1 January 2006 – The New Year arrives

Close to midnight we made our way to the Piazza del Popolo, which is where we were told was the place to go for such an occasion. Instead of mutilating and executing people there, nowadays they spray you with Spumante and let of crackers that sounded like bombs being dropped by a lost US pilot on his way to Baghdad. When the booms and dooms built up to a crescendo we assumed that it was indeed New Year so we launched into an awful version of Auld Lang Syne and hoped that between the fireworks and the sound of pouring rain battering away at our flimsy brollies, no-one would hear our caterwauling. Huh, no such luck, Graham took a recording of us on his new toy. Why I don’t know, probably for the same reason that tabloid photographers like to take pictures of minor celebrities with their un-airbrushed hail damaged bellies hanging out so that they can frighten audiences with just how awful things can be sometimes J - well at least we got into the spirit of things and seeing that my Italian was restricted to buono sera..come sta..grazi….and avanti, auld lang syne just had to do.31 December 2005 – Raining Romans

We arrived in a grey and wet Rome and were immediately besieged by an army of Bangladeshi umbrella sellers who swarmed over us like annoying mechanical flies trying to offload their wares. It didn’t matter that we each had an umbrella, they seemed to think that we needed to buy some more. I was hoping that some evil wind would whip itself up and carry them off into the distance like some demented Inspector Gadget like Mary Poppinses.

We met up with Jeannie and wandered off to St Peter’s Square which was lit up with soft yellow lights and a garish giant sized Nativity Scene. Papa was giving a mass which was beamed out over massive TV screens whilst the silent sheet clad statues of al the past Popes gazed on from above the pillars standing guardian over the Square. There were no epiphanies to be had that night, so we wandered off in the direction of the Spanish Stairs to find somewhere to eat (and get warm).


We found a restaurant and a friendly Sudanese waiter in whose care we decided to eat our way through the old year.