Mini missive from Firenze (Florence)

Hi All,

Am 30!

Currently sitting in internet cafe prior to catching the bus to Siena for a day out. So far have been to Pisa, Lucce and Florence (where we are currently holed up in a very nice place indeed!)

Yesterday was spent cycling round Chianti with Keith (Irish) and Andy (Scottish) - for some reason Italians dont feel up to running bike tours themselves... Was very pleasant - we got to taste award winning wine and olive oil along the way made by a Count and Countess no less! (Not of the vampiric variety we have been assured) A fair portion of the days entertainment was provided by Andy who is possibly the most blatant of chat-up merchants I have ever seen in operation.

Sample quotes:

This way people this way - and American blondes can sit just here...
Everybody in the van - girls you sit next to me
So Keith, the story is they dont like me very much but they do care for you. You talk them round and we'll see what we can do next...

Re-reading all of this makes his actions seem somewhat worrying. But the fact that each utterance was made in possibly the strongest Scottish accent known to mankind meant that the Americans (which was basically everyone apart from us) were putty in his hands... Very entertaining from a watchers point of view!

The leaning tower of Pisa still leans I can assure you. Lisette and I climbed it and surveyed the view (at an angle). Was great. Seems smaller than I remember it but the last time I visited it I was about 2 feet shorter I suppose.

See you all soon people!

love John and Lisette

Lurking close to Keith and Andy

Comments

Be ye here

Working out where to go on holiday has always seemed like slightly hard work. How do you choose? Do we go to Italy? We've been before. Do we go to France? They'll only want us to wear Speedos at the swimming pool. So where shall we go? We were delighted when we discovered a friend in Belfast, who had recently had a baby, would be up for a visit. A mutual friend of ours, was also planning a trip back to Ireland from where he lives. We've known each other for 25 years now, and have travelled before as a group. Why not get the band back together and spend some time in Ireland this summer? That was the thought, and so the Reilly family made plans. Passage was booked on the Liverpool to Belfast ferry. Grandma Reilly kindly leant her car to the Twickenham Reillys, so that myself, Lisette and the boys could roll Northwards and over the Irish Sea to Ireland. We were leaving an English summer that was that rarest of things: warm and sunny. The week before we'd left, Twicke...

Cable Cars and Credit Cards

I proferred the binbag. "All the rubbish; in here please". Conor turned to his right, "Una, will you climb in now?" Una grinned and mimed throwing objects into the sack. "There's my hopes and dreams right there Conor." Conor, Una, Lisette and I have known each other for half our lives. Well; Conor's not quite there - he's the elder statesman of our group. We met when we were working for British Airways as students, and living in Hounslow's finest dodgy digs. Since that time we've been scattered to the four winds; Una to Ireland, Conor to Switzerland. Lisette and I, well, maybe 3 miles tops to Twickenham. In seeking a mutual meeting place we found ourselves reaching for the logistically logical location: Italy. (I know; like a stepladder where you least expect it.) In keeping with how we first got to know one another, luxury accomodation was not our priority. We decided to camp. Can there be a fuller way to challenge your fear of...

Father's Day Advice

When I was 16 years old, my father gave me a piece of advice that dramatically changed me. His advice changed my interactions with the world. I rather doubt he thought it would have such impact, but change me it did. Having finished my mandatory schooling, I had recently started attending sixth form college. I was taking A-levels in Maths, Computer Science and Economics. I found I took to the former 2 subjects like a duck to water. They weren't a struggle, they were interesting and I had a natural aptitude. For want of a better phrase, I could "do it". However, Economics was a different kettle of fish. It did not fit in my head. I could not grok it. I sat there, in lesson after lesson, listening hard to Terri Wilcox explaining Keynes, Monetarism, supply and demand. Occasionally she deviated and talked about her beloved Blackburn Rovers. It did not go in. Not the Economics and certainly not the football. At the end of each sentence uttered I found myself more bewilder...

Reillys on Tour

Search This Blog