Category Archives: Lifestyle

Stranded at home

23 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by in About, Laboutins, Lifestyle, Little Black Book, Londra, mostra, scarpe

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Plans and life don’t always go hand in hand.

On Friday late afternoon I was heading to London City Airport on the DLR. I left the office early as planned, was on perfect time, ETA 5 pm for a flight taking off at 6, which is plenty of time for City airport, where you feel you are a member of JetNet and everyone looks like they are running an extremely important business. I had a sleek winter wedding outfit in the bag, alongside a shirt for my husband, which he had left behind.

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My planned outfit. Photo credit: dress Hobbs, shoes Christian Louboutin, bag Hugo Boss, fur Canavesi family vintage.

 

And then come the bad surprise, delivered by the DLR’ tannoy: the airport is shut, as the DLR station that leads to it. However Twitter was saying that the airport was open, so I trusted the social media, absolutely adamant of not letting any incident to ruin my plans. I got off at the last suitable station and had prearranged an Uber to make up for the time I was going to lose. Jumped in the car – which I offered to two strangers in my same situation – and after 250 metres we were stuck in traffic. The road leading to the airport was closed as well. Got off, got the notification of the most expensive 250 metres ever done (£7) and walked, alongside many others, towards the airport. There I waited patiently and shared my pain with a couple of “stranded” fellows. Luckily I got a spot on a step and felt lucky for that. The scene in front of me was quite surreal. Usually, the scene of people stranded at airports are of a colourful mix of individuals, dressed in clothes suitable for the place where they are heading, hence often wearing flip flops and shorts, while here everyone was suited and booted, with compact wheelie bags, dark coats, two phones and a laptop. It felt as if Canary Wharf has been evacuated and everyone carried their belongings in their bag.

 

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Waiting to be told what to do

 

No news from the airport on what was happening, which turned out to be a chemical scare or the airline, which couldn’t tell me if my flight was cancelled or not and what my options were. We just kept on seeing fire-fighters and police cars arriving and not leaving. The longer the wait, the darker and colder it was getting, and thinner my hopes to get on a fast flight to Edinburgh, joining the husband – who headed there the day before – and friends. So I did what many people did: read my book, pulled out a warm scarf and socialised with a couple of other people in my same shoes and weighted my options.

At 7.30 I turned my heels and decided to head home, having scheduled a call with BA and asked my family to help to find another flight. Sadly, despite all the efforts, no empty seats were heading to Scotland that would have allowed me to make it on time for a wedding that I was expecting to be pretty special. Sorry, I missed your special day Theo and Rebecca! So what do you do with 48 hours ahead with nothing planned, where a good portion of your friends and your husband are not around? You do what you would not normally do, which turned up to be quite blissful and fulfilling. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Also, our designated cat si(s)tter turned out to be ill, which would have meant that our new member of the family would have been starving.

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BoJack sleeps blissfullySo, what did I do?

So, what did I do? While I was walking along the stretched around Hammersmith Bridge, I visited the William Morris Society, mini museum carved out of William Morris’s house, which is a delight for those, like me, passionate about Pre Raffaellites and stylish prints.

 

 

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Original print by William Morris at the William Morris Society

 

I discovered that a new little Italian deli is about to open this weekend, went to the market to get fresh fruit and vegetables, watched a silly French movie, cooked a lot for the week, so do not have to face for a couple of days the dilemma “what can I cook in 5 minutes” which I often face at 8.30 pm, tired and starved, and started a new brilliant book called ‘Sixty Million Frenchmen can’t be wrong”, which is turning out to be very similar to ‘Watching the English’. I thought I better get prepared, in the light of the latest EU summit. Alongside plenty of warning of a rough road ahead, the French language, and everything around it, is very much in vogue.

A new wave of cutting edge performance art – Block Universe

08 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by in Art and Design, Lifestyle

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Over the last few months I spent my Tuesday evenings at the Sofitel hotel in Pall Mall. I wasn’t meeting my lover – as my husband was insinuating. Instead I was meeting an amazing group of people, predominantly young women, working towards the launch of the city’s first-ever performance art festival.

Titled ‘Block Universe’, the event will be a return to midcentury performance values with a contemporary spin. A bunch of artists will be speaking, wriggling and dancing from the ICA to Somerset House, from RADA to the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts. 04-Block 05-Block 08-Block

 

‘We’re seeing an increasing interest in it, despite the way it’s being programmed in London,’ says Louise O’Kelly, the festival’s director and a Goldsmiths grad, ‘but a lot of artists working in performance find they don’t have a home.’

A devotee of the artform, O’Kelly was roused when Tate Tanks opened in 2012 with a 15-week festival heavy in performance art. Then… nothing. It is remarkable that the creative capital of the world has kept for so long performance art in the margins, at a time when Marina Abramovic enjoys rock star status and is escorted by bodyguards whenever she performs or attends the preview of Frieze.

 

On the other side of the pond, New York has a dedicated performance art space called the Kitchen and a biennial called Performa.

The intersection with contemporary art is what gives Block Universe contemporary freshness. We will see Jenny Moore performing a feminist manifesto at the Art Worker’s Guild, surrounded by portraits of the Guild’s forefathers. Conrad Shawcross’s installation ‘The Dappled Light of the Sun’ in the courtyard of the Royal Academy will provide the background for Nicola Conibere’s performance, when she will wrap two bodies in swathes of fabric and send them rolling around the courtyard.
‘Performance art in the Sixties was very much about moving away from an object-space practice to something more intangible,’ says O’Kelly. ‘Now there’s a lot of crossover between dance, painting and sculpture. Those conversations are opening again.’

 
Find out about the festival at www.blockuniverse.co.uk and help with the
Kickstarter campaign

 

 

 

 

Pizza Makers? Fine dei luoghi comuni

08 Sunday Feb 2015

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Un po’ di orgoglio Italiano non guasta, specialmente quando passa attraverso un video ben confezionato, con una musica che ispira speranza e delle parole semplici. Lanciato al World Economic Forum di Davos, smentisce la fama che ci precede. Gli stranieri sanno che l’Italia e’ straordinaria. Dobbiamo pero’ ricordarcelo anche noi.

 

 

 

Una parola per il 2015: semplificare

06 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Per il terzo anno consecutivo mi sono trovata a sistemare casa il primo giorno dell’anno, non per lasciare spazio ai vestiti nuovi comperati durante I primi saldi, ma per liberarmi di molto altro: libri, pentole, cd e gadget tecnologici di qualche anno fa, ma ormai surclassati da telefoni e memorie virtuali.

Cluttered-House

La verità è che comperiamo tanto, senza dubbio troppo. L’economia gira poco, ma non ci arrendiamo, abituati comunque a comprare, e incapaci di rinunciare al rito di passaggio che sono i regali di Natale e i saldi di gennaio. Del resto le opportunità di comperare ci vengono sbattute in faccia ad ogni momento, ci inseguono per settimane, grazie alle pubblicità online.

Molte cose sono diventate esponenzialmente più economiche. Esiste la versione low cost di tutto, dall’auto al rossetto, per non parlare dei falsi.

Racconterei una bugia se dicessi che la candela che mi fa sentire in una spa di Bali e la borsa di un designer francese non mi abbiano resa felice questo natale. Il regalo più azzeccato è però stato una capra. Non fisica, ma una capra che un’amica ha comprato a mio nome per un villaggio in Africa. So che state sentendo odore di buonismo e ovvietà. Non lo scrivo qui per dimostrare quanto bravi e generosi siano I miei amici, e di conseguenza io, che mi circondo di persone così speciali, ma del fatto che questo regalo ha fatto centro su tanti versanti.

Ha fatto qualcosa di utile (innegabile), ha reso felice me e spero più di me una famiglia in Africa, e ha contribuito ad eliminare inutili carte, imballaggi, costi di trasporto. Nessun operaio sottopagato nel sudest asiatico si è tagliato le mani per costruire quale regalo.

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La verità è che non abbiamo finito i soldi, ma lo spazio. Se il costo di abiti, libri, cibo, articoli casalinghi e mobili sono diventati esponenzialmente più economici, non si può certo dire lo stesso delle case.

Se anche voi come me vivete in una grande città, la possibilità che viviate in una casa con spazi limitati è piuttosto alta, quindi capirete di cosa sto parlando.

Ripulire gli spazi e le superfici degli eccessi ci fa sentire bene, un po’ come trascorrere una giornata tra sport e cibo sano dopo le abbuffate natalizie. Non è un caso che, ad ogni giornale che mi capita tra le mani, dai femminili inutile al Financial Times, si facciano le lodi della profeta dell’ordine Marie Kondo, che sparge il verbo dell’ordine e della pulizia. Ammetto che tanti dei consigli che ci offre sono un po’ovvii, un po’ strani e vagamenti disturbanti.

Quello che mi sento di suggerire sono altre due o tre cose, probabilmente altrettanto ovvie, che ho capito da sola, ma di cui ho trovato conferma negli insegnamenti di Marie. Liberarsi da tutto quello che non ci piace, sia una maglietta, una tazza o anche un libro. Non importa se chi l’ha regalata aveva le migliori intenzioni. Se non vi piace, non meritate di viverci. Tenete quello che usate e che vi piace. Non tenete vestiti pensando che vi possano essere utili per fare giardinaggio, pitturare le pareti di casa, fare manutenzione alla bicicletta. I vestiti si possono lavare, anche dopo averci fatto la corsa campestre. Quando guardate a questi vestiti “da lavori pesanti”, fatevi questa domanda: se incontrassi un ex con indosso questa cosa, mi sentirei in imbarazzo? Se la risposta è si, allora sapete cosa dovete fare. I capi non tornano di moda. E se tornano ci sono buone possibilità che il vostro corpo abbia proporzioni diverse, causa cambi di peso e ridistribuzione dello stesso. E poi a volte I tessuti si corrodono e consumano. Lo giuro! L’ho visto con I miei occhi per un paio di guanti anni ’80 la scorsa settimana. Vecchi telefoni, cuffie senza fili e oggetti di tecnologia. Tutti questi prodotti pre smartphone non si meriteranno un posto al Design Museum o alla Triennale. Liberatevene senza remora, ma fatelo in modo ecologico, portandoli nei posti che li raccolgono.

E se volete farmi felice e farmi un regalo, sentitevi liberi di regalarmi una capra.

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A word for 2015: decluttering

06 Tuesday Jan 2015

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Welcome 2015. For the third year, I cleared my flat’s cabinets and bookshelves on New year’s day. It might become a tradition, like having panettone for breakfast during the Christmas holiday. Books, unwanted presents piled up in the last few years, notebooks from workshops, freebies, obsolete technology items, a spare cup inherited during a house move are a few of the items I have given away, or binned. I noticed on Instagram that I am not alone: Louboutin shoes bought during the sales and never worn – too uncomfortable – unsolicited presents and, frankly, just plain junk went on sale through microsites, blogs and the usual channels such as ebay and amazon. 

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The truth is, we buy a lot. Too much. My office is a great observation deck of how people buy and when. Two patterns: shopping happens at lunchtime in front of the computer or when drunk on a night out, on the smart phone. As ever, we buy more than they need. No one seems to want to give up on this ritual called Christmas shopping and January sales, with the addition of American imports such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I shop, ergo I am. Opportunities to buy are everywhere. If we do not find them, they find and follow us, on our laptop, on our phone, so we can buy when we are lacking motivation at work, when we are happy, when happy and in drunken despair, in the back of a cab. Lots of things are far cheaper than they used to be, everything is available in many price ranges, from a car to a lipstick, with a choice between new or preloved. No obstacles between us and a new something, facilitated by virtual payments, of course.

I am not condemning shopping, but a certain way to handle it. I would lie if I said that the scented and upmarket candle and the designer bag I received as Christmas presents were not an appreciated gift. I really like them. However the best gift I received was a goat. I am not starting an urban farm, but a friend of mine made a donation in my name that will to buy a goat for a family in Africa. It might sound cheesy and obvious, I know. I am not trying to demonstrate how amazing my friends are (which they are, btw). 23e190330ea72fc0_0978-w422-h562-b0-p0--traditional-dining-room

It is going to be very useful for one family, made me and the friends who bought it happy. It hasn’t generated any extra paper, cardboard and wrapping. No child labour in Southeast Asia was involved in its making. All pretty valid reasons to make me feel good about it.

We are not running out of money, we are running out of space. And if you live in a large and densely populated city as I do, you probably know what I am talking about. Unless you inherited your house or are the beneficiary of a large inheritance, you are likely to live in a place smaller than the one where you were born and raised.

Living with less is the way forward. Emptying spaces and clearing surfaces make us feel a lot better, especially at this time of the year. I do not think it is a case that pretty much every radio programme I listen to or newspaper that lands on my lap, has a reference to the prophet of decluttering Marie Kondo, who spreads the verb of tidying and cleaning. Lots of her recommendations are, on one side, pretty obvious, on the other hand pretty disturbing.images

There are two or three things that I have realised independently, but that were confirmed in Marie’s bible. Here is what I think:

We can get rid, without feeling any guilt, of everything that we do not like. No matter if it was a present, or we liked it when we bought it. If you do not like it, you shouldn’t live with it. Keep what you enjoy looking at.

Clothes. This is a big chapter in the tidying department. images (1)

Do not keep clothes because you think you might use them for gardening or DIY. Ask yourself the question: “if I was meeting my ex boyfriend wearing these clothes, how would I feel?” If the answer is ashamed or unconformable, get rid!

Do not keep stuff just because you think it will be fashionable again. It might very well make a come back, but the chances are that your body will be different, your proportions might be different and fabrics age too. I experienced it last week. I thought I could use a pair of gloves from the 80’s, but they fell apart in front of me. The fabric just spilt!

Old phones, old technologies. Your old kit will not make it into the Design Museum for an exhibition on icons from the 21st century. Throw them away with no remorse, just do it responsibly, using the dedicated bins.

I think a goat is the prefect present for any occasion in 2015.

Viva la Pasta

02 Wednesday Jul 2014

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Compiling your wedding list is fun. It is a free ticket for something that you do not really need, you do not feel comfortable spending some serious money on it, but you feel you deserve it. Also it feel compulsory to choose items that will stay with you – happily ever after – for at least a couple of good decades.

Time to embrace your passions and match them with great presents. The Lord indulged in a solid crystal decanter to enhance good red wines and make the less so drinkable. I got the Kitchen Aid, and, as I was indulging, I got the pasta tools as well.

Inspired by my friend Gaia and her legendary Shoreditch pastificio Burro e Salvia, I thought it was my duty to give pasta making a go. I saw my mother making it with a manual pasta machine, my grandmother doing it from scratch, using exclusively her hands a rolling pin, so I decided to leave the fear of failing behind me and give it a go. Twenty-first century technology was on my side, so what could go wrong?pasta2

I tried few attempts, all successful and well received, a gluten free version (not hugely proud of it, the dough doesn’t stick very well together), and reached the conclusion that this is the best recipe.

Warning. It gets messy. Flour gets everywhere and I spend half of my pasta time clearing out the mess. Hopefully with a bit more experience, I will get better at that as well. But it was worthy.

Bring on the next pasta party!

 

pasta 3

300 gr plain flour, also called 00

3 large eggs, well beaten

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Makes 450 gr of pasta

10 minutes to mix

1 hour to rest in the fridge plus 15 extra minutes

30 minutes to make pasta – hopefully I will get faster with practise

Instructions

Combine the flour, and salt in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs & beat well with a fork.

Add extra-virgin olive oil to the eggs and mix with a fork.

Add the cold water to the egg & olive oil mixture, and mix

Pour the liquid ingredients into your mixer bowl and attach the flat beater.

Add half of the flour, turn to speed 2 and mix 20 seconds. Add the rest of the flour and mix an additional 20 seconds.

Exchange flat beater for the dough hook.

Turn to speed 2 and knead for 5 to 8 minutes, until a dough ball is formed.

NOTE: Good pasta dough should be elastic and pliable, but FIRM (not soft like bread dough). It should not stick to your fingers or fall apart.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for a minimum of 1 hour.

Remove dough from refrigerator and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Using your hands, roll dough into a log, and slice it into 4 piece.

Flatten each piece slightly, using a rolling pin. Spread it with flour, so the dough doesn’t stick on it.

Using the widest setting (1 on the Kitchenaid), turn mixer to speed 2 and taking one piece of the flattened dough, feed through rollers. Fold dough in half & roll again. Repeat 3 more times, lightly dusting the sheet of pasta in between each rolling.

Move adjustment knob to setting 2 and feed the dough sheet through the rollers once or twice, depending how think do you like your pasta. I like it thick!

Continue to increase roller setting until desired dough thickness is reached

Place the pasta sheets on a clean and thin kitchen cloth, the bigger the better,

dusted with flour, so the dough doesn’t dry out or stick.

And now the fun part, where the magic happens:

Exchange the Pasta Roller Sheet attachment for the tagliatelle one.

Run each sheet through the cutter.

Fold each set of tagliatelle into a next and dust with flour again.

You can place the pasta in the fridge for up to 12 hours, so I suggest to store there only what you are willing to eat in the next few hours. Everything else can go in the freezer.

When ready to cook, boil your water and add salt. I also add a spoon of oil.

Fresh pasta will cook faster than commercially bought pasta — about 4 minutes are sufficient.

 

Alaskan Gold Rush in Pimlico

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

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A new wave of buyers hunting for London prime real estate…or American oil magnates buying overpriced Georgian properties in Pimlico? No, this post is about a culinary experience, Alaska themed.

Alaska?!? Three images fill my brain: giant parkas, bears and Sarah Palin holding a rifle. I like to challenge my opinions but I was slightly sceptical when a friend recommended a night of food and entertainment with Alaska in its title. Being Italian, I believe that that the holy trinity of food – tomatoes, grains and olive oil – exists because the earth is blessed by sun, a kind soil and a warm climate. When it comes to a night out, I know far too well that an enjoyable evening is based on good company more than anything else. In this case I knew the company was going to be good, the location was on my doorstep and the fact that of the chefs trained at Moro, was good enough for me. I also felt that is my duty to embrace any social activity that might put Pimlico on the entertainment destination map.

And here we go, the event. We were thrown back in 1899 at the time of the gold rush, a Pimlico garden transformed with tents and digging tools, everything beautifully styled and choreographed. Cute ladies and gentlemen – putting on a fake American accent – welcomed us and served really delicious food. Fish, lots of fish. This is what Alaska is clearly famous for, not hockey mothers.

The highlight of the menu was salmon. After a few years in London and numerous spells in Scotland, I thought I had had salmon in every possible shape and form. How wrong I was. The menu is enclosed here

20140622_165047and the wild sockeye salmon, with cucumber salad was outstanding. I would have never expected for cucumber salad to taste so great. In case you might want to give it a go, here is the recipe. Raymond Blanc is the master chef behind the original one. This is a slightly simplified version, very easy and pretty quick. As long as the salmon is good quality.

Ingredients

For the salmon

  • 4 x 100g wild salmon fillet
  • 1½ tsp salt
  • pinch white peppercorns, crushed
  • 1½ tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp chopped dill
  • 1 tsp lemon zest ( finely chopped)
  • 500ml extra virgin olive oil to confit the salmon

Samon confit

Preparation method

Cure the salmon: place the 4 fillets of salmon into a small bowl and mix with the salt, pepper, dill and lemon zest. Marinade for 30 minutes, only. Wash under running water, and pat dry the fish. Refrigerate covered with cling film.

To confit the salmon: preheat the olive oil to 55C: drop in the four pieces of salmon and cook for approximately 16-18 minutes at 45C. Probe temperature of oil. The aim here is not to cook the salmon but to change its texture and taste. Once you put the 4 fillets into the oil, the oil temperature will drop to approx 45C. It must be kept at this temperature so use a probe to check. The salmon will be uncooked yet creating a very pleasing taste and texture. If over cooked the salmon fillet will leak white proteins (albumen).

For the cucumber salad

  • 1 cucumber, peeled and de-seeded
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 3 tbsp non-scented oil
  • 1 tbsp chopped dill
  • 1 pinch fresh ground pepper

Make the cucumber salad: finely slice the cucumber. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and leave and marinade for 30 mins. (The salt will remove the enzymes which can cause indigestion). Rinse under cold water, pat dry. Add vinegar, sunflower oil, dill and pepper. Taste to correct seasoning.

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My gold certificate

V&A and Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 exhibition

13 Friday Jun 2014

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Pieces from Joh Galliano
Romantic Jenny Packham

Back from honeymoon, I decided to prolong the wedding bubble by heading to that well known territory valled V&A, and purchased a ticket to see their Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 exhibition. It’s an uplifting show that manages to capture brilliantly the ethos of each era through a dress, taking us the growth of the wedding industry and the never-ending effect of media focus on wedding fashion. With the raise of photojournalism, society weddings were reported in detail in the national press and gossip column. Since then, this interest hasn’t ceased. Recession and age proof, the keen interest for weddings spans from c list celebrities to royalties.

Antique lace tiara by Philip Tracey

Antique lace tiara by Philip Tracey

Gwen Stefani dress on show

Gwen Stefani dress on show

A wedding is an iconic moment and bride’s dress is its most emblematic symbol.Each dress exhibited is a symbol of its owner’s optimism and captures, better than any other vestiaries’ items, changes in social and cultural attitudes. I will never forget the pictures of my grandmothers wedding outfits. The years after the war were not a happy time. Between rationing and high unemployment, not much money was running  around, let alone silk and organza. They got married in a suit, with a knee length skirt, an outfit that looks more like what you would wear for an interview.

This show is not for everyone, for example my husband would be bored to death. The show stoppers and truly spectacular outfits are just an handful: the Gwen Stefani’s one, a piece from Jenny Peckham, and the quitessentially 1930’s style of Norman Hartnell. These pieces truly capture the changing social and cultural attitudes to the wedding ceremony and marriage, taking an innovative turn.

No envy for the Kate Moss’ dress. Neither for her choice of husband.

 

Back to basics: printing is the new 3D

25 Tuesday Feb 2014

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If someone asked me what I think the future of art is, I would say that I see performing arts becoming multisensiorial. Concerts enriched by smells or images, exhibitions with music, ballet with a chance to dance for the audience, not exclusively for the performers.

The world we inhabit has changed immeasurably in the last few years. We are used to multitasking and doing only one thing at the time feels like a waste of time. In a way we are no longer used to it. We read and reply to e-mails on our mobile phones while we travel or queue at the counter, watch movies on tablets, work remotely and securely from our “office” in a coffee shop anywhere in the world.  One thing at a time is no longer enough for our over stimulated senses.

I saw one attempt of this – sadly in one room only – at the National Portrait Gallery for the Stardust: Bayley exhibition. It is such a pleasure watching intense imagines accompanied by music in the background.

Maggs

I had the pleasure to experience my idea of 21st century art last week at Maggs in Mayfair. The powerhouse of antique books was hosting a live performance of Beatie Wolfe. The place is very well known amongst the antique book collectors circle. I have passed by several times and always wished I had a reason to cross the door and browse its shelves.

Maggs 2Luckily enough, that opportunity finally arrived, enhanced by great music and a gin and tonic in my hands.

Beatie is a great performer, blessed with talent and beauty, not afraid to cross the boundaries – a quality that lead to a collaboration with Leonard Cohen – communicating her rich and intellectual inner world. As only real artists can do, she can express what we all feel and experience. The difference is that she does it better than we would do.

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What a better place than one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious rare booksellers to celebrate the first print of her album lyric book, in eighty-eight copies only, was one. After the release of the first 3D album she goes back to her origins: it turned out that her grandmother and grandfather met at Maggs quite few decades ago. He was a writer selling his manuscript, she was a shopping assistant. We can never move too far from our roots.

Avventure preconiugali: il corso per fidanzati

03 Tuesday Dec 2013

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Tra sei mesi mi sposo e non ho nessuna intenzione di trasformare il blog in una cronaca meticolosa della preparazione dell’evento. Ma la mia anima narratrice non può resistere dal raccontare alcuni episodi che costellano questi mesi così intensi ed emozionanti. Non vi preoccupate, non leggerete di dispute filosofiche sui vantaggi del cappello. Mi dedichero’ invece alle cose pratiche.

Capitolo uno: il corso per fidanzati.

Il Lord ed io avevamo un bel po’ di aspettative per questo corso. Non di essere illuminati lungo la via di Damasco, ma di ricevere alcuni spunti di discussione interessante, e anche un po’ una pacca sulla spalla, come a dire: “dai, siete sulla buona strada”.

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A guidare la scelta del corso, la praticità: lo vogliamo breve e vicino a casa. Non abbbiamo bisogno che qualcuno ci faccia il quadro astrale per decidere di volerci sposare.

Abbandoniamo quindi l’idea di frequentarlo nella bella chiesa di Cadogan Gardens a Chelsea, optando invece per la localissima, e ben più anonima, chiesetta di Pimlico, da sempre snobbata perché ha più l’aspetto di una scuola che di una chiesa.

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Non ci confessiamo però un desiderio che poi scopriremo essere comune: quello di incontrare altri esemplari di specie umana simili a noi, coppie di William e Beatrici, di Jeremy e Gaie, di Rupert e Caterine, della nostra stessa zona, con vite, lavori e storie simili. Non accadrà. Veniamo invece catapultati in una mega sala con altre 42 coppie di ogni etnia immaginabile, età, e religione. Pensavo che al corso per il matrimonio cattolico ci fossero solo cattolici, e invece il tasso di coppie di religione mista è molto alto. Del resto, nel caso ce ne fossimo dimenticati, siamo a Londra, non a Portogruaro.

Se nessuna di queste coppie assomiglia a noi, in compenso si assomigliano moltissimo tra loro. E’ un po’ la storia del cane e del padrone, o l’incarnazione del detto popolare “chi si somiglia si piglia”. A corso finito, ecco le nostre conclusioni:

a-sposa-cadavere

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uno: il lunedì è una serata giusta per organizzare corsi e prendersi impegni: abbiamo dimostrato di saperli rispettare.

Due: siamo riusciti a divertirci e intrattenerci al corso, grazie ai contenuti decisamente desueti. Esempi di domande a cui abbiamo dovuto rispondere: pensi che la moglie debba seguire il marito per lavoro? Credi che gli uomini siano più preparati delle donne nel prendere decisioni finanziarie?

Tre: Io non do consigli su come cambiare la marmitta del motorino. Perché devo sentirmi dire dal prete che il una performance tra le lenzuola non vale gran che se non supera i 15 minuti? Invito i preti a lavorare 12/14 ore nella City e poi se ne riparla.

Quattro: la gente non ha opinioni. Credevo che qualunque individuo dotato di un po’ di sale in zucca si formi un’opinione su figli, finanze, sesso, educazione. Il corso ci ha sbattuto in faccia l’inquietante realtà tanta gente si sposa senza discutere questi pilastri della convivenza di coppia.

Auguri anche a loro.

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