The busyness has calmed down and the town is getting back to normal again – at least, the normal that I was familiar with back in the first months of my arrival. I sat in a café with friends today and noticed that the local people are out and about again greeting each other as though they have been away, when in fact they have just been holed up doing the tourist thing – they are not rushing now, but walking slowly, sitting chatting and stopping for coffee. The young mums are back with their proud pram walks. The tourists are nearly gone, hardly any bare chests and speedos to be seen on the riva - just a few recalcitrant ones, travelling in the shoulder season for cooler temperatures and cheaper beds.
Wandering on the riva last night, I was laughing, trying to explain how after the first few months here, if I heard an English song on the radio, it took a while for me to ‘register’ that it was in fact in English and that I may know some of the words – and from a boat docked in the harbour came the unmistakable sounds of Dave Dobbin’s ‘Loyal’ flagsong – case in point! I presented myself to the carousers on board and demanded that they hand over the New Zealanders - because it had to be New Zealanders with that song – and in fact there were 20 of them. Young, drinking, partying – a bit of chatting and they invited us to join them on board…. And.. tempting as the thought of sitting on a boat in full public drinking with people half our age was, the charming offer was declined and we continued on our promenade. We ate kolaci in a café instead. Must keep on the straight and narrow.
I have learnt a few new skills this week. I spent another day at the B & B preparing breakfast, and then clearing up afterwards – hung the washing out and then spied a large pile of clean washing waiting to be ironed. I know that the word for ‘iron’ is ‘pegla’, asked for a lesson, and amused myself for a good two hours using the sit-down industrial iron. Towels have to be ironed and folded in a particular way, sheets, pillow cases the same deal. You see, my CV will be brimming with my new skills!
Don’t despair, I won’t resort to ironing towels and sheets when I return home.
Along with my new skills, I am looking at all of my new acquisitions, most of which will return home to New Zealand with me, the most precious and heaviest of which is a definitive English – Croatian Dictionary. I’m making a pile in a box of things that I won’t need before I leave and will post them home. I had already put my Trusty Tramping Boots in the box, but bumped into a mountain guy today who mentioned a trip to Viz…. oh, and then there is the trip to Cinque Terre…
I noticed as the sun went down last night that the swallows are back – and then wondered why the presence of something returning is the thing that brings absence to the fore – I hadn’t noticed that the swallows had gone! And where did they go? But the sound of them as the sun goes down, and the swooping and gliding in the narrow streets in town is rather spectacular. And I shall miss it.
Because I'm currently bored - here's the answer
ReplyDeletevia the miracle of google - whether you want it or not
European swallows spend the winter in Africa south of the Sahara, in Arabia and in the Indian sub-continent.
They migrate by day at low altitudes and find food on the way. Despite accumulating some fat reserves before crossing large areas such as the Sahara Desert, they are vulnerable to starvation during these crossings. Migration is a hazardous time and many birds die from starvation, exhaustion and in storms.
Migrating swallows cover 200 miles a day, mainly during daylight, at speeds of 17-22 miles per hour. The maximum flight speed is 35 mph.
In their wintering areas swallows feed in small flocks, which join together to form roosting flocks of thousands of birds. Swallows arrive in the UK in April and May, returning to their wintering grounds in September and October.