January 8, 2011

  • Happy New Year!

    Happy New Year! happy 2011 is here! That's twenty-eleven by the way, not two-thousand-and-eleven... anyway...

    Yesterday I got back to Udine, after what has been a whirlwind of a holiday. After an enjoyable final week at school, I flew to London on the 23rd December. Unlike last year, the journey posed no problems. I had left plenty of contingency time which meant I had a long wait in the airport, but I'd much rather have it that way round! The flight was Easyjet Venice-London Gatwick, just like in the good old days when I was based in Trento... actually, it was slightly delayed, but not enough to have posed huge problems.  This year Mum and Dad were heading to Alex and Caroline's the same day as me and so were able to pick me up from the airport. In fact, I also had the very exciting experience of being met at the plane door by my cousin who works at Gatwick. I stepped out of the plane and there he was...obviously I wasn't expecting to see him in the slightest, so much so that I pretty much walked straight past him, before doing a double take when I realised! So that was fun anyway - got an escort through the airport out to arrivals where we met the parents.

    Christmas was lovely as usual. On Christmas Eve we tried out a different church for midnight Mass - and hit right on the most Anglo-Catholic one you can get... as the usual laugh goes, it was almost more Catholic than a Catholic church. So much for my Anglican fix before heading back to Italy. Oh well!  But, it was a lovely service anyway with some excellent singing...I do like a good carol and I had certainly missed out on them this year! 
    On Christmas Day we were joined by Caroline's brother and so were in six. Oh dear...saying "we're in six" is the Italian influence of "siamo in sei"... it does slip out occasionally! Anyway, had a lovely Christmas lunch and day, and the same on Boxing Day.

    On the 27th we had the pleasure of watching the resident urban fox in the garden... particularly musing when it decided to chase a squirrel (spot them both in the picture sequence below!)

     
    Then it was time to go to Rotterdam for the 33rd European Meeting of Young People held by the Taizé community. I set off with a small number of fellow pilgrims from the UK on the overnight Eurolines coach. The coach on the way there was interesting...the driver stopped the coach to come down and tell us that we "must close eyes", and then not long after that we arrived in Rotterdam, at 4.30am, 2 hours earlier than anticipated. With nowhere to go at that time of the morning we were forced to wait in Central Station, absolutely freezing, until we were able to travel to our welcome point. Things looked up from there though as we were hosted in a fantastic host church, by an amazing host family (a lovely couple aged 76 and 80) and the whole meeting was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, as is always the way with Taizé!  
    This time I was working at the evening meal distribution - our task was to stop people coming in through the exit, and to stop people taking food out of the hall. Not always the easiest job, but a perfect vantage point for seeing familiar faces.  I was especially pleased to catch up with Ada from Brescia (she was in the group I went to Taizé with last Easter). 


    Our London group made small inroads into the 30,000 total  number who attended

     


    Without a doubt one of the best ways to spend New Year. Last year I went to the 32nd meeting in Poznan, Poland and next year it will be the 34th in Berlin. We'll see whether I end up there as well or not! The advantage of Poznan and Rotterdam were that they were both new cities for me too, and I enjoyed the opportunity to explore the surroundings whilst there. For example, on our 3rd day in Rotterdam we headed in and had a look round the town. Below is the Erasmus Bridge, the main symbol of Rotterdam. 

    Then from Rotterdam it was back to London and on to Horsham for a family gathering. Lovely to be able to catch up with everyone whilst briefly back in the UK.  

    After that I had a few relaxing days at home in Taunton, before flying back to Italy yesterday. First time on a new route: Ryanair Bristol to Treviso. Quite straightforward, but lots of hanging around time. We landed at 8.40pm and the first bus wasn't until 21.34. Was at station by 21.50 and train wasn't due til 22.35. It was then 30 minutes late, so didn't actually get home until 00.20. At least that's when living right opposite the station comes in handy!

    Since being back I seem to have done nothing but sorting, washing, shopping and cleaning... from tomorrow things will be back to normal though. Then back to work on Monday - eek!