Dec 10, Day 119, Last Italian weekend in ‘06: (Weekend #18)

It’s finally stopped raining, and I’m writing to you looking at unfamiliar stars though my window.

Friday was a national holiday, so I was able to extend my last weekend in Italy this year by an extra day. Although this extra day off made the workweek 20% shorter, the time in the office seemed to drag along slower than ever just to spite me. The unrelenting drizzle outsize made the office even gloomier than usual, regardless of my anticipation towards the approaching holiday. I had hoped to go skiing in Austria with some of the guys from BMW, but it’s been too warm to snow so we decided to wait until January and looked to make other plans this weekend.

I left the office on Thursday evening in haste although I still had no plans of any sort for the evening. I was on the bus after an unusually short wait, and spent a good chunk of the ride pinging people in my phone book looking for someone interested in going out. I got no takers and decided I’d try to get to bed early to get up rested to go to the motorshow in Bolognia with Paddy and company. After dinner I slipped out to the bar downstairs, ordered a gin and tonic from Luca the bartender, and planted myself at a table with a good view of the area. I decided it was time to move on to a new venue after trying (unsuccessfully) to start a conversation with the cute waitress. I strolled across town to find Igor planted in his usual station, smoking while he guards the door of Vanity café. Any conversation died off after a short time although I hadn’t seen him in quite a while. I went inside to see if anything was going on. Instead of the usual scene, I found the lights dimmed and most of the tables were filled. The waitresses were playfully skipping around as they delivered the drinks, and I got an energetic smile of acknowledgement from one of them that I had been recognized. But I felt disconnected from the seated groups that were singing along to the Italian music. I clocked out early so not to be too tired in the morning.

To be continued…