Category Archives: Random memories

The years of commuting dangerously. Excerpts of life in Transport for London’s hands.

Posted on August 7, 2017 by

Like everyone else, I use social media to share utter gibberish (think penguins slapping each other, Russian drivers’ antics, Economist articles) and moan. My social media of choice is Facebook and the primary objective of my tirades, the exclusive subjective … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, London, Odd ones out, Public Transportation, Random memories, UK | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Song(s) for the Road 5 – Waylaid by the War on Drugs

Posted on May 9, 2017 by

It was meant to be a busy afternoon. I’ve spent the day delivering a course, the first time in my life being a trainer rather than a trainee (if only my mother could’ve seen me!) and I’ve returned to 60 … Continue reading →

Posted in Music review, Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Before I move on: fragments of Kyoto.

Posted on January 1, 2016 by

New Year’s Eve, at the office, is a quiet one. For a starter, only half of the people who usually crowd the open space actually bothers to turn up, giving the place a library-like atmosphere which, personally, I like a … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Japan, Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Four years and two days.

Posted on April 4, 2015 by

I nearly missed, I must confess. Had it not been for the urge of seeing Shut Up and Play the Hits that, at regular intervals, comes to haunt me I’d have probably missed it altogether (and you’d have escaped this post, possibly). … Continue reading →

Posted in Music review, Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How The Other Half Lives – Jacob Riis and the birth of street photography

Posted on March 15, 2015 by

When I started taking photos (I don’t call myself a ‘photographer’ and I don’t ‘do photography’, those words infer a degree of technical prowess that I don’t master) my only source of inspiration was the occasional copy of the National Geographic … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Memories of a place I’m missing

Posted on March 8, 2015 by

Surfing through the Internet a little ago, I found out that a gigantic (well, at least for Italian standards) skyscraper has mushroomed out of a disused industrial area in Torino, Italy. The area, known as ex Fiat Avio (Fiat Avio, an aerospace … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Stray pets.

Posted on February 14, 2015 by

Recently, in some of my travels at the fringes of the European continent or in the Middle East, I stumbled upon many stray domestic animals. Even though I’ve always seen cats happily going about, minding their own business, the sight … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Moroccan people watching

Posted on January 21, 2015 by

I love sitting back and watching a city going by, its citizens minding their own businesses. It feels like being a silent observer, one of those grey men that Michael Ende wrote about in Momo, just without the cigar and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Morocco, Random memories | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bumping in your fellow countrymen abroad

Posted on December 29, 2014 by

It’s a common story, one that you’re likely to hear in any chronicle of a travel abroad told by friends, acquaintances or relatives: “So there I was, bang in the middle of the dodgy suburbs of Kinshasa and guess what? … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Italy, Random memories, Reflections | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Seeing an old friend (four years after and 30,000 ft. from above)

Posted on November 25, 2014 by

It was the faithful companion of many a sunset in Turin for over six years. We lived always in the same place, a rather nondescript tenament in the southern Santa Rita borough, one of those neighbourhoods that had popped up … Continue reading →

Posted in Italy, Overlooked locations, Random memories, The pleasure of flying, The world from above | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment