Nearly got discovered

Hey all,

Finally a night where I could feel air moving and the bed did not vibrate with snoring. Joy. Slept in a bit then chatted to Mum and Dad on skype for a while at a cafe with free wifi – have confused instructions from Mum about buying red boots. I will endeavour to do so at some point over the next month – can't imagine that much could go wrong with that little task, given my extensive experience in red boot buying. After I had hung up I was approached by an Australian woman who has been living in Florence for 20 years and has her own modelling agency. Aha! Finally! My big break, I thought, but no, she just wanted to chat – it turns out I am ugly, even repulsive – her office was just above the cafe and she had heard my accent through the window, came down to talk – was nice to chat to an Australian who wasn't 19 and drunk. She suggested another language school which she sends her girls to if the one I had already signed up for looked dodgy. She also said she would let me know about some cheap and good places to eat, which is helpful, since it is not like Rome here – you can't wander off in some vaguely disreputable looking direction away from the crowds for five minutes and find reasonable prices. I may even be able to get some pointers on the red boots.

Then spoke to K for a while, who was a bit down – did my best to cheer her up, which is only fair, given that she cheered me up the other day when I was morose. She is working four days and rehearsing all day on the other three and is basically on the go from 6AM till 10PM all day every day, so you can imagine how that conversation went:

B: “Woe is me. I am in Italy on holiday. The sun is shining. Woe, I say. Woe!”

K: “Just hang in there, dear. You'll pull through, somehow.”

B: “Thanks. I feel better. How was your day?”

K: “Well...”

Anyway, went to the language school suggested by the model agent – it seemed very good. Then went to mine, and could not get in. Was thinking about pulling the pin on the one I had signed up for, but figured they might be at lunch, so went back an hour or so later and could get in this time – it seemed decent, had a library, someone studying, reasonable classrooms, so the upshot is that I will stick with it and see how it goes.

Did not do much tourist stuff today – figure I have got a month for that, so just wandered around – found a place that sells good cigars at retail for less than half of what they cost back home – another point in Florence's favour.

In other news, think I am coming down with a cold – sore throat, sneezing, chills. This is a pain in the neck – went to a chemist, managed to finally make it understood that I did not want to buy perfume. After a moment of shocked silence they consented to sell me these little throat tablets I am supposed to suck on every three hours. Also bought some tissues, as I seem to have left all my handkerchiefs at home.

Am sitting down now in some weird little deserted courtyard writing this, as it is more private than trying to do it at the hostel. Have a photo of that attached, also more roast beef, with four fantastic cigars that only cost 26 EU for the lot (you'd be lucky to get much change out of 100$ back home), and a few other random shots walking around the streets. It is a weird kind of beauty – totally man-made – it amazes me that thin little canyon like streets with no trees at all can be so pretty.

Cheers, B.