The Game of Love

I'll never understand this game of love
If I live forever, it won't be long enough
Skies are blue and grass is green
but some things aren't as simple as they seem
and I'll never understand this game of love
No, I'll never understand this game of love
If I live forever, it won't be long enough
Fire is hot and ice is cold
but some things aren't as clear and bold
and I'll never understand this game of love
I'll never understand this game of love, oh no
If I live for ever it won't be long enough
Fire is hot and ice is cold
but some things aren't as clear and bold
and I'll never understand this game of love
No I'll never understand this game of love
I'll never understand this game of love

In need of holidays

One week only and yet Rome seems already like a distant memory… In one hand, that’s cool, because the meeting I attended in there was a real pain in the neck; on the other hand, though, it’s a pity because it also means that the nice weather and warm temperatures are also far away… Since my return, Brussels has been offering nothing but rain, wind and ridiculously low temperatures. It’s almost like we are back to winter instead of being already comfortably installed in summer, as the calendar seems to point out. I can stand snow in January and rain in April, but I can’t stand this at the end of June! It depresses me, aggresses me, and it drives me crazy! And it puts me on a bad mood! Luckily for them, my closest collaborators at work were on holidays these days; otherwise they would be now complaining against the devil inside me… and they would certainly be right to do it! The good thing about it is that tomorrow the week will come to an end, and that on Saturday I will be taking an early flight to Bucharest, where I will attend the wedding of two dear friends of mine, surrounded by several other friends and colleagues. I will then take some days off and hope to be able to rest and have fun, so I can recharge the batteries and come back to Brussels in a better mood and ready to face the last few weeks before holidays. So be it!

Summertime

Another week has gone by and here I am, in yet another city. Today it was time to come back to Rome. This is the third time this year, but Rome looks very different in June. The sunny weather and the really high temperatures put a smile on my face as soon as I landed in Fiumicino. I realised how much I miss these hot days, when you can have dinner in a terrace, wearing short sleeves and still enjoy the occasional fresh breeze. For my friends in Portugal this is probably difficult to understand, but I’m sure that some of my friends in Belgium understand it well! On the other hand, there are things that never change… Alitalia’s delays for instance… I find it really amazing how it is possible that a country such as Italy stands the fact of having a “national” airline which uses such old and bad planes and provides such a lousy service… But in spite of Alitalia and regardless of the heat, Roma is a beautiful and magical city and it’s a pleasure to be here. Yet, this time, I have to confess that I would prefer to be somewhere else… the heart has reasons that even the reason ignores…

Anyway… in the meantime, I finished the book I started reading last week (actually, I finished it already on Saturday!) and started a new one, that I bought in Madrid. This one is in Spanish, and it’s the new novel by the Spanish journalist Julia Navarro. I read her two previous titles (“La Hermandad de la Sábana Santa” and “La Bíblia de Barro”) and I trust that I will enjoy “La Sangre de los Inocentes” as much as I enjoyed the other two. A bit of history, a bit of religion, a bit of mystery and a very well written text, are the ingredients that make Julia Navarro’s books the right companion for a trip, a boring meeting or a lonely dinner in a terrace in Rome under the summer heat.

Being part of a group of four brothers and sister, I grown up to appreciate being alone. It’s not like if I prefer to be alone rather than to be with other people. No, I actually prefer to be surrounded by people, especially by people I like. But since a long time ago, I’ve learned to cope with loneliness and developed techniques to fight boredom. Reading nice books, listening to great music, writing stupid posts… there’s a lot I can do when I am alone. But having dinner in a nice terrace in Rome, that’s something that you should never do alone…

Die Gottesformel

With all the moving stuff (and Facebook), I didn’t even realise it, but I was almost one month without travelling! Those times of inertia are over though: I am in Madrid! I left Brussels after a long day of work that finished with a huge storm and a surprisingly heavy rain that didn’t seem to be willing to stop falling from the sky. Brussels’ weather is still able to astonish me… in the middle of June, after two weeks of balancing between sunny and quite grey days, the diluvia… I actually think that I have seen Noah and his ark! Travelling to Madrid seemed a quite good idea… until I found out that it was also raining here! And, according to friends, the same happens in Portugal… So, what’s up with the weather in Europe? Did anyone notice that summertime is starting next week?

But today I did another thing that I hadn’t done for quite a while: starting to read a new book in Portuguese. I bought this book last October, if I remember well. It’s a novel by José Rodrigues dos Santos, a writer that I discovered in 2005 through “Codex 632” (Pedro commented it here), and it’s called “A Formula de Deus” (God’s Formula). Thanks to the fact that my flight to Madrid was delayed for more than 40 minutes, I am already at page 175, which means that the book is captivating!

Now, I’m worried… as if I didn’t already have enough with a busy job, a big and nice group of friends, this blog and Facebook, now I also have to make time for reading the book… Why are the days so short?

Addictions

There are several factors that contribute to explain why I spent one entire week without posting any entry on this blog. The fact that I moved to a new apartment and have been busy with relocation-related issues, explains a part of it. The fact that I had a Bureau meeting and very busy days in the office, explains another part. The fact that people I like and enjoy to spend time with were in Brussels, explains a bit more. But, honestly, the fact that better explains my absence from the blog is Facebook. I confess: I’m addicted to it…

I wrote here, on April 11th, about the data addiction that affects several of us… When, on May 14th, I reported my registration on Facebook, I could not imagine how clearly it would confirm the words I wrote one month before… It’s frightening, and I suggest that all of you reflect about it. Comments and different points of view are welcome; here or on Facebook, of course…

Still, as I believe that everything in our lives is a permanent search for balance, I’ve decided to try to abandon the other addiction I had. It’s been more than one week now, and it seems to be working!

Contradictions...

I hate to make you worry about me... But I like the fact that you do!!!