Tailor

Hey all,

Got the bus in to centro this morning which was pretty straightforward – tried to find some maps for the walk I plan to do, but after four bookshops who did not have a clue (apart from one guy who gave definite instructions – I picked up “stairs” and “left” and could not find either) and an outdoor shop which also did not have a clue, I think I will just go to the town where the downloaded chapter says to start and hope that I can buy some maps there, as it claims I can. 

The town to start from, by the way, is about three quarters of the way back to Santa Teresa, so probably at least four or five hours on a bus. Planning in advance: 1 point. On the other hand, had I gone straight there, I would not have come here, which would have been a shame. Making it up as you go along: 1 point. So, about even at this stage because I am loving this town – is a bustling and occasionally grungy working city and port, I think it has been both for about 3000 years – does not depend on the tourist dollar, so the prices are normal and it doesn't have that kind of ambivalent love/hate relationship with tourists that places which do depend almost entirely on them do. 0.80C for a coffee, even if you sit down – and this morning had free wifi with it.

After giving up on the map I decided to wander around a bit, get my bearings – in other words got completely lost, still have no idea where anything is. But did find a shop that sold needle and thread, which I need because the button holding up my one remaining pair of long pants has fallen off. Had no idea what to do with the needle and thread once purchased, but I was convinced they were both necessary to the process. Then came across this old tailor who was sitting in his shop chatting with his even more ancient crony. I thought to ask him if he could sew the button back on for me. This seemed to amuse them both enormously – when they eventually figured out what I was asking. They were even more amused by the process itself – me standing there in my jocks, holding the pants up while the tailor attached the button in an efficient and practised kind of way. He refused payment – I think the encounter with the idiot turisto with the ridiculous blue shoes who couldn't sew pretty much made his day – I should have charged him. Wandered around some more – the odd shop with an English name, trying to be classy in the same way that the occasional shop in Melbourne tries to be classy by calling itself something in Italian – so you get the odd weird thing like “New Bestsellers” - a joint that sold lingerie.

Eventually, after a few quite lovely churches, I did find the museum I was hoping to find at the start of the day. Interesting place – free entry everywhere because off-season – they were in the process of unpacking priceless oils from crates – propping them up against the wall in a casual kind of way, waving me through past the stacked paintings, “Prego, prego.” On the way home I found a hair-dresser who only wanted 8EU to shave my head with a pair of clippers, but then did my beard, eyebrows, and gave me a shampoo as well, so I gave him 10. In Corsica I was quoted 26 just for the shave – could buy clippers for that. Got off at the wrong stop on bus ride back, but eventually got here about an hour later – cheapskate supermarket meal on the balcony – one of the nice things about being in the middle nowhere is just watching people go about their lives – got a long and funny email from K, who had written a pretend blog post about walking up and down stairs and so on in Melbourne during her lunch break, complete with photos, accounts of trials, wildlife, la refuge du coffee e refuse, and so on, which pretty much made my day.

There is some ancient Roman theatre/stadium carved into a mountain which I plan to find tomorrow, as well as how to get back to the other town I need to go to, as well as probably a little more random wandering. There are even more ancient ruins (many of which leave people pretty mystified) all over this island as well – might do the walk that takes in a few of them as opposed to the coastal one with all the beaches.

Photos: 1. Death on the roof of a crypt beneath a church. 2. Ancient citadel wall, modern port. 3. Check out those spikes – cars still drive through this gate. 4. A bunch of swords – they look impressive – are nearly as tall as me – but they are not entirely sure what the point of them was – I studied these years ago in archaeology – problem is that they are really long, but the handle is basically just held on to the end by a pin – so physically impossible to really swing. At best they were probably used to stab with, but even then you would have to be aiming pretty straight. 5. Madonna and baby Jesus – with male pattern baldness. 6. There is an theology of contemporary church architecture that rails against the use of stained glass windows. They are exclusionary, introspective, can only be appreciated from within etc. etc. These people are idiots. 7. A fairly ghoulish Christ.

Cheers, B.