A Page from the Jetlag Diary: Milan

I love a late night flight. There’s a calm over the terminal– by 10pm the good folk are getting sleepy. None of that frantic energy of the morning, people slugging coffee, jittering, talking too loudly. At the overlit sports bar, conversation is muted; I can read my book and enjoy the cocktail that will help … Continue reading A Page from the Jetlag Diary: Milan

Coarse Language, Adult Themes, and some Boning

There’s something very satisfying abut Italian swearing. It’s all so percussive and hissing; all those “k” and “ts” sounds. Fluency in obscenities is a skill I respect greatly, and the Italians have it down to an art: the drawn-out vowel sounds, the spitting consonants, combined with flaming eyes and wildly disproportionate gesticulations. It was a … Continue reading Coarse Language, Adult Themes, and some Boning

Bars: Italians do it Better

One of my idle fantasies, when I’m not plotting world domination (any day now), or fuming about technology and young people (every day now), is opening a bar. Not because I have any great desire to be a small business owner, but because the kind of place in which I like to hang out just … Continue reading Bars: Italians do it Better