EUROPE DIARY
SATURDAY 15 AUGUST
Off to Tulla. Anne with newly-overhauled wheelchair, brand new solid
tyres rushed in from China. Three suitcases, three carryons.
Australian dollar continuing to plummet against everything except rouble.
Plane an hour late, then 11-hour trip unsleeping through night. Alitalia
slipping: food poor, grog stingy, coffee Nescafe.
SUNDAY 16 AUGUST
Thailand stopover. Drink ratafia and eat foie gras to the sound of
sackbuts with Chris's sister Octavia, husband Christophe, and new baby
Ondine, who is plus cute.
Wander up alley past Babylon club: “Sodom gate closed, please use Gomorrah
gate.” What did they do in Gomorrah?
MONDAY 17 AUGUST
Off to airport 5.00 AM. On the way to the airport Rose recalculates
her watch and realises that she is running an hour later than she thought
and that we are running an hour late for our flight. Is Alitalia running
an hour late this time? No, dead on time. We arrive at airport
door 5 minutes before takeoff and are whisked through the system in jigtime
(luckily nobody spoke enough English to follow our excuses, or lack of
same) and thrown on to the plane. Another eleven-hour flight.
Into city by the most unwheelchairaccessible train conceivable, incredible
discomfort and inconvenience due entirely to Chris’s attempt to save a
few dollars, an attempt in any case blown by taxidriver overcharging to
the hotel from the station. Dump cases, walk out to Bernini’s Piazza
in front of St. Peters (covered with scaffolding and screens, like practically
everything in Rome. Also all shops shut due to August). Walk
home around Vatican City, reducing Rose to paralytic tiredness and misery.
During dinner she keeps going to sleep in mid-chew.
Next: Rome
Anne McDonald
Chris Borthwick