O waly waly ...
Oct. 27th, 2003 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lollardfishFor those confused by the subject heading, it's an alternate title for a pretty folk song that goes, "The water is wide, I cannot cross o'er, and neither have I wings to fly ..."
So the water was high today, higher than I have ever seen it before. I slept a bit late (it's monday!) and did a little shopping at the bread, veggie, meat, and wine stores (in that order. Wine is heavier, though sold in water bottles) so that I'd have food for the next few days, then headed to the library to spend the day with Andrea Dandolo (he died around 1354). And oh my ... the streets to the north of the Piazza San Marco were three or four inches deep in water, and got worse and worse as you headed towards the piazza. I swung around and got on a platform (not wearing my waterproof shoes today, and the water was too high for anything but stivali ... wellingtons). It was the equivalent of a traffic jam, worse than anything else I've seen before. Tourists going slowly, staying in line, stopping and gawking. Venetians (and me) pushing past, trying to make some headway towards our destination, all on a platform two feet above the water, so that mistakes would mean a soaking. At one point the flow just stopped, and a Venetian got very frustrated and was saying, (in Italian) "move aside, move aside, I need to move forward!." I thought he was going to push me into the water as I pointed out, fairly roughly, in Italian, that there was just nowhere to go and he'd have to be patient for a second. Tomorrow, I am going to approach the piazza from a different direction and hope to avoid the mess.
But it was beautiful. After the ugly rain of last week, today (and much of the weekend) was just perfect. The wind and sunshine ripple across the water, and turn the whole Piazza into this lovely little lake. Children, rather than chase pigeons, jump out into the water and infuriate their parents (much to my amusement). Most Venetians, the ones who have no where to go, watch and smile. A simply beautiful day, one of those which makes me wish that this fall, this time in Venice, would never end, even if Venice is sinking.
But here comes November, and almost two months have gone by. I still have an enormous amount of work I /could/ do, really years' worth, but am trying to make smart decisions about what I /need/ to do. I've got my outline and rough introduction really pretty well worked out now, and probably won't redo them until I've written the damn thesis, and that feels really good. So now I need to fill in holes, rather than seek out new avenues of fundamental research (which are there. I even know where a lot of them are, but ... that's for the book I guess).
And today I got a care package filled with spirographs, math, and a CD with a Lemony Snicket (spelling?) book on mp3. Lemony Snicket is the first person who I know who showed up on TV one day ... it's not his real name. He writes grim and dark kid's books, and, via 'playground buzz' made a lot of sales in the last few (grim and dark) years. I expect to enjoy the novel immensly. And care packages with surprises make me feel good (hint :P).
O the water is wide, I better buy boots
So the water was high today, higher than I have ever seen it before. I slept a bit late (it's monday!) and did a little shopping at the bread, veggie, meat, and wine stores (in that order. Wine is heavier, though sold in water bottles) so that I'd have food for the next few days, then headed to the library to spend the day with Andrea Dandolo (he died around 1354). And oh my ... the streets to the north of the Piazza San Marco were three or four inches deep in water, and got worse and worse as you headed towards the piazza. I swung around and got on a platform (not wearing my waterproof shoes today, and the water was too high for anything but stivali ... wellingtons). It was the equivalent of a traffic jam, worse than anything else I've seen before. Tourists going slowly, staying in line, stopping and gawking. Venetians (and me) pushing past, trying to make some headway towards our destination, all on a platform two feet above the water, so that mistakes would mean a soaking. At one point the flow just stopped, and a Venetian got very frustrated and was saying, (in Italian) "move aside, move aside, I need to move forward!." I thought he was going to push me into the water as I pointed out, fairly roughly, in Italian, that there was just nowhere to go and he'd have to be patient for a second. Tomorrow, I am going to approach the piazza from a different direction and hope to avoid the mess.
But it was beautiful. After the ugly rain of last week, today (and much of the weekend) was just perfect. The wind and sunshine ripple across the water, and turn the whole Piazza into this lovely little lake. Children, rather than chase pigeons, jump out into the water and infuriate their parents (much to my amusement). Most Venetians, the ones who have no where to go, watch and smile. A simply beautiful day, one of those which makes me wish that this fall, this time in Venice, would never end, even if Venice is sinking.
But here comes November, and almost two months have gone by. I still have an enormous amount of work I /could/ do, really years' worth, but am trying to make smart decisions about what I /need/ to do. I've got my outline and rough introduction really pretty well worked out now, and probably won't redo them until I've written the damn thesis, and that feels really good. So now I need to fill in holes, rather than seek out new avenues of fundamental research (which are there. I even know where a lot of them are, but ... that's for the book I guess).
And today I got a care package filled with spirographs, math, and a CD with a Lemony Snicket (spelling?) book on mp3. Lemony Snicket is the first person who I know who showed up on TV one day ... it's not his real name. He writes grim and dark kid's books, and, via 'playground buzz' made a lot of sales in the last few (grim and dark) years. I expect to enjoy the novel immensly. And care packages with surprises make me feel good (hint :P).
O the water is wide, I better buy boots
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no subject
Date: 2003-10-27 10:15 pm (UTC)B
no subject
Date: 2003-10-28 02:26 am (UTC)You could also try reading his adult novel, "Watch Your Mouth" (written under his 'adult' name, Daniel Handler) - very twisted. I considered reading his first novel, "The Basic Eight", but after "Watch Your Mouth" I decided just to stick with Lemony. :) But hey... who knows, you might enjoy it.
Enjoy!
no subject
Date: 2003-10-29 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-10-29 01:49 am (UTC)Now why would Venice want to go and do that? It sounds so lovely.