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So...I don't know where to start from...??? Maybe from the data. The past night was the coldest in Bristol since I am here... The temperature drop to -6.6˚C in the urban area, and to -8.8 at Bristol Filton (where I work). When I got up at 7 o'clock it was pretty amazing to see everything frozen. Unfortunately despite the very low temperature the high went over 0˚C also today. Just...but that's what counts. High +0.3˚C. This is enough to maintain the snow though. It is almost all still there and it is transforming in ice on secondary streets where driving there is pretty dangerous. The cold spell is carrying on...and for Sunday the chart begins to see something...but I don't want to say it...!
Since I caught sight of the fox more and more snow continued to fell all over the night..., a sort of blizzard. It was not the biggest snowfall I saw, last February the accumulated snow was more than this time, and it was not the heaviest as well even tough at time it was a sort of blizzard. However in term of quality of snow, yesterday was possibly the best I have seen, apart from when I am in the Alps. A snowfall with temperature below freezing is a proper snowfall. Every single flake stuck somewhere. It started snowing and within the first two minutes everything was covered by a layer of white stuff...! Amazing. And then the snow...so dry, screeching as I walked on it. It kept on snowing the whole day, on and off, but not as intense as it was last night. Then he got clear, and everything is freezing now; Temperature -3.8 ˚C dropping rapidly. We should have a fairly long stable period which is gonna be extremely cold. I wish to brake the wall of - 6˚C and to have a max below freezing level...so to live a so called icy day. Rarely it happened to me! Here once in 5 years.
Volpaia is a tiny little village in the heart of Chiantishire. From there the hills all around look like waves of a sea made of olive trees and vineyard. Volpaia in the winter has 40 inhabitants. The village itself is their house. The castle, the Church, the square, and few mews. A bar and a restaurant. That's it. In Volpaia they produce one of the best Italian red wine. Some cheese, some cold cuts, a glass of wine. It's simple to color dull day.
Bristol, scheduled 22.10, expected 23.05. It starts the same way it ended last year...with a delayed flight. It’s not unusual in this time of the year, it’s winter, it is holiday time. The bad weather affects flights and lots of people are travelling. What is a bit more unusual is what happened today. I found out at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, that the flight departure time was changed from 21.20 to 22.10. However I did not receive any communication whatsoever from Easyjet. Not an email nor a text. Not serious. Not a big deal, I would have not missed my flight, but not serious. Apart from that it was a great holiday. Very busy time, that passed by very quick as always. Christmas in Florence with my family, then Milan and back to Florence for few days, a tour around Chianti hills, one night in Liguria, to end up in France... Côte d'Azur...mangifique...! I will have time in the next days to talk about all of that. Now it’s time to go back home...and it is not easy...! Not at all.
At last we had snow as well...after it has covered the almost entire Europe from east to west. Tonight was our turn, and it was not even a small snowfall. It lasted about two hours. Four centimeters of white powder are covering everything now. Everything is silent. It may snow some more in the night, Maybe one shower or two. I am honest, I didn't expect it. I didn't expect a snowfall. I was about to go to sleep, when I saw a Facebook update "It's snowing...!". What...???? It can't be...I run to the window, and with my great surprise I saw big white flakes falling down from the sky, starting to cover streets and cars, roofs and trees. Unbelievable. It called me, the snow called me for a walk. So I went out, walking on Whiteladies Road, towards the Downs and seeing cars struggling to reach the top of Black Boy Hill. Now I am seated on the armchair in the living room with a warm cup of fennel tea, telling about this great surprise I received tonight.
18 December 2009 will be a day that every Tuscan snow-lover will remember for long time. One of the greatest snowfall in the last 10-15 years, the first big snowfall I have missed on my land. Yesterday night I was so envy reading, in different bogs, all the posts coming from there, or simply looking at the Fabebook status updates and pictures from my friends. We had some proper snow last year, so I don't want to complain too much...but England is not the right place for it...I new it since the beginning. And also, the snow in your land, is always different. It's your snow.
It's unbelievable how I never get bored of it. A snowfall is something I could stare for hours...always the same, but always different. A snowfall is something I could listen for hours...in all its loud silence. And then walking out...hear the steps, the only sound that breaks that silence, in the fresh powder, and feel the flurrying flakes caressing the face...it is something magic, something relaxing, something that gives me great emotions. Honestly. Only who share this passion with me can understand, for the rest it would sound weird. Not for me!
Ladies and Gentleman...hello everybody...and welcome...! Finally after 6 months the blog has its new style...and what a style...!!!
As I said the day I moved out from Hughenden Road finding a new title
and a new design would have been possibly the most difficult task, and
indeed it has been... Maybe it's me being picky, but my idea was that
until I didn't find something that satisfied me, I would have kept the
temporary version alive...So I did.
And here we are now...! 18 Hughenden Road become officially MyMeSsYBloG. The URL changed as well to www.mymessyblog.vox.com.
However the old one is still valid, so if you end up there you will be
redirect to this address. It is a funny coincidence (is it a coincidence?!?!?!) that the new version of the
blog is launched exactly two years later the first post. It was 16 of
December 2007...a century ago!
Why my messy blog...? Well, just look at it, read it and it is
clear...! There is not an order in the blog...it's all a mess, it just
follows the stream of events, the stream of my mind... and as the time
goes by it talks about me, about weather, possibly snow, about Airbus and airplanes in general, about Fiorentina and son
on...there are pictures, videos, music...it's mostly in English, but
not only...sometimes in Italian as well...it's a bit of everything...a
mix of everything... bits and bobs here and there. Someone would say
say a messy blog for a messy bloke...I disagree.
In part.
It is a great emotions to see a plane taking the sky...it is bigger when it is the first time, it is the biggest when you spent years working on that program. Today shortly after 10 o'clock, the A400M, the first military Airbus aircraft took the sky from Seville for the first time in its life. It landed almost 4 hours later still in Seville. Personally I have not worked on this project, but lots of my friends have...and they still are...I am happy for them and proud of them. I know went through very hard time in the past months, and I bet they feel very satisfied tonight. A400 M is now the new baby of our family. We had live broadcast for the two key phases, the take off and the landing, and with all the other colleagues we gathered in the coffee shop area to watch it on Airbus TV. I saw already the A380 maiden flight live, back in 2005, so this was my second time to witness something like that. Every time a new airplane flies, it brings on board new technologies and ideas; so today 11 December 2009 it is not only a milestone in Airbus history, it is also a date to remember in the aerospace industry. Well done guys...!