I'm going away for just three days but I still feel nervous leaving home - have I packed everything I need? have I switched off everything? Has the dragon been fed and chained or will he go on a rampage across the kingdom? You know the sort of thing.
As mentioned before, the nearby town of Sanremo is hosting the 75th National Song Festival and is now a no-go area unless you have a pass. My bank turns into a TV studio, the shop I buy my unfashionable clothes from turns into radio studios, the central ice cream shop ditto, and the place is full of TV crews, music executives, funky popstrels and whacky fans. Pop-up studios and star venues are everywhere and normal life just stops. To be fair, there was a beautiful fireworks display over the bay on Sunday evening, even better than the New Year fireworks, with a giant cruise ship offshore with LED screen all along its side and laser display from the top deck. And right above, in the night sky, the moon was grazing Mars. What that means for the success of the festival (or mankind), I cannot say.
The festival looks less camp this year with no obvious LGBT acts in the main contest, but Big Mama who made a big impression last year will be on the secondary stage in the main square, and Damiano David from gender-flexible group Måneskin who won in 2021 will be co-hosting. It's supposed to be less socio-politically charged this year. A great cartoon in my paper shows a man reading the paper and saying: "Carlo Conti [the festival host] says 'no speeches, no controversies, no gossip' "; to which his female companion replies, "You mean we'll have to listen to the songs?" Ha ha! We'll see if there's a repeat of antics like last year when a protesting cow crashed the party or some star like John Travolta punks the punkers again (he was made to look silly by performing the birdie song but had the last laugh because he managed to sneak the designer sneakers he represents past the rigid advertising rules and give them a free ad).
The weather bothers me. It was beautiful spring weather last week after the storms and now it's gone back to being colder and more unsettled. There are still no frogs to be heard whereas in 2020 the frog chorus at this time of year was deafening. Yet the silver wattle that is the flower given to women on International Women's Day (March 8th) is in full flower now.
Let's see what it's like elsewhere. I need to do a bit of crossdressing when away... as a man. And I'm feeling a bit weird about it.
Sue x
Heck - I feel a little strange when dressing as a male these days. But in the USA, things are stranger than they've ever been. And if the Orange Snowflake gets his way, most of us TG's will need to blend in (or hide) for the next 4 years (or when sanity is restored to the USA).
ReplyDeleteI wish I could take all my money and leave this place now - something I never thought I'd say even a year ago.