Manic Monday
Yes, I know Monday is now but a memory, and that it is now Wednesday. But Monday was a fun day!
Why a fun day? Well, aside from the usual stuff, I also made a vulgar suggestion to an artist I had never spoken to before - in Italian, then, after having retrieved the little one from his school, I met up with two American friends, Chris Bright and Sean Carlos for a couple of pints down at the good old 442 - in the company of the 5 year old bundle of energy. To cap it all, in the middle of Monday I received a request for a translation which had to be completed by Tuesday morning.
To cap things off, and just before I was due to collect the little one, it appeared that persons unknown had been trying to hack my Italy is in site, which turn turned added a dose of ‘frenetic’ to what had already been quite a hectic day. In order to block the potential hack and prepare myself for the worst, I whizzed around changing passwords, and making backups, just to be on the safe side.
Then came the news that the Italian mother in law had been admitted to hospital with breathing problems, which caused worries all round. The poor lady is something of a ticking time bomb, and years of chain smoking have left her health somewhat unstable. A great shame, she is a very sweet person.
Despite all the action, I managed to get the translation job finished on time, and the client was quite pleased to discover the nicely formatted, thanks to WordFast, final version lying in her email inbox on Tuesday morning.
As for the vulgar suggestion I made to the artist, who, as I have already mentioned, I had not spoken to before in my life, I am pleased to say that said artist was not the least bit put out by what some artists may have considered a potentially sacrilegious idea. Although I won’t mention exactly what I am up to, you can read more about the idea on my new Italy is in Italian contemporary art site, in this my ‘Art Meets Business‘ article over on Italy is in.
At least the drink down the pub was pleasent, and I was pleased to hear that Chris seems to be getting things sorted out on the looking for a job in Italy front. Sean was in fine form too, and we exchanged geek info about WordPress and he ended up asking me if I really was ‘just’ an English teacher, after I fired off some info about server file permissions (775 for most folders and 644 for most files, incidentally), after I mentioned the attack which appeared to have taken place. Yes, running your own web sites can be traumatic at times.
I finally got to bed at around 2am, think is was. Great, and Tuesday was to prove no less hectic.
Actually the activity of both days left me dog tired, and I ended up collapsing and falling asleep on the sofa with the dog last night.
At least today will be a little less fraught, I hope.
The 442 Star
Without this man and his pub, my life would be too hum drum:
This is the Landlord of the 442 - decent bloke and gentleman - Alessandro.
Thanks sir.
The day I met the president.
Yes, it’s true, I met the president the other day, while I was watching rugby at the 4-4-2 pub here in Milan.
However, as you may have guessed, the president I met was not the famous guy who runs the States from a big white house. Instead this president, one Massimiliano Natale, heads the Italian Touchrugby association, and is involved in the association’s informative website ‘Mai dire Meta’ - ‘Never say Try’ in English.
Since this sounded interesting, we started chatting and he told me how he and a group of friends got together in 2005 to promote touch rugby as a new sport in Italy. As a result, they created a website and registered the Italian Touchrugby association as a charity. Now they are working on the promotion of the sport in Italy. However, promoting this game will not be all that easy in football mad Italy, but, having said that, there are some indications that football is losing some of its popularity here. Interestingly, Massimiliano is himself an ex-football fan, which is one indication that something is changing. Another sign of change is the participation of the Italian rugby team in international rugby championships, which has proved very popular with Italian TV audiences, thanks in great part to the matches being shown on the Italian La 7 TV channel.
Perhaps it would be true to say that the Italian team’s struggle to the top has created a resurgence of interest in Rugby which is something of a minority sport here in Italy. Possibly this resurgence is due to stories of violence at football matches, over-paid players, and various scandals have caused people to find an alternative to the ‘beautiful’ game. In other words, a sport which is still a sport, and not a thinly disguised international business.
Enter touch rugby or ‘touch’ as it is known down in Australia, where it is also referred to as touch football, apparently.
But why play touch rugby instead of the traditional form of the game? Well, while rugby is a great game, it is perhaps a wee bit violent for the average person who is not built like a small armoured vehicle, and this aspect of the game most probably puts many people off from trying out the sport. Touch rugby, though, is an essentially non-violent form of rugby. There is no tackling, scrumming, rucking, mauling, lineouts and kicking. It’s also a sport which both men and women can play on equal terms, and Massimiliano told me that a number of women do play the game in and around Milan. I like the idea that both men and women can play a sport together, and touch is one of those few sports in which mixed-sex teams are possible.
Have a go
If you would like to have a go at touch, then at the moment Touchrugby organises touch matches in local parks, especially Parco Nord which is on the northern side of Milan and the park in Cernusco sul Naviglio. Both Parco Nord and Cernusco are easily reached by public transport. You can find details of forthcoming events and games in Mai Dire Meta’s forum, although the information is currently only in Italian. I shall try to encourage Massimiliano to set up an RSS feed on his site so that subscribers can find out when and where meetings will take place.
Other teams
There are also some other teams springing up, as you can see from the list on the Mai Dire Meta site. The news on the front page indicates that there are also two teams down in Rome.
English is spoken
Do not worry if you do not speak Italian, Massimiliano speaks good English and I understand from him that a number of non-Italians are members of the club, including a few Welsh people who live and work over here.
So if you are feeling a little overweight and need a little exercise, or simply fancy meeting some new people and want to have a little fun, get in touch with Touchrugby Italy through the Mai Dire Meta site, or register in the Mai Dire Meta form, ask a few questions (in English!) and find out some more. The non-obligatory Touchrugby membership fee is a whole 10 Euros. For this fee you get insurance cover and the right to play in international tournaments. However, playing a game of touch in the local parks will not cost anything and never will. Players between the ages of 25 to 60 are more than welcome. Mai Dire Meta is also looking for volunteers to help set up touch teams in other areas around Italy, so contact them if you think you may be able to help out.
You may also be interested to hear that on the 11th October, Shane Wilson, an Australian who is the Scottish National Touch rugby team coach, will be over here in Milan. In honour of this occasion, Touchrugby has found somewhere to hold a match in the central Fiera area of Milan. A party is also planned and will most probably take place at the good old 4-4-2 on the same day. See the Mai Dire Meta site and forums for details.
To see some more photos of the players in action and find out more (in Italian), follow these links:
If you would like to see some videos of the teams in action check out this on YouTube .
There are certainly some parallels between touch and the full blown contact sport, indeed, after a game of either version, you will find all the players down at the pub downing more than a few beers!
Photos by Nicola Stornati
Tinned haggis.
A long time ago, I remember shocking Italians by telling them that ravioli, macaroni cheese and spaghetti bolognese were all available in tins in the UK. And when I told them that I had had ravioli on toast, I think it confirmed their suspicions that English people were an odd bunch!
Well, the Italians have got their revenge. Last night, while I was at the 442, my favourite watering hole, I was chatting with Alessandro the landlord about UK food, and the subject of haggis came up. Being something of a UKophile, Alessandro knew all about haggis and he even produced a tin of the stuff (which I now have and am quite keen to try). Haggis in a tin! Gordon Bennet, I never thought I would see the day!
Now I know how the Italians felt when I told them about tinned ravioli. The expression is, ‘gobsmacked’, I believe.
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