Snapped: Sunset near Rome
[i-Sunset near Rome]
Last year, I started a series of posts on The Road, which I called The Snapped Series, "Mobile phone shots from the hip". They evolved from pictures taken with my crappy Nokia mobile phone to shots taken with the iPhone I got for my birthday.
I was amazed of the iPhone picture quality and got hooked on taking shots as I went along "on the road of life".
One thing lead to another, and the phrase "Shot from the Hip" let to the birth of a separate website, where I posted these pictures, soundbytes, short videos. All taken randomly, and posted via Email from my phone. For the nerds amongst you, I explained in this post how to do that.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I will resume posting a selection of these shots here on The Road. I will start with this one, as there is a sweet story connected to it:
A little girl and her dad watched a sunset.Read the full post...
After the sun went down, the girl asked:
"Daddy, can you do that again?"
Snapped: Do you see it yet?
It is amazing how many small things we pass every day, and we don't notice. Take a beach. Just sand right?
[i-beach view]
But I guess you have not seen yet what you could have seen. A closer look:
[i-beach view]
Not yet? Closer, then:
[i-beach view]
Ah... there you go:
[i-beach view]
This tiny plant is using the quiet of the winter to pop up. Coming out of nowhere, in the middle of the beach...
How many times do I step past things I should have noticed?
PS(st): This is part of The Snapped Series: mobile phone shots from the hip. Pretty amazing detail the iPhone can catch, no?
Snapped: Surf school in winter
[i-surf school in winter - Italy]Taken half a mile from where I live. The remains of summer.
The Snapped Series: mobile phone shots from the hip.
Snapped: Sunset at Fregene
I left the office a bit earlier this evening, so I enjoy the sunset of this glorious Indian summer evening... and could snap the sunset with my brand new iPhone...
[i-sunset at Fregene, Italy]
[i-sunset at Fregene, Italy]
[i-sunset at Fregene, Italy]
[Loband: Object Removed -]
More in this Snapped series.
Snapped: One week and a world of difference
[i-Fregene beach]
This is last week Sunday, on the beach near my house here in Italy. It was 29°C. The beach was crowded, people were sun bathing and swimming in the water.
This was the same beach today:
[i-Fregene beach]
There were three people and a dog on the beach. I was one of them. And I was not the dog. Even though it sunny, the northern wind kept the temperature as low as 9°C.
Yep, summer is definitively over.
More in this Snapped series.
Sunset this evening
[i-sunset in Italy]
Miracle Beach at Fregene tonight. No words needed.
And the rainbow was where?
[i-Palmtrees in Fregene Italy]
The metaphor "the best views are always on the other side of the train..." is not correct. Here is a view from my living room last week.
Only the rainbow was missing.
Morning!
Snapped this morning just as I was leaving home, on the way to work. Originally posted on my Twitter account.
[i-morning in Fregene]
Sunset this evening
I live half a mile from the beach in Fregene, near Rome. As today was such a gorgeous day, I went for a walk around sunset... Look at the movie the Gods played on the beach this evening:
[i-Sunset on the beach near Rome]
[i-Sunset near Rome]
And to make it all picture perfect, they injected
this "guy fishing in the sea" into the script:
[i-Sunset on the beach near Rome]
Watch this evening's pictures in a Flickr slideshow
More on The Road about Rome, Italy, or living in Italy.
Rumble: Beach Combing
After the storms and rains that flooded half of Rome, all debris carried out to the sea by the rivers, washed on the beach. It looked like a battle field.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
Many dinghies got picked up and dropped, or buried under the sand.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
This river estuary is normally three meters wide.
Fregene beach after storm[i-Fregene beach after storm]
More on The Road about where I live, Rome and Italy.
Rumble: Today. And my favorite music station.
fregene in fall[i-fregene in fall]
The sun is out again. A picture as I was walking back from my morning coffee at the bar around the corner.
On this wonderful day, let me share a secret with you. But shhht, don't tell anyone! If your Internet connection is good enough to listen to music streams, try my favourite chill radio station, 181.fm...
And imagine you are here, in Italy, with the sun shining in your face... Enjoy!
Rumble: Sunset this evening
sunset fregene[i-sunset fregene]
Sunset this evening. A painting of fragile colours.
Rumble: Living in Italy - Part 4: Customer Service
I wrote this last year, but never posted it. Here we go.
Fastweb at last[i-Fastweb at last]
Look at this. I am now the proud owner of a Fastweb ADSL modem with a WiFi interface in my Italian home. It only took me about four months to get connected.
Back in September, I picked up a Fastweb flyer from a booth at one of the shopping centers. Fastweb is one of Italy's main Internet Providers. The salesman checked online if my area could be connected to fast ADSL, and all seemed OK. He promised it would only take three weeks to get me online, even though I did not even have a physical telephone line in the house yet.
One thing you need to know about Italy: No matter how much I love this country, its culture, its food, its climate and its people, one thing they suck at is "service provision". So I was a bit suspicious about the guy's "three weeks".
The week after I got the flyer, I called the salesman, who wrote down my address, my credit card etc, and promised to get the connection request going.
After two weeks, nothing heard.
So I called him. The sales guy said: "No problem, all is OK! We are working on your request!". I answered: "But how can you start the connection procedure, I have not even signed the contract yet?". He answered: "But you gave your credit card number, so all is OK!".
Of course, nothing happened. A week went by without any news, and I called back to insisted on a copy of the contract so I could sign it. It took me three weeks to get a barely readable faxed copy.
Two weeks after signing the contract, still no sign of "connection"-life. The sales guy did not pick up my calls anymore, so I called the company. Nobody spoke English.
Vanessa, one of our admin assistants, was so kind to take over the phone and explain what I wanted: "The status of my connection request!". After 30 minutes, she put down the phone and sighed: "They can not find your original request..".
Two days later, without warning, a guy from Fastweb showed up in our office, and had me sign a new contract. Which I did.
To make a long story short, after many phone calls, with an increasingly aggravated Vanessa, (the poor thing!) trying to hold down her temper with the provider, I got an automatic phone call from the company asking to "Push 1 if my name was Peter...", "Push 2 if my mobile telephone number was..", "Push 1 if I indeed wanted to get an ADSL connection"...
A week later another automated phone call: "Push 1 if my name was Peter...",.. These calls kept on coming, once per day. At 8 pm, like clockwork: "Push 1 if my name was Peter...". But for the rest, not a peep from the company.
Vanessa started to call them again requesting for a status. And she called. And she called.
Six weeks later, out of the blue, a human being called me for an appointment to connect the telephone line. You have no idea of surprise and happiness. Even better: the guy actually showed up on the agreed day and time, and my telephone line was connected in a matter of minutes.
Five days later, someone else showed up to install the actual ADSL modem, and.. I was online...! In five months only!
I just tested the speed with this gimmick and I got 4,500 kbps download and 300-400 kbps upload. Not bad, if you realize I live in a pretty rural area... I am a happy camper! Have Internet, Will Blog!!
Customer Service[i-Customer Service]
Update 1 - One day after getting connected: Fastweb called "to make an appointment to connect my telephone line". I answered: "But you guys installed it yesterday!". They insisted this was not possible and wanted to come by to install the telephone line...
It turned out I now had TWO contracts with the company. And they kept on calling me..
Update 2 - One week after getting connected, Vanessa calls them to cancel one of the two contracts. Panic: they can't find the first contract anymore.
Update 3 - One month after getting connected: They call me. Vanessa is not around. In broken English, they ask me if I am connected. "Si!", I answer. If they can cancel one of the two contracts. "Si! Si!", I begged.
Update 4 - Six weeks after getting connected: An automated phone call at 8 pm: "Push 1 if my name was Peter...",..
What do you think? Should I install a second ADSL modem, just in case? :-)))
PS: Vanessa: I can not thank you enough for your help! Mmmmwah!
More posts on The Road about Living in Italy
Cartoon courtesy glasbergen.com
Rumble: Sunset this evening
Sunset in Fregene[i-Sunset in Fregene]
Just after work, took a walk along the beach to air my thoughts. Feet in the water, looking at the sunset.
Rumble: Summer is over (snif)
Summer came late this year, in Italy. As I live two blocks from the sea, I saw the beaches gradually getting more crowded.
This is all over now. Three weeks ago, I left Rome for a weekend in Belgium. I left on the friday evening, and it was 37°C. When I came back on the Sunday evening, it was 16°C.
Last week, I had to switch the heating on, and a walk on beach yesterday required a sweater and rain gear. Winter is definitively coming fast.
Fall in Fregene[i-Fall in Fregene]
fall in fiumicino (2)[i-fall in fiumicino (2)]
Storm in Fiumicino[i-Storm in Fiumicino]
More on The Road about Italy, Rome and Fregene
Rumble: Where I live
Although, in general, one never appreciates enough what one has, no day goes by without my marveling at the magic of the place where I live. Here are a few snapshot taken within one kilometer from my home in Fregene, near Rome:
A view from the terrace of my home:
fregene morning[i-fregene morning]
Just outside my house:
Fregene[i-Fregene]
Fregene[i-Fregene]
Three hundred meters from my home: the sea
Fregene[i-Fregene]
Fregene[i-Fregene]
(and as you can see, I don't live far from the airport)
About one mile in-land, the fields
Fregene[i-Fregene]
Fregene[i-Fregene]
More posts on The Road about Italy
Rumble: What I see through the window when I wake up,
Time for something more positive! Time to start a meme!
"meme" n [mëm]: A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another. From the Greek mimëma, something imitated, from mimeisthai, to imitate.
In "Blogspeak", a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.
The meme we will start is:
"On your blog, publish a picture of what you see through the window when you wake up. Forward the meme to five of your favorite blogs."
I am forwarding the meme to Scarlett Lion in Uganda, Worldman in Sudan, Harry Rud who should be on his way back to Afghanistan, Sharing Means Caring currently on mission in Georgia, Lulu's Bay in Cairo. Let's see if they pick up the challenge! ;-)
Here is how the view from the bedroom in the morning (in Fregene -near Rome- in Italy):
Fregene[i-Fregene]
What can I see? A piece of my balcony with plants on it, the trees on the side of the road, and loads of palm trees in the gardens of my neighbours across the road.
Rumble: Even the daily things can be unusual.
You live your daily life, and sometimes forget how unusual those things you see every day can be.
It is only recently I started to notice the streets around the neighbourhood where I live, have trees in the middle of them...
Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene[i-Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene]
Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene[i-Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene]
Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene[i-Trees in the middle of the street in Fregene]
More posts on The Road about Italy.
Rumble: Fregene sunset
Yesterday, we had a lovely sunset at Fregene, near Rome, where I live...
admiring the sunset[i-admiring the sunset]
fregene sunset[i-fregene sunset]
fregene sunset 3[i-fregene sunset 3]
fregene miracle beach sunset[i-fregene miracle beach sunset]
fregene sunset 2[i-fregene sunset 2]
More posts on The Road about Italy
Rumble: The coming of summer in Rome
I live in Fregene, near Rome. The beach has reshaped drastically in the span of just two months:
Mid May: The beach is still deserted. The weather still has not made up its mind, with rain storms coming and going:
fregene beach in the rain[i-fregene beach in the rain]
Early June: The weather picked up. The umbrellas are being installed, waiting for the crowds to come:
beach ready for summer[i-beach ready for summer]
Early July: Over 30°C, and everyone heads towards the beach:
fregene in the summer[i-fregene in the summer]
More posts on The Road about Italy