An Opportunity for Italy?
As I mentioned in my previous post, Rajab is coming to study Italian in Italy this summer.
Now why should this present an opportunity for Italy? Well, Italy is very well placed geographically to receive bright young things from north Africa, which is an area, unlike central and southern Africa, alas, which appears to be moving ahead, silently, but quickly.
In some respects, north Africa could be compared to India - which is another area which is on the up and up.
If Italy played its cards right, it could set up plenty of facilities to satisfy the craving for education the youngsters from these areas appear to have.
Not only this, but Italy could end up with some bright new talent too.
As Man of Roma pointed out in his ‘The Southern Shores of the Mediterranean‘ post, Italians are more closely related to those on the other side of the Med than perhaps many would like to admit. Which means that those on the other side of the Med can be made to feel quite at home here.
How could it happen?
It’s boiling hot here. Putting on a suit for work is a torture. The simple act of putting up three shelves caused yours truly to break out in sweat. So how the blazes can I have ended up with a sort of summer flu? Aches and pains, snotty and coughy. I’m feeling pretty groggy. I just don’t understand how I can end up with a cold right in the middle a heat wave. Must be old age or something and I’m sure the smoking doesn’t help either. Must give up (How many times have I said this?).
An inventive punishment
This is one for all those fathers out there who a having problems with teenage offspring. When your son or daughter gets all teenage stroppy, as happens from time to time, how about banning them from going to school? Original. However if my father had said ‘Son. You are not going to school today as a punishment for nearly destroying the sofa with your gunpowder experiments (Er, don’t ask…).’ I would have outwardly looked good and peeved, possibly, but inside I would have been jumping for joy.
Well, this is not how a teenage daughter took to her being banned from going to school. She actually escaped from her house, made it to the bus stop and got to school. Her father realised what was going on, probably when he discovered that she had done her history homework or something, hopped on his motorbike and rode of to his daughters school, where, having apprehended his runaway daughter, he tried to drag her back to the family abode. A teacher and classmates intervened and the police, who usually hang around on traffic duty outside the school, where called in.
Don’t know what will happen to the father. Never ever heard of anyone actually preventing their children from going to school before. My, Italy is a complex place.
