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weathering the
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Summer is just around the corner, actually, just a few days away, but here in Rome, it is in full force. People everywhere, but that is normal at all times of year. Remember, last I mentioned to you that Rosa said Rome is closed, but that was in July and August, of last year, I believe. It is still June and with the Jubilee, it is already crazy, no let me rephrase, it has always been, as far as I know. Rome does sell itself, from the Colosseum and Roman Forum to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. Include the Vatican, which is the real reason for the Jubilee, this, and every 25 years, although, its own entity, the smallest country in the world, one of two that are wholly surrounded by Italy and in this case, Rome, itself. The other, do you know what it is? That other small country that is totally surrounded by the Italian State? No, okay, I will tell you. It is San Marino, and neither has a border. You just cross a point, and you are there. How many of you have been to the “small” countries of Europe? There are officially 6 countries and I have had the pleasure, or sometimes, with the crowds, not the pleasure of being there. Do you know what they are? The first two you now know, Vatican City and San Marino, both surrounded by Italy. There are four more official small countries in Europe, often referred to as microstates and they are Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco. These countries are the smallest by area in Europe. The smallest, as previously mentioned, especially when the crowds are there and the temperatures are in the 90’s F (high 30’s C) with the humidity, it is not a great place to be, but crowds, it draws and that is Vatican City and worth it, if you have never been. Pictures do not do it justice.
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 Returned home from London last Wednesday night late and there it was, the WP’s WP in our living/dining room/office and as the picture of last week showed, it took up a lot of space. Fast forward a few days and a chance to dig in, re-organize, put some things away and others, yes, others, being tossed, as I did not have time, a year ago, to go through everything in those last remaining items, in my then storage unit in New England, so just put in a box or two, and off it went, first to be held in storage, finally shipped across the sea, to our little abode here in Rome. In a way, I have mixed feelings and perhaps some minor regrets, but those came and went. The stuff I kept is here and I am little by little going through things, and yes, it is possible, some more may go away, and some, in our storge room in the basement, although, how much is to be seen, given that I do not know how much Rosa has in there and her organizational skills, God bless her. They are not that good. In the end, all that is left will have its place, the walls filled with puffins, at least some will be, as only certain walls will she allow them to be. She even commented already on my taxidermy stuffed puffin that I purchased decades ago in Iceland and there is another one from the Faroes. Her comment, why do we need a mummified puffin. I told her it was the most unique of all the puffins I have in the form of artwork, Knick knacks and so forth, and no, I did not kill it and it was not endangered. It died, so I have been told naturally, and they are protected. In any case, opening each box, so packed a year ago and beyond, including artwork, wrapped in the paper it was protected by, once framed, and not knowing what I will find in each box, or container, so it is a bit of a treasure hunt, as someone remarked about last week’s post. My weekend was spent, working on this to get it to a manageable point, work on travel projects and yes, I did teach on Thursday, the day after I returned from London and the other usual suspects of my weekend schedule, like going to market for my fresh veggies and fruits, and cooked a couple of meals, one with chicken and one with pork for us, as the weekends are the really busy time for Rosa and the mid-week is my busy time with the classes I teach. In a few weeks’ time, the teaching schedule will lessen as the number of students lessens for the summer, which is fine with me as there is so much to do around here and also to find time for Rosa and me to do things together, a date night here, a weekend away there. It was just yesterday that I was commenting and actually several other teachers said how tired they were, and I agreed. It had been a long time since I had taught with such regularity, added to the travel planning and the daily requirements of life. I started at Wall Street in September or October and it is June, so a whole school year had gone by and I teach between 15 – 20 hours a week, most in the evenings, but one private student in the mornings, twice a week, some in the midafternoons, but mostly the evening, so being tired was a real thing for me, and reminded me when the school years used to end, it was a breath of fresh air. While the school is private, and only closes for Italian holidays and two weeks in August, I feel that I really accomplished something and recalling last August, when I just happened to be detoured and it turned out to be the correct call.
 Greetings from London where I have been the past few days. I was here strictly on business with two days of conferences and meetings to gain see insight into my industry from different perspectives and connect and re-connect with partners with new ideas and experiences to share with my valued clients. This is what I do, most of the time, when I am traveling. I am not a holiday taker but try to incorporate a holiday of sorts when I do travel, but more often that not, there is a business component or two. That said, of course, if there is time in my schedule to experience something different since the last time I was here in London and going to the British Museum. And, yes, once in a while, I take a vacation for vacation’s sake, even if there may be a business element to it. In fact, in two weeks’ time, I will return here to London to attend an event with African suppliers and representatives, as I also can handle that continent as well for my clients. It is nice to have partners around the world, but in a few hours, I fly home and that will be nice. Yes, I am more of a homebody these days also, so the once Wandering Puffin that was always on the road, is doing less so, but that does not mean I do not travel. It is a part of me and yes, I also travel with Rosa. But the balance of the week will be focused on several key things as I have travel plans to work, English to teach and yes, believe it or not, unpack the WP’s WPs that arrived yesterday. We will leave the car story out of this one, as you know, that is a different story, but apparently, everything else is in the common room, better known as the living, dining room/office, so I have my work cut out for me to go through what is there, place things where they need to be and bring that room back to an semblance of order. Momma was there to receive everything as I was and still am in London and Rosa was working all day. When I put the last of my worldly possessions together and time was running out last May, some things simply got lumped together. Now, I will go through the obvious and when I get to that box or two of “stuff” unknown, then perhaps, I will cull the herd one more time, a bit of a treasure hunt, I suppose.
It turns out that summer, I had to apply for a fiscal code (codice fiscale), somewhat equivalent to the Social Security Number in the states, here to rent an apartment, and customs wanted to know why? Normally, this is done by a resident, in a more permanent status, but the rental agreement required I get one, so I did. In fact, the rental agency assisted me in getting it, so I had it. I was only here for technically 89 days, actually less, since I was in the UK for a few days in between, so well within the Schengen 90/180 rules to be here, but apparently, this messed with the bureaucracy. As Rosa would say “How’s possible?” I have given up trying to understand the Italian bureaucracy as nothing, even to Italians makes sense. Am I staying, of course, I am staying, and I will take each bureaucratic nightmare in stride, since I am a permanent resident with a codice fiscale and more importantly, an amazing wife who I love and adore and the reason I am here. Will I see my worldly possessions in my lifetime? Well, that is to be seen, since things run on snail time, but having supplied the additional information and a declaration as such, signed by Rosa and me, yesterday and supposedly received by customs, and to this point, some 12 to 15 hours later, as this is written, well, no news is good news. By days end, we should know, hopefully or we will have to provide our first born. No, no children on the way, but it just seems that while I very much appreciate all the I’s dotted and the T’s crossed, this is truly a bureaucratic mess.
What do you write about when there really nothing is to write about. I am not about complaining about life, because life is too short to waste such energies, but sometimes I still do. It is human to find issue with things and that is normal. I want to be happy and live my life and the scales balance that way. There are days though that you simply want to throw on the woodpile and forget about, but sometimes they linger. In any case, this past week was, well routine, for the most part, work, school, library, guiding and the usual daily experiences that Rosa and I have in our crazy little world.
We have not received any recent emails or updates on the whereabouts of my worldly possessions, so not wanting to assume, they will arrive on land by the end of the week, but perhaps, I just jinxed it, and more delays will be on the way. Who knows. Again, I can’t get wound up on things of which I have no control. It is a funny thing though. I have not seen the stuff in nearly a year, and the same feelings of what I had felt when my stuff back in Minnesota had sat in storage for years, and realizing what there was and how reasonably easy it was to dispose of for the most part, either thrown, sold, or given away. Just things in the end.
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Wandering PuffinWeathering the Storm with the Wandering Puffin Archives
June 2025
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