RANDOM ECHOES – ITALY 2/11/05

- scarecrows made of polythene bags and rags and stuck up on long poles high above the now dry and dark remains of sunflowers, black against the misty shore;
- an eagle sat on the electric wires along the railway line
- a 708 year old embalmed corpse of a saint in a church above Cortona, shrouded in fine green cloth, her hands crossed over her chest, mouth gently parted whilst beyond a loud and animated conversation emanates from a confessional between a young woman and a large and irritated priest; we light candles for the living and in particular my ailing aunt in northern Italy (back where we started, full circle);
- Talleggio and walnut sauce
- Moliere playing in the teatro
- a turquoise model Fiat all squat and cute
- the cloud level beneath us as we are on a mountain road up to Santa Margherita, the altitude playing havoc with ears and guts but awesome view through which can be seen another cemetery on its own promontory above the Tuscan plain, where clouds come in patches offering glimpses of the olive terraces and purple shadows, the pink church beyond
- my father ducking in and out of restaurants looking for a table for lunch but coming out shaking his head until he finds an almost empty one which serves the finest food and we enjoy; but our walk after is disrupted by so many Americans reliving their best-selling novel and movie dreams and consuming Cortona.