Day Off!

Mondays are off, that's the rule. Unless it looks like Monday will have
the only pretty weather all week, or it's a huge holiday, I take Mondays
as a time to rest. It's how I try and keep myself from burning out or
succumbing to workaholism. But watching the crowds out tonight makes me
really second-guess it :)

I spent a lovely afternoon today in Nervi. Once a fishing village a few
miles away from Genoa, it's long since been swallowed by an expanding city
and become a suburb. But what a gorgeous suburb! I spent a few hours
strolling along the Mediterranean coastline watching sunbeams reflect off
the water as I soaked some up myself. When the view from the train
station platform makes your knees weak you know you've found someplace
special.

It's been really interesting being here in Genoa. While I got to be
nodding acquaintances with other buskers in Rome I feel that there's a
much smaller and more intimate culture of street performers here. After
not going to the party on Saturday I met up with the same street performer
this evening and we're going to get together on Wednesday with a friend of
his for a jam. Yesterday I also ran into a busker as she came out of
church (where else do you play on a Sunday morning in Italy?) and she
asked why I wasn't playing when I ran into her tonight.

I also enjoyed a very pleasant jam last night. It seems very bizarre to
me to find big Celtic fans in Italy, but I found a few. I'm used to
Americans who dream of living in Ireland, but hearing an Italian (who lack
English, no less) rhapsodize about the Emerald Isle was kind of jarring.
Especially since she was walking her dog, Mack. Let's just say that, as
sweet as he was, his name just does not roll off the tongue in Italian.
She brought over her friend John, an Irish flautist, and we played jigs
and reels for awhile. He invited me to sit in with a small band that
sometimes plays a local pub, which could certainly be interesting. I
swear that one of the best perqs of being a musician is other musicians.

To sign off, I've noticed a custom in Genoa I haven't heard elsewhere.
Most Italians greet you with "Buon Giorno" or "Buona Sera" (good day and
good evening), but when they say goodbye the Genovesi tend to throw in
Buona Giornata (also a varient of "good day"). I love these people!