THE SAME SEA

I did not learn of the tragic events in the Mediterranean of last Saturday to Sunday night until lunchtime on Sunday. If I had been aware of them as I gazed at the peaceful sea at the Marina di Ragusa on Sunday morning it would have been hard to believe that they had happened only a few hours earlier, for it was a perfect spring day in Sicily, there was little traffic and all seemed calm and "right with the world". Life, as we all know, goes on and perhaps that is the hardest part.

Windswept blogger!

This is my Romanian friend, Anca.

One week on and my thoughts are still with all who have set out on this perilous journey.

XMAS IS POSTPONED

It's a while since we had a post office story on Sicily Scene and this one comes via a friend who lives in Marina di Ragusa:

Not having received Christmas cards that friends in the UK had posted in early December, my friend went to her local post office to ask if there was any undelivered mail for her last week.  The clerk said that there was not and then, when asked if he could check, that it was not his job to do so. 

Yesterday, therefore, my friend went to the main postal distribution centre for Ragusa, where she was informed that if she telephoned them they would check and get the postman to deliver.  My friend said she knew there was post and wanted to collect it herself.  This caused much deliberation among the employess but finally they agreed to check and produced no less than 29 Christmas cards, a magazine, a letter and a bill which had to be paid that very day.  The excuse for non-delivery?  "Well, it's holiday time."

Hey, Ragusa - we're British and we want our Christmas cards!

Lest you should imagine that the local post is much more efficient, the employees at Ragusa confirmed my friend's suspicion that all post in the Province with a local address goes to Catania [which constitutes another  Province] to be franked and is then sent back to the towns of origin for delivery.

"Time stops at Messina".

HEARTS OF GOLD

My dear friends Jean and Gino truly have hearts of gold so it was with great pleasure that I attended their golden wedding anniversary party at the Marina di Ragusa on Friday night.  Jean and Gino have been living happily in Sicily for 17 years and Gino, as you may imagine, is of Italian descent.  

The party, appropriately for around 50 of Jean and Gino's friends,  was held in the elegant, covered courtyard of a restaurant which has the original name of Stasera pago io! ["Tonight I'm Paying!"]

The generous antipasti came plated and were very prettily presented. [There was melon under the Parma ham.]

Then there was wild asparagus risotto

and pasta with speck and mushrooms:

The main course was fillet of beef in a mushroom sauce

served with a side salad:

There was a refreshing macedonia for dessert

before Jean and Gino cut this beautiful cake, which had been made in a tiny, nearby pasticceria:

I wonder if they remember the first time they did this?

Unlike Will and Kate, Jean and Gino repeated the kiss several times for their friends - and for themselves!

The cake tasted every bit as delicious as it looked:

Every guest received one of these beautiful bomboniere [wedding favours]

decorated with a crystal bunch of grapes and containing golden sugared almonds:

Here is your intrepid blogger with Jean, Gino and our friend Linda of whom I've written many times on this blog:

Yes, that's a chignon I've got for the occasion, courtesy, of course, of Raffaele the hairdresser and I know he won't forgive me if I don't show you the back!

And now I'd like you all to join me in a toast: To Jean and Gino, our golden couple.  May you enjoy many more happy years together.

THREE BLUE FLAGS FOR RAGUSA

The Blue Flag Programme, which is run by the non-profit Foundation for Environmental Education [FEE] and, in Italy, the Consorzio nazionale per batterie esauste and Enel Sole, has announced its 2011 awards and I am happy to be able to report that six Sicilian beaches are among the 233 Italian locations which will be able to fly the famous flag this year. These are:

Lipari [Messina]
Fiumefreddo di Sicilia - Marina di Cottone [Catania]
Ispica [Ragusa]
Pozzallo [Ragusa]
Marina di Ragusa [Ragusa]
Menfi [Agrigento]

The two new entrants are Lipari and Ispica.  The Province of Ragusa, as you see, has done very well.

Blue flags are awarded to beaches in 41 countries in Europe, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and the Caribbean and beauty, water quality, services, safety, child and disabled access and environmental awareness are all taken into account when nominations are being considered.

In Italy as a whole Liguria tops the table with 17 flagged beaches,  Tuscany and Marche are in joint second place with 16 each and Abruzzo is third with 14.  

Pozzallo

THE DANGERS OF USING TRENDY ENGLISH

Oh, pity the Mayor of Ragusa who is inadvertently going to cause much confusion among English-speaking visitors this summer:  The Mayor, in his wisdom, has declared a "dog free zone" along a 200-metre stretch of the spiaggia degli Americani down at the Marina di Ragusa, but he doesn't mean an area free of dogs;  he means the opposite - an area where dogs, provided they are on a leash and muzzled, will be tolerated on the beach.

English has the advantage of being a more economical languager than Italian, so I can understand why the phrase seemed attractive but please, Mr Mayor, check out the meaning!

Simi thinks the dogs will not have much fun if they have to be muzzled all the time and she'd rather stay at home!

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