Far Too Big To Be Safe, Far Too Delicate To Survive

Italian Cafe
Sometimes I wish I could pack my bags up and move to a better way of life.

I’ve again caught myself thinking about living abroad today, probably because it is too cold to venture outside and too tempting to write this than do any DIY on the flat. But needless to say, I was sitting on the sofa with a proper coffee and I allowed my mind to wander. I started to think about what I would be doing right now if I was living in Italy…

It wouldn’t be that warm outside, but it would be a lot more comfortable than Britain right now. Sunday is a quiet day in Italy, a day for family, and a day of rest. Shops are shut, services are closed but the churches are open and households are preparing food. The odd café may be open, and typical me, I would have found it. I imagine I’d be sitting outside (but wearing a coat) enjoying an even more proper coffee whilst sharing conversation with a loved one.

After a while, the proprietor of the café would get anxious to join his family for the traditional multi-coursed banquet his mother so lovingly created, so we’d say our thank you’s and wander away into the beautiful and majestic city.

Or maybe we would be taking a long walk through the hillsides of Chianti, enjoying the fresh and undisturbed air as if we were the first people to have ever been here. Occasionally seeing wildlife that looks far too big to be safe, but far too delicate to survive. We would wander for hours and not see another person other than the occasional flurry of activity inside a farmhouse.

Or I could just be sitting on the sofa in my Italian apartment dreaming of what I would be doing in England right now.