14 Feb, Day 35 Santo Valentino

I always feel valentine’s day is a good day for meeting people because the couple’s (who are generally less interested in meeting people) are all off doing their own thing, and the rest of us are left over. I’ve been making small talk with one of the girls at the bus stop some evenings, and I felt that we might of raised the conversation closer to a meaningful level tonight, but her bus came and I was left with Stephen Covey again. I’ve about 170 pages to go. I was briefly interrupted by the crash between a bicycle and pedestrian in the cross walk, but they seemed to brush it off OK but surprised that they could not occupy the same space at the same time.

Later tonight I’ll go for dinner with Ricardo and some other friends. Outcome is yet to be seen…

Where was I? Oh, the passegiata Saturday…

By now the police were out in force, and dozens of officers were stationed around the city. With so much security I didn’t know if I should feel safe or in danger, but the usual parade of weekend window-shoppers continued unhindered, so I figured it was probably not a big deal. After visiting a few stores to no avail I spied a small cafetiera in the display of a boutique.

Further inspection revealed that it was a 1-shot model made of stainless steel except for a brass pin in the hinge and plastic handle. Although it doesn’t really have the form to speak to the message I was looking for, I decided to buy it because I probably won’t see a single shot made of SS for a while.

I had planned on seeing a movie that night, but my viewing schedule didn’t seem to line up with their showing schedule, so I went to bed somewhat early for lack of another activity for the evening.

I got up Sunday and had a stout breakfast before heading downstairs to meet Giuliana and the others to go to skiing at Chiesa Valmalenco. I rode in a tiny little car with Giovanni and Guiliana while Anna and Bruno followed in another car. We picked up Marta, Rubin, and another girl (I think Vera) along the way. I was surprised to find that the rest of the group was mathematical engineers at Milano Politecnico, but they seem like a fun bunch to be mathematicians!