Bomb scare

April 9, 2006 · Filed Under Italy · Comment

What happens when a bearded man runs into a classroom, dumps a bag and runs off? Well, the result of this very incident was mild panic when most of my students thought that the aforementioned bag contained a bomb, seeing as, they assumed, the bearded man who ran off was possibly Islamic. The incident caused a few tense moments and was not the best way to kick off the course I was holding last Friday. In fact, I picked up the said bag and took it to what I hoped would be a safe distance should it actually have been a bomb - although it did feel rather lighter than I would have expected a bomb to have felt. Was I worried? Well, yes I was, a wee bit. I mean I could have ended up being spread all over the building, which would not have been too nice, I suppose. Had said bag really contained a bomb, I would have been hailed as a hero, possibly. As it happens, the whole event blew over quietly, which was what I was hoping for. Although my other half made me feel a lot better by telling me that she considers the place I work in to be a prime target for bombing types. If I'd realised this, then maybe I wouldn't have so readily picked up the bag.

As it transpired and after I had taken a look in the bag, there was nothing amiss. We later found out that the escaping man, who was totally oblivious to the panic he almost caused, was no more than someone who was new to the building and had dumped his bag in the wrong classroom. Still, it shows the level of paranoia which Bin Laden and his mob have managed to create.

I've been super busy recently, but the product of all my long hours of hard work seem to have been appreciated, which makes me feel that all that hard slog was worthwhile. When given a task and a strict deadline, I'll push myself as hard as I can in order to finish what I'm doing. I'm no stranger to deadlines. In my last job missing a deadline meant quite literally my ending up in court. It never happened. Thank heavens: seeing as I had been given zero training on this issue by my ever-wise bosses. Knowing this is most probably what kept me out of court, I suppose.

In general I'm reasonably good at dealing with spur of the moment difficult type situations (I've had a little experience….), but I'm not so good at dealing with long term bad situations which just make me feel stressed.

Boy, am I glad that things are starting to quieten down a wee bit. It may even leave me with a little time to post more often on this here blog.

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Elections and the official pencil

April 9, 2006 · Filed Under Italian politics · Comment

As most of the known world knows, Italians are deciding who, or rather, which group of people, is/are going to hold the reins in Italy for the next five years. Mr B has been tying himself in knots in his attempts to get everyone to give him a second five year term in office, whereas his opponent, the staid ex-prime minister Prodi has been playing his cards quite coolly. The trouble is the voting system is a bit fiddly, so no-one will really know anything until all the votes are in on Monday.

I went with my other half to her polling station this morning and was a little surprised to note that there were separate voting booths for men and women. I did enquire as to why, but was told that it had always been so. Next there were the rather curious voting slips which don't have names on them, but have a series of symbols - bet that confused more than a few people. And you vote by means of the official pencil. No ordinary pencil this, it has a special lead which allows those monitoring the elections to see if someone, not using an official pencil, has added a few extra votes just for good measure. There is even a large fine of up to 300 Euros for walking off with the official X-making implement. Just as well I don't have the right to vote here, I would surely have wandered off with the official pencil and been fined. I'm always acquiring biros and other non-official writing implements without realising it.

No sign of the UN election monitors though, which Mr B won't be too happy about. Italians can continue to vote tomorrow too, which may encourage those who were sunning themselves at the seaside to actually cast a vote. Last time plenty of potential voters didn't bother with the X thing, preferring instead to relax down on the beach or chill out in the mountains. The result of this apathy was Mr B, for better or for worse. It will be interesting this time to see just how many will toddle on down to their nearest polling stations. I get the impression that many many educated young people will be putting crosses which won't be very helpful to Mr B in his attempt to keep himself where he currently is. We shall see.

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