TID 36: Taught yourself a new language
Was it really on 23 January that I temporarily abandoned these attempts to expand on the Things I’ve Done? Wonder how long I’ll last this time? Longer if I don’t try to be fancy about illustrations.
This language thing is a farce. When I drove down here, more than eight years ago, I listened to tapes of conversational Italian, and arrived with a rudimentary and serviceable ability to say what I wanted. Then I had lessons, and tried to learn fancy forms of verbs, and even read newspapers. And now I’m convinced that I have barely the skills of a 4 year old, if that. I get by, and Italian is new to me, but I also find it frustrating not to be able either to just chat or to discuss ideas. Immersion would be a good idea.
At last
For three days now thunder has rumbled around Rome, always on the horizon, promising much, delivering nothing. Until now. I was hoping for the best, and hoping too that the old umbrella voodoo1 would not be effective. And I was right. We were down on the flatlands, the dog and I, when big fat drops sizzled down onto the red concrete pavement. I wish I’d had a camera with me to record the way the individual drops slowly merged until the whole surface was darkened, and then the accumulation became visible as real wet water. Glorious, even if I did get soaked from the knees on down.
The storm didn’t really last long enough to clear the air, but there are still rumblings so perhaps we’ll get more. I do hope so.
Footnotes:- Carrying an umbrella prevents rain. [↩]
