Janys Hyde
Portfolio of words and images
Take Three Birds
Take Three Birds
Autobiographical travelogue
Kindle
15 December, 2014
e-book
188
Autobiographical travelogue
Kindle
15 December, 2014
e-book
188
My only reason for having chosen to read this book was the fact that I recognised two of the authors names from writing groups on the social media. By the end of the read I was pleased to have given the book a chance.
In hindsight, the book description is accurate, but for some reason I had expected to be presented with a story of sorts, rather than what is basically a diary of events garnished with each writer's background story and their impressions of one another. Frequent use is made of the inclusion of what appear to be complete transcripts of social media messages and emails.
The tale hops from one head to another as each writer in turn picks up the threads of the story from a personal viewpoint -- the preparation, the journey, the hospitality, the food, home ground and finally conclusions drawn and consideration of future plans. We gain insight into the strengths, weaknesses and foibles of each of them and by the end of the book have a fairly good idea of how each of them ticks. I, for one, certainly felt as if I had made three new friends as I recognised character traits similar to my own in each of them.
I want to justify my middle-of-the-road rating by saying that much as I enjoyed the book, it does not offer any mind-blowing concepts or psychological thrills. It certainly held my attention from beginning to end as a light and humorous read, even though I kept waiting for the 'book-planning' discussions that were hinted at, but never evolved, possibly due to the excess of wine consumed. Full marks to Tottie for her editing -- to Jill for her overblown enthusiasm and girly giggles -- and to Janet for having taken the bull by the horns and acted on instinct.
The Venice Experiment
The Venice Experiment -- a year of trial and error living abroad
Travel
Kindle
26/06/2011
e-book
256 pages
Travel
Kindle
26/06/2011
e-book
256 pages
An amusing series of brief anecdotes recounting the author's personal experiences during his experimental year in Venice. Having lived in Venice for some 40 years myself, I recognise many of the situations he describes and can feel his bewilderment when faced with some of the typical Venetian behavioural oddities. On a few occasions, I did feel that perhaps he himself had fallen victim to some of them when he made sweeping generalisations about the 'status quo'.Just one example which struck me in particular was the affirmation that Venetians don't own ovens! The truth is that Venetians who rent out apartments to foreign visitors, rarely include an oven as an essential electrical appliance because of the added expense, both as furnishing and as an included utilities cost. My Venetian husband was adamant -- 'how do you think we all cook our lasagne?'
On the whole I would recommend the book to aficionados of Venice who are interested in learning more about what it means to live the life of a 'Venetian' from a non-Venetian point of view. An easy read covering a wide variety of Venetian traditions, events and daily routines, especially useful to those who are able to carry out their own 'Venice Experiment' enjoying an extended stay in the city.
Broooooooom
The weatherman tells us that the weather is going to be truly rotten from this evening for 24 hours or so. He tells us that we should expect torrential rain and hail, bad storms and even the occasional ‘tromba d’aria’ here and there. And if you are uncertain about those, they are tornadoes. So we decided that today, before all this happens — would be as good a time as any to go out on the bike for a few hours. We didn’t actually go that far from home as we had some things to pick up in the hypermarkets out on the mainland, but if nothing else it meant that we were able to turn the bike engine over after 10 days of its inactivity sitting in the garage.
I experimented with my little digital recorder — I wanted to pick up some local noises and the bike was on my list. A bit disappointing since the wind almost smothered the engine noise, but I also managed to get the local boat transport noises, and a few inside the supermarket including the ‘beeping’ cash register. Hubby managed to set off the alarm in the men’s loos after pulling the alarm cord instead of pushing the thingie on top of the cistern!
We also picked up a couple of toys for daughter’s doggie, Tria, and I am now waiting for her to drop by so we can see the puppy’s reaction! Daughter is pretty peeved as her boyfriend has had to go off for some five days for work. He is a sailing instructor and occasionaly gets sent off to the French Riviera — or other places, to look at/arm/repair yachts. This time he was sent to Sardinia and should be back tomorrow. I think he is also supposed to be messing about with the America’s Cup next week. I only hope they have some decent weather, but the weatherman hasn’t given a terribly pormising forecast that’s for sure.
p.s. for anyone who might have gone to the trouble of reading the previous post regarding our bike, you may have noticed that the photos show two different bikes. Well spotted! That one was a Honda and this one is a Moto Guzzi — decided to buy local produce and move up to a bigger engine which will theoretically be better for all those long journeys we keep planning to do — and which up until now we have not really done. But don’t lose faith and come back often to see if we eventually manage to cross the Alps!
Montello
Here on the right you can see one of the restaurants we have visited fairly regularly in the Montello hills, just at the foot of the Dolomites and only about 60 minutes drive from Venice. The food in all these restaurants (with a couple of minor exceptions) is always excellent and reasonably priced. This particular restaurant (the name escapes me for now), run by a husband and wife team, him at the tables and her in the kitchen — boasts a fairly young, and very imaginative team in the kitchen so even though the menu is usually limited, it is certainly always inspiring and — more to the point — tastes good!
