Snippets

I'm skyping Mike in Tokyo- and Alice joins in from Leicester. I hadn't realized you could have three-way conversations.

Fabi comes back from nursery school eager to show his mother what he's learned. He picks up a couple of dolls and says, "This is a white doll; this is a black doll." She's upset because she doesn't want him becoming colour-conscious. I don't see how it can be avoided myself.

An Asian guy comes to the door selling cavity wall insulation. I'm wearing my topi. He asks me if I'm religious and I say, "No, it's just a hat."

La Macchina

Yes, those new neighbours, they're certainly Italian. I heard one of them use an Italian word I recognize. La Macchina. Car.

Interesting the difference between those two words in the two languages. The English car- meaning chariot- assimilates the new to the old, smoothing over the transition between technologies, suggesting to the woolgathering English mind that horses are somehow still involved. The Italian word- macchina- bravely embraces the new. No horses here- (we have shot the horses and eaten them)-  this is like nothing you've seen before-  a machine.  In the north: cloudiness, ambiguity, sentiment.  In the south: clarity, forthrightness, Futurismo.