I'm watching the royal wedding in real time and it's hilarious!  The American Episcopal priest is preaching like he's in Macon, Georgia and these Brits don't know what to think.  Some are trying not to laugh.  William looks like he's going to crack a rib.  Some look shocked.  The English priests are just staring straight ahead, frozen in disdain, all stiff upper lippy.  Now there is an America gospel group singing!  There have NEVER before been so many blacks in St. George's Chapel!  The BBC announcer is a kick.  He keeps saying that there has never been a royal wedding quite like this.  So...lively...so energetic!  He just called it a ceremony and a half.  Tee hee.

What a lovely 24 hours we had this weekend!  GP and I took the train, (high-speed, 2 hours), to Verona on Saturday morning.  Grace gave me two tickets to see Sam Smith in concert at the Verona Arena.  And yes, you know who he is.  Watch this.

 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ub7Etch2U)

Moi outside the Arena (I have no lips?)

Our view of the stage

The Arena is a smaller version of the Colosseum but in much better shape.  From April through October, it's used as a venue for concerts, opera and theater.  It was a glorious night with a light breeze and stars shining.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  That man has the voice of an angel, gospel back-up singers and puts on a great show. Then there is Verona which I have always loved though it's getting too touristy.  When I first visited it 30 plus years ago, it was a quiet, dusty little city but very beautiful.  The walled old center sits in the curve of the river Adige that curls around and almost surrounds the city.  There are hills on the far side of the river backed by the Eastern Alps, (or Western Dolomites?).  Unfortunately there were thousands of people there for the concert and it was way over-crowded.  Those lovely narrow old streets are not made for those numbers.


It was also Greyhound rescue festival or something, cause those scrawny dogs were everywhere.  They are the most pathetic looking things with their skinny little tails always tucked between their legs and their ribs protruding.  Most of them were dressed too.  I mean, come on!  What kind of self-respecting dog wears a hoodie? 

We spent the night in a b&b way the heck out of the center because everything else was booked or 5 stars.  The owners are an odd couple.  She's a young spacey English gal who must have said, "Oh yeah, yeah..", 50 times.  (I started counting).  He's a middle aged Italian with creepy Mel Gibson crazy eyes.  He drove us into the center on Saturday afternoon and all I could see were his eyes in the rear-view mirror.  Spooky.  But actually they were very hospitable.  They still have a lot to learn about running a business though.  They had no signs.  I mean NO SIGNS.  And the place is on a tiny dirt road with the same name as a longer paved road 1/4 mile away.  We wandered around like idiots for half an hour before calling them, getting directions and still couldn't find it!  Signs people, signs!

Here's GP wandering aimlessly.

 Anywho.  We got home yesterday to cold rain.  Today back at work and it's even colder and rainier. Sniff.  I prefer vacation.  xxoo me

*OH MY GOD what is going on today?!  I am the SAT supervisor at school.  Big mistake.  Way too much paperwork and bureaucracy for my addled brain.  That said, in the 6 years that I've been doing this there have been very few problems and I've never had to fill out an Irregularity Report.  Well I'm making up for it today.  Firstly we had 3 no-shows which led to our starting late as I was giving them some extra time.  I don't like being here on a Saturday and I REALLY don't like being here more time than needed.  When I finally got everyone in and settled there were tons of questions (students rarely ask anything) about filling in the answer sheets, one kid needed a calculator, another pencils, one was registered for the wrong testing center and her exam today won't count, another wrote all of her answers in her test book instead of the answer sheet when we explicitly discussed this and when she couldn't transfer her answers because time was up she had an anxiety attack and had to borrow my phone to call her mother to pick her up.  I had to talk the poor kid down off the ledge while desperately needing to pee and having a room full of test takers waiting for me to continue.  Then, in the middle of testing, when all is quiet and needs to be so, the skylight behind my desk started leaking (it wasn't even freaking raining!) with really loud "plunk, plunk, plunk" sounds till I put a pile of tissues under it.  Fer chrissakes!  AND I have a headache from a food hangover.  GP was craving steak last night, (well, always).  Real steak from an adult cow that is red in the middle.  So we went to a place called Renegade.

Yes, there's my little cowboy just a sauntering in.  It's all done up like a saloon with saddles and velvet pictures of Native Americans on horseback.  The regulars wear cowboy hats and boots and take it all VERY seriously.  There's line dancing every evening at 9, Harleys parked out front and a Confederate flag flying over the gate.  THIS is their America.  But the steaks are good and they have imported beer.  Whatta ya want?  xxoo me

*wrote this last Saturday but never sent it.  oops. 

The world is falling apart with nuclear war imminent and Italian papers are all about the cops that nabbed a marmalade thief!  A pastry shop was being routinely robbed of marmalade so the intrepid police, dressed as electricians, set up a security camera to catch the criminal.  (This is the honest to goodness truth).  They caught the guy on tape, an employee of the shop, and we can all now rest easy.

nite