Fonting

We have, since I returned from Sicily, been back out on our rather unique and always enjoyable "fonting" trips. What I mean is that we have been out around Wiltshire (mostly) visiting churches where we know there are good examples of Norman sculpture to draw. Mostly this involves archways and columns that form part of the front doors, and often or not there is an excellent Norman font inside. There is also column decoration inside some churches.  So font is now being used as a verb to describe what we do.

We have made at least 3 visits over the last month or so. In fact, see, I am already forgetting because I have been slack and not blogged them. And then you tend to forget where you've been. So I thought I would blog today's and squeeze in previous visits in another post.

Today, which could have been called "Weird Wednesday", we set off to some of the villages that are in the middle of Salisbury Plain. It is such a weird landscape, and a sky heavy with promised rain did not help. We could hear the unsettling boom of the guns on Salisbury Plain before we even set off, which was rather disturbing. The whole area is strange, because of the rather enclosing hills and also the strange military villages that are near Stonehenge.

A few of the places we saw today we didn't draw much of, or didn't stay too long, as a couple were not what we were looking for. We have now become quite expert on Norman sculpture - well I think its proper name is Romanesque.  We are now able to recognise whether something is of the right period from its appearance - often this is obvious because of signs of age, rather than something new looking. But the give-away is really to do with how it was carved. Norman carvings (particularly for fonts) tend to be uneven, not uniform and generally wonky. This is their appeal. There is a real spirit and connection with the human who carved them, in comparison to a dull, soulless piece which is perfectly symmetrical, from later years. Are we fussy? No, but we know what we are looking for and we know what we like.

So today the real gem was a couple of carved column tops outside at Netheravon. They were opposite sides of the door of a really high tower - most unusual - and to accompanying booms outside (guns) and inside (someone practising the organ, Jeremy, apparently) - we set about drawing. Quadrapeds, as my sister calls them, are one of our favourite - these looked like bears to me. But you can never tell. We spotted their typical long claws (a regular feature) and a tail looped under a leg, coming over the animal's back. So somehow or other there were shared features among carvers. I suppose carvers would have gone to see others' carvings and of course they have carved many churches each - so a common style develops. Or is this how all animals were depicted at the time? It is interesting to consider.  One creature was completely worn but the other had a jaunty face that I managed to make look demonic in my attempt at drawing him. Talking of creatures, I was especially lucky when I went round the church for a little nose around. Catching sight of an animal behind a gravestone, I thought someone's dog had got into the graveyard. But coming round the side I came face to face with two deer - we were all surprised to see each other. There was an adult and a baby, both quite big and orangey in colour - who turned and leapt over the fence at top speed. Except then I saw the baby hadn't managed to get over, so I left in the hope its mother would return and help.

Today's trip took in six places in all - Shrewton, Netheravon, Fittleton, Figheldean, Durrington, and Orcheston, until the rain started coming down and became quite dull. There was also a horrible ten minutes where we got stuck in the middle of a small village where traffic had been diverted, a bus squashed the side of someone's car in front of our very eyes, and too many big lorries squeezed past us. All with a funeral just finishing in Shrewton. It wasn't very nice.  Specially with the guns so loud they shook the church we'd been in.

We learned about the Fittleton disaster of 1976 from a chance remark in a visitors' book, and all about the church at Figheldean from a man working outside. We had gone to visit the 13C knights in the porch, which, he told us, had been discovered buried nearby - perhaps to keep them safe from Cromwell. Not as detailed as the amazing knight at Castle Combe, but quite chunky.

The pleasingly simple but unusually wide font at Fittleton

My Scottish Inspiration

A year ago, when I was getting ready to fly out to Sicily, I had to miss seeing the live show of "Still Game", the wonderful Scottish comedy that was making its return after an absence of many years. I was gutted to miss it, so when I heard that the Burnistoun boys were doing a live show, I promised myself I was not going to miss that for the world. So I didn't - and it was bucking amazing. (See you have to be a fan...)

the sunshine on the Clyde

Yes, it was extravagant to fly to Glasgow and stay the night but why not!? I have long thought that Glasgow sounded nice - vibrant, exciting and with lots going on - since hearing my favourite Scottish comedians talk about their city. Glaswegians seem very proud of their home and rightly so - I was very impressed. Everyone was very friendly, including a woman working in the airport who offered to post some postcards for me.

botanical gardens

I set off on Saturday for Bristol Airport - two bus journeys and a delay of 90 minutes to take-off couldn't keep me from seeing my two Glaswegian favourites, oh no.  When I landed in Glasgow, it was surreal at first hearing everyone speak in the beautiful accents that I am used to only hearing on tv, and I tweeted Robert Florence to say I was a little overwhelmed by this. He favourited the tweet - both he and Iain Connell use Twitter and respond to their fans very often, me included.

George Square

My hotel was very near the theatre. Glasgow is on a grid system so it is not easy to get lost. I had some dinner (Italian, of course) and treated myself to a pre-show drink. I didn't know what to expect because I've never met a Burnistoun fan before (who I haven't converted). I was interested to see they were mostly young. The theatre was packed - I was in the back row of the stalls.  A woman in the interval was amazed to hear I'd come up from Bristol "Good for you!" she kept saying. She had never seen Burnistoun before and was loving it.

The show was wonderful - it was a good mixture of classic and new sketches with everyone's favourite characters, including the Quality Polis (with a wonderful take on "Maria"!); a welcome resurrection of Paul and Walter; Scott and Peter; Biscuity Boyle and of course, squirrel-mad Jolly Boy John.  There was a particularly good sketch with the politicians; the original blue denim jaisket; the now famous lift sketch; and great support from Gerry McLaughlin and Louise Stewart. The audience was laughing continuously and it was amazing to hear everyone shouting out the catchphrases. I realised you can't shout the catchphrases in southern English - it has to sound Glaswegian. There were a few times when I didn't catch what they said - I guess it is a bit easier on telly. But Glaswegian for me is just poetic, it really does add something special to the language and delivery.

down by the Clyde

One of the nicest things was seeing how much they enjoyed performing - they talked to the audience as well. Iain and Robert were in virtually every scene, so there were voiceover sketches between frantic costume changes - they managed it very well. They must have been exhausted following a run of a few nights. I had seen on Twitter that they meet fans after the show - I thought how rude it'd be if I didn't say hello in person, after coming all that way. And there they were, at the stage door, in the flesh. It was so kind of them because there were loads of fans and they looked quite tired, unsurprisingly. When it came to my turn I leaned towards Robert and said, "I thought I'd come and say hello instead of tweeting." He looked at me and was probably thinking, well which one of my followers are you, and so I said my name and he knew then that I had come from Bristol, which was so nice, and they were both really appreciative and he said was it worth it? Of course it was, totally. I got to have a picture taken with them which was great. It was one of those surreal moments that you look at afterwards and think, did that really happen? I don't remember Iain's hand on my shoulder. It means a lot to me because they're both round my age and they've both done some brilliant things - so they are a real inspiration to me. Especially now, when I'm job hunting again. They are wonderful writers and actors, and obviously appreciate their fans. Robert seems to have endless energy and ideas. So to see the show and to meet them gives me energy and inspiration and self belief for the future.

Iain Connell, me, and Robert Florence

One night some years ago, I watched by chance a comedy programme called "Empty", which I really enjoyed. Beautifully written and acted (with Gregor Fisher and Billy Boyd). Later, I just happened to wonder who the writers were. I looked them up, this "Iain Connell and Robert Florence" and saw they'd done something else, "Burnistoun"... and from there to this, to Glasgow... :)

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Next morning, in bright sunshine, I took the Glasgow tour bus around the city from George Square. The tour guide was interesting and amusing and I saw some of the famous landmarks like the cathedral, the necropolis, the big ornate Victorian buildings from when it was a wealthy industrial city, and the futuristic buildings along the banks of the Clyde. I saw the Armadillo and the Hydro (where I should have seen Jack and Victor). I stopped off at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum for a wander round (visiting Sir Roger the elephant and baby elephant, Kelvin). I was quite excited to see things I recognised from Still Game such as George Square and the River Kelvin.

   

Sir Roger

Glasgow reminded me of Birmingham with the old industrial past and modern rejuvenation. I liked it a lot and I would love to return to explore it some more. Taking off from the airport you could see some pretty hills in the background. So ideally, a job in Glasgow then...

the River Kelvin, which features in one of my favourite episodes of Still Game

August

I seem to leave it awfully long to blog again but here we go, what has been happening in August?

Well, work, work and more work, and the students were just getting more and more weary as the term went on because basically no one else is at school so why should they be? It did seem increasingly difficult to keep them motivated and who can blame them? By the end of term it was quite impossible. But I saw a different side to one or two of them and it was all a bit emotional for them leaving their friends after becoming so close in such a close-knit environment.  There is no work for me there next term, as numbers in September are lower. I have turned down 3 months in the Ukraine, as my plan is to stay here now and not delay finding what I want here. I'm happy with that, I just need to start looking.

Going back to job hunting is as depressing as it was last time. I applied for a bog-standard kind of position as a vets' receptionist/animal assistant - I have experience in both reception duties and working with animals. But they had over 200 applications for it - from whom, I cannot imagine. So if this is the sort of competition... However, can't give up and I have had a look today and found some things to apply for, even if they are not amazing and challenging careers. It seems that the job market today has changed and it is no longer possible to just find a rewarding and well paid job that suits your skills and qualifications. Seemingly you have to have experience in everything (but who would go from the same job to the same job all the time? It doesn't even make sense). I saw one for a copywriter for a website but you had to have a proven interest in lingerie (er, how?) I will have to approach it all more creatively and perhaps have several ways of making a living instead of one. I have advertised my English tuition services so hopefully with the start of a new term, some students might want help with things. One person has replied so far :) It is very time consuming looking for jobs, before you've even applied for them.

In other news, well I will blog about that separately. Needless to say that I am missing the warmth of the Sicilian sun very much in this English climate, and still missing the coffee, boys and Etna.

Back again

It hasn't seemed worth blogging until now about being back in the UK, but here I am again. It's been 6 weeks and the things I miss most are the coffee, sunshine and Jo. And nice looking ragazzi. And some of my students. And the food. But at the moment, mostly the sunshine and coffee, it being cold and rainy here. A day of ceaseless rain on Friday is enough to make anyone head to the easyjet website.

However, I don't think that is the answer right now. A recent birthday was my annual time for reflection (maybe I should have these more often) and perhaps I should think about what I want from life a bit more and actually take action to get nearer that. Running back to Italy is tempting (especially when Jo has been talking about returning to exotic locations), but there are things here that I could be focussing on. We will see.

I've been in touch with some of my students and occasionally heard from the nice floppy haired Back to the Future fan, so I have some sort of connection with the land of lovely Etna. (I failed to say I miss her but I do, very much). It is currently pushing 37 degrees there, which is too hot even for them, what a shame, but I dare say they prefer it to what we have at the moment.

Here I am experiencing a new part time summer job at a small international school which prepares students for UK boarding schools. They are mostly from China, Russia and Japan, with a sole Italian boy who I make read in class so I can hear the lovely accent. It is different to what I was doing in Italy and I hope to learn a few things about teaching while I am there. The teachers are all nice and supportive and the kids are pleasant enough, very polite and really just typical teenagers, who'd rather be sleeping sometimes than working. But what's new. I have enjoyed working with one smaller child and encouraging him with his spelling and reading. Another bonus is having tea breaks and a hot lunch all together. But boarding school life with its regulations and so on is quite a different thing but I think I've got used to it now and the children seem happy there. It's nice that everyone knows each other by name and they all look after each other.

Aside from that, it will be back to the job hunting again and also thinking of long term plans; where do I want to be, who do I want to be there with, etc etc. Meanwhile work and feeling generally knackered seem to get in the way of more exciting things like Fonting and writing and finding a way out of having to work.  But some fonts have been visited (yey!) which was a great relief and helped establish equilibrium again. More on those to come. And if it is all too much here, then I know Etna is only a 3 hour plane trip away, even for a quick burst of sunshine and a much-needed caffè.

Changes

So time has caught up with me and all of a sudden, it is time to go home. I don't know how we have gone from having 5 long months ahead of us in January, to now when there is only one week left of my life in Sicily. To say there are mixed emotions is an understatement - who would have thought this would be the case back in January when I really wanted to go home.

It shows how you get used to something and how things become normal. I've made a list of things I will miss and things I won't miss, and surprisingly they are equal. This week is our last week of teaching and it is strange, something of an anti-climax, as we say goodbye to students for the last time. Those who you think might have turned up didn't always, and those who you least expected to see showed up. My FCE class were lovely and we had a nice last lesson, doing word games and so on, and then we went to lovely little Acitrezza, with its three rocks in the sea, and memories of happy granitas, and we had a pizza in a lovely restaurant overlooking the sea. In fact it was a place Shona and Gab took me and Jo in the first weeks so it kind of felt like things are coming full circle. I had pizza norma, (pasta alla norma is a traditional Catanese dish with aubergine and ricotta salata. The pizza is a version of this). My lovely class gave me a very nice book on Catania, full of beautiful pictures to remind me of everything. It's quite heavy though so I will just have to make allowances in my suitcase!

So mixed emotions - I will not be sad to leave certain things like the noise, the graffiti, the honking of horns, not being able to understand everyone or communicate very well, working in the evening and eating at night, ... many other things. But I will miss granitas, the coffee, Etna, the sunshine, Italian, beautiful looking men and Italian style. I won't miss the mosquitoes, they have been making the past few days hell.  I will miss Jo, but she too is going back to the UK so of course we will stay in touch. Students have all been asking (ok, not all, but the nice ones haha) whether I am coming back next year. So far I can only say I don't think so, I don't know. I really want to see how I feel about things. I think no. And I don't think it would be the same without Jo - the experience is now and a new experience lies ahead somewhere else.

I won't have had time to see and do everything I wanted to see and do, but this is mostly because it turned out that without a car it is impossible to get places here - public transport is ok but only to main towns and cities. Even then it still takes ages. There are amazing mosaics I wanted to see, and we wanted to go to the top of Etna, and see her erupting and go to see the mummies... Never mind.

The experience has been amazing, learning how to be a teacher - I am amazed that I actually can say I love my job without it being too far from the truth. I do love doing it, it's rewarding. I have now got a new job in England, teaching English to students in a college, for summer. They are foreign children who want to go to a school in England for their entire schooling - and not just any old school but the elite ones including places like Eton and Harrow. The college is for up to one year, so they improve their English quickly and learn about British culture, including our sports and day trips to cities etc. So they will be prepared to go to their new school. I was surprised to be offered the job so now I want to make a go of it and I think the college looks like a supportive place to work and to learn.  It is near my sister so at least I will be near part of my family again.

So I have booked my flight today (after a fun time in the post office transferring money) and it is for a week today. I think it will be a big adjustment after so long here - as I say you get used to things don't you, so it's like any change. But things end and new things start. I couldn't stay here long term, for a start it gets too hot from now onwards, and then there is the whole thing about fitting into a culture. I think here it would take simply ages to be let in to their culture; we still don't get the whole living at home til you're 40 thing or the mummy's boys, or the dress sense, or any of it really haha. But it has been a great experience to live somewhere else and if I need any confidence in myself then this should have given me plenty. Yes I like the Italian boys look and yes I will miss that too but Sicilian men, they're not for marrying or hanging on to I don't think - too many issues :)  I don't understand them. Let's hope the English ones are a bit easier now. At least there won't be the language barrier.

OK, so granitas all round. If I could stuff granita, chinotto, arancini and Etna in my suitcase, I would... but I'm going to have a hard enough time packing what I have accumulated anyway! See you at the airport... I'll try and bring the sun. x

Catching up

I can't believe it is 4 weeks since I last posted something, as I can't think what I have been doing since then. Just work, work, work mostly with lots of preparation for the students' exams, which are next week.  Luckily we are not involved in running those, so now we can only cross our fingers and hope that at least some of them pass. Some will do well, I am sure. We have been involved in running extra listening practices and extra speaking practices; it has been quite nice to meet other students during the speaking. Some of them are very good. It's also meant a little extra money, which is good.

Right now I am trying to find summer work and it has sent me into a depression. (That, and it's raining today, for some reason). Seemingly all TEFL work in the UK over summer is for summer schools for teenagers, and most of the roles include supervising activities and day trips as well, some even include living on site and helping with day to day things like mealtimes. It means a long working week, whereas I would prefer to find something which is mostly teaching like I have been doing here. It is typical that the one job I have found which I actually like doing is not a job you can do easily in the UK. It's not just me saying this, I was looking on a EFL forum and people all say the same. Pay is also not very high, which makes living in nice places like Bath or Oxford (where they have the schools) quite difficult. I had forgotten how much it costs even to rent a room there. Rent here has been reasonable.  If I wanted to go back abroad to teach then of course there are many opportunities. I'm just not sure that's what I want to do.

Etna spitting out cloud

Jo and I have been making the most of the sunshine and visiting the sandy beach which is outside Catania. Sadly it is not within walking distance, being past the port and near the airport, so the roads are too big and busy to walk along. That's ok because there is a bus - it could be a really good shuttle bus route, going there and back in 10 minutes, but no, it's once an hour and so we stand and wait for it at the bus station and then we always have to wait ages for it to take us back. Yesterday after a relaxing day on the sand (despite a really awful dj or perhaps it was someone's uncle playing music and talking over it at the lido), we took 2 hours to get home, even though by car it would take about 15 minutes.

Etna has been spitting out ash so we watched her yesterday as little white clouds appeared over the top, often changing, it was quite entertaining (for me anyway).

We are both now looking forward to returning because it has been a while since we saw family etc, but we will also miss things like the sun, the coffee, granitas etc. I went for a granita with a local lad a couple of weeks ago, which was nice because he was encouraging with my Italian and having to speak in Italian really helped me to practise. He spoke clearly and he understood me so I don't know why some of these people in shops give me such strange looks when I try to speak to them. He had the typical Sicilian hairstyle, longer on top, that Jo doesn't care for, but I don't mind, I've grown used to how they look now and I fear I will find all Englishmen scruffy, pale and unattractive. I have managed to go a little browner (by my standards, not by anyone else's) and have dyed my hair darker, (to fit in?). It's too late to go for a Sicilian romance, not that it's an option, you realise, but it was nice to meet up with this lad a couple of times because it's what I should have been doing for ages, and what I should keep doing, having fun. He loves Back to the Future too, as much as I do, which was fun. In the English version, where Marty's dad is in the coffee shop, he says to Lorraine, "You're my density" when it should be "destiny." I was delighted to find out that in the Italian version, instead of "destino" he says "delfino" which means "you're my dolphin"! I thought this was perhaps even better.

It will be sad to finish teaching some of my students, we've had a nice time in some classes. I have made sure that I have told them the most important things like to pronounce their "s" on the end of third person verbs (they just don't), and many other common mistakes that come from Italian being their first language - our students all say the same things.

some sort of courgette?

I still have to find a job, book a flight and sort out the rest of my life (all without granita and coffee, this is going to be hard. For those of you who think that's all I eat, I deny it - I bought some lovely fresh salad from the market last week, and also a lovely melon (there were a million on sale). The trouble is I've been having to eat salad with things every day since as you just can't buy a little bit of anything there. I saw watermelon bigger than your head. And weird long courgettes. And round ones. You have to be subtle taking photos if you don't want to look like a total tourist.

Days out

I have got behind with blogging as I'm sure there are lots of things I wanted to blog, but have not got round to.  For example, I spent a lovely couple of hours at the Botanical Gardens (finally got there) and enjoyed looking at the fat cacti, the palms, and some pretty flowers. Naturally there are lots of photos for the family to sit through when I am back (get some comfortable cushions, we will have to do the photos in a few sittings haha).

botanical gardens

from Giardini Naxos 

Jo and I have been escaping Catania at every opportunity with our favourite getaway being Giardini Naxos, which is the beach before Taormina. You can be there on the coach after about 45 minutes. I say that but yesterday's getaway was not so straightforward. It was the May Day bank holiday so, in Bank Holiday tradition, most people had had the same idea and were heading to either Giardini or Taormina. The first coach sailed past, full. We waited for an hour for the next one. Luckily we were by a cafe.  The next coach let us on but it took ages to get there as you've guessed it, Bank Holiday queues meant we went at the pace of a snail.
Anyway the beach wasn't that full and we began our now obligatory "Dolphin Watch" - a couple of weekends ago we were lucky enough to see some fins poking out of the water - Jo spotted one first and I was a bit doubtful until I saw it myself. But then, to the accompaniment of loud squeals, one dolphin came tantalisingly close to the beach and we could see its grey skin and we knew beyond doubt it was a dolphin. That was very exciting. We're hoping to have a repeat of it one day.

So today we also fancied a trip out, but having looked at all the options, we decided to stay local. It is one of the downsides of Sicily that public transport is not that great (you might like to guess why). Trains are apparently very slow and although buses are okay, they don't go everywhere. I really want to go to Palermo again to see the mummies and some other things, but a bridge has broken on the main route and so the bus has to go on a massive detour. A trip of 2 and a half hours now takes 3 and half to 4. Neither Jo nor I fancied spending our entire day on a bus.  I would love to go and see some really amazing mosaics not too far from here. We can get to Enna on the bus. But the mosaics are in a town 5km from there. Not even in the town. So there is no easy way to get there. Buses are not regular and taxis apparently cost a bomb and as we are all trying not to return to the UK penniless, it doesn't seem an option. We don't know people with a car, or at least, not to ask to ferry us around Sicily. It really is a shame, but it's too bad. Even flights to nearby Malta are extortionate (although I've not heard a good word about the place).

Etna again but from Taormina

So today we thought - the beach near Catania. (The coast near us is all volcanic lava). The beach with sand is out near the airport. The airport bus! we thought and headed onto Corso Italia. Turns out it doesn't stop there after all. So a woman at the bus stop suggested Acicastello. That has a beach, she said. We waited for a bus for ages without any luck and eventually walked to the train station. Apparently trains don't go to Acicastello, so back to waiting for a bus. We encountered an English couple at the bus stop, just arrived in Sicily for ten days - they had had the same idea and the same problems as us. Eventually after we'd told them our story, the bus came and we all clung on for dear life as it hurtled to our destination. So Acicastello doesn't have a beach after all. Just lava rocks. But it does have a castle (hence the name).  We clambered over the crocodile-skin-like rocks (they really hurt) and sat near the water, which was a lovely turquoise near the edge. There were little rock pools and we were delighted to see little dark crabs scuttle out into the sunlight and then hastily run back into a crack in the rocks. No dolphins though, but there was a weird cloud in the sky, which must have come from Etna.

the castle

cacti garden

Once it got too windy to sit there, we gave up and went back to the piazza for a (by now) essential
coffee. By coffee I mean espresso - they are so dark and rich and addictive, we both think we'll miss them and actually have withdrawal symptoms back in the UK, and both say we don't sleep properly. But there's not much else to do apart from sit and have coffee at the cafes. Of course, we saw the English couple there doing the same thing. I managed an ice cream (melon and peach). There was even grass and kids playing, something you don't see in Catania.  The castle is quite old but it looked a bit dark and as though there would only be a few damp walls to look at. But we had a pleasant surprise! It had a friendly ticket man and he promised us there was a garden there. Lo and behold, through a doorway there was a lovely secluded cacti garden with some fabulous plants and a great view over the sea, with swifts swooping overhead. There was also a great view out to Acitrezza (where a giant threw the rocks into the sea, apparently) and over the rooves of Acicastello. So a nice end to the day, and the ticket man even told us where to get the bus back.

Acitrezza from Acicastello castle