I’m in Verona on a Sunday ready for a Monday meeting. I just found a post I wrote on the train to London sometime after we got back – and then obviously forgot! Life takes over when we are home and, although I occasionally consider the idea, blogging goes by the wayside. So I have 2 resolutions for 2014. To blog more often even when not in Horatio, and to be more positive…
I have failed pretty badly on the positivity part to the point of B getting close to threatening to up sticks if
I didn’t cheer up. And I don’t blame him – I didn’t want to be with me either! In my defence 3 weeks of combined colds/ infections for us both was not the best way to start a year where we had thought, and I quote, after 2013 things can only get better!
Now that comment may seem strange when you have been reading of our 2 trips of adventures. I want this blog to be interesting, occasionally amusing and generally upbeat. But in truth 2013 was tough for business, frustrating for B with his shoulder issues and increasingly difficult for me with my family issues and culminated with my spending 5 hours on Christmas evening at A & E with my aunt followed by a family fallout 2 days later (not major and all ok now thank goodness but could have done without it!). So nothing drastic, but just cumulatively debilitating. Or somewhat trying if you prefer!
Moving on – positively of course – I am again in the lovely city of Verona. It’s sunny this time (I was here in November and it was inondato, or something like that) and the entire population appears to be out on the streets, being Italian, elegant and ebullient. Took a while to think of that last word, it’s hard to sum up the mood, buts definitely good.
We flew over the Alps and Dolomites to get here. So, so beautiful in the sunshine. It brought back our trip to me straight away. The guy next to me on the plane turned out to be an actor going to one of the smaller resorts for 6 weeks to film a movie about an attempt on Everest. Apparently they decided that doing that in Nepal was too risky for the crew health wise, so the Tirol is the new Himalaya, with a bit of help from CGI. I was too embarrassed to ask his name in case I should have known it! The film is called, imaginatively, Everest, and he plays a guy called Neal Beidleman, who survives. It’s a real story and rather sad he told me. And of course he will be barely recognisable as all togged up in mountain gear! I spotted another guy when we got off who also had a beard so I’m guessing he was another actor – my neighbour said nobody had met up to that point.
Now I have checked it out – there’s an article about the film on Wikipedia and it seems I met Tom Goodman-Hill. The lead is
Jake Gyllenhaal, and the real attempt was in 1996. So there you go. The rest of the plane was full of school kids so I guess I struck lucky! Well positively interesting anyway!