Well, it’s all happening here!  Today is Sunday.  We are having some beautiful weather right now.  It’s like spring, which is fantastic.

However, yesterday, when Rufus and I were coming back from the park in the morning, there were tons of Police with riot gear all over Porta Venezia.  They were stopping traffic going up and down Corso Buenos Aires and there were a lot of people about.

An hour or two after we got home, I heard a police helicopter flying very low, so assumed something was up.  Looking outside I could see a thick black plume of smoke from the Porta Venezia area and heard some people down below (from the restaurant where we get our Pizzas) saying something about a car.

So, later on, we decided that, as it was a really beautiful day and I had done a load of work already, we should take a walk up to Corso Buenos Aries (about 5 minutes, at the top of the road we live on) and take some air, enjoy the sunshine (it was over 13 degrees, after all).  When we got to the top of the road we saw an amazing (and saddening) sight!  There were crowds of people and lots of police.  A shop had been burnt out, there were three or four cars and a number of motorscooters burnt out and, all in all, it looked like a scene from a war zone!

We later learned that there was a planned march by the Forza Nuova (which I understand is Italy’s closest thing to the old Fascist party, headed by Alessandra Mussolini, no less) from the top of Corso Buenos Aries to San Babila (near the centre of town), only some anti-globalisation people or left-wing people were trying to stop them and it ended up as a pitched battle with the police.

Considering we live so close, we seemed to miss the action, but I’m quite grateful for that.

And today we have had a very windy day.  It almost felt like England!  Anyway, this morning I awoke early and suddenly heard a lot of noise like sheet metal being dragged across the road.  So I went to have a look and the scaffolding which was at the front of one of the apartment blocks in our square had peeled itself off the apartment block and laid itself all over the square!  Quite impressive.  The weather is beautiful, but the wind makes it feel cold, like about 5 degrees, so not so nice.

I’m now working every day and, to be honest, it does get me down sometimes.  But, this is life and I just need to get on with it.  Need to win the lottery or something!!