers, while talking on the mobile.

And I started my search for a free table again when the lady talking on the mobile came to me and invited me to sit with her. So I did. What was unexpected is that she started chatting with me – quite uncommon in London, people share lunch tables and say not a word.

She asked “are you from Poland?” I don’t know why everyone thinks I am Polish - she was not the first one to ask. I said “no, I am from Italy”. Then she started speaking Italian and said she’d been to Rome.

What a nice chat we had! I was telling her I lived in Brazil all my life when she picked a piece of paper and started singing Corcovado, which lyrics were in the paper. She actually sings pretty nice. What a wonderful voice! She is Yuki Umiguchi and gave me her card so I can go and see her singing some evening at Olivers’ or Café Posk.

I had to leave and go back to work, still raining. Before going back to the Office, I entered in the St. Mary-le-Bow church, off Cheapside. My project of taking pictures of the City during my lunchtime must go on!

The original church had been there since before the Normans arrived, and under that name. It is famous for the Bow bells. A medieval version of the church had been destroyed in 1091 by one of the earliest recorded tornadoes in Britain. Then, the church of St. Mary-le-Bow was destroyed again in the Great Fire, in 1666 and rebuilt in 1671-1673. The bells were destroyed again in 1941 in The Blitz, before they were replaced in 1961.

According to tradition, a true Cockney is someone born within earshot of the Bow Bells as early as 1600. Cockney is an expression for working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End. In the past, the bells could also be heard from as far away as Highgate! Nowadays, the modern traffic noise makes it unlikely that many people would be born within earshot of the bells anymore.

The crypt of St. Mary-Le-Bow is from the 11th-century and if you go downstairs you will find a vegetarian restaurant, The Place Below – I have plans to go there someday.

St. Mary-le-Bow church, off Cheapside.

The crypt.