Thursday, May 19, 2005
The Bari Blog
Back to Bari after an interval of more than 20 years! I hold a soft spot for Bari, as a chance event there literally changed my life... More on this later...
Last time I went was as a student working on the CERN NA5 experiment. Feeling as gallous as the only thing one can feel as gallous as. Flew via Rome, tried to imitiate the disdain with which one is apparently supposed to discard one's coffee cup in the bin, together with the necessary facial expressions whilst drinking it. Stopped off just by the main station for an ice-cream. Instead of some frozen congealed non-dairy fat coloured with fluorescent dye, this was fresh strawberries and cream, made in front of me. And that's just what it tasted like.
On the way back, stayed off outside Florence in Fiesole. Not realising of course quite how privileged I was... Went into a bar and asked for a glass of wine. How full do I want it? What a strange question...
Anyhow, back to Bari. Most people don't know that Father Christmas also had a summer job. Fishing in Bari or the patron saint of fisherman or something like that. In any case, his bones are there and every May there is a jolly festival where people do the usual things such as try and get flags stuck in the overhead tram cables, have a jolly good time etc. Fortunately, this day of merry-making is followed by a religious festival to allow people to recover...
So how did it change my life? Well, down there for a collaboration meeting, fanatistic meal of hand-selected fish, get in a random car on the way back to the hotel. What am I going to do when I finish my PhD? No idea - looking for a job. How I'd fancy going to Munich? Well, my half-baked plan was to work in all main cities round Europe before ending up in Geneva again (which I did), so OK, fine. Could I start next week? Sure. Well, that was a tough interview! Lots of other memories - where does one store these things? How much will it have changed? Beyond recognition I guess... But the meal is booked already...
Last time I went was as a student working on the CERN NA5 experiment. Feeling as gallous as the only thing one can feel as gallous as. Flew via Rome, tried to imitiate the disdain with which one is apparently supposed to discard one's coffee cup in the bin, together with the necessary facial expressions whilst drinking it. Stopped off just by the main station for an ice-cream. Instead of some frozen congealed non-dairy fat coloured with fluorescent dye, this was fresh strawberries and cream, made in front of me. And that's just what it tasted like.
On the way back, stayed off outside Florence in Fiesole. Not realising of course quite how privileged I was... Went into a bar and asked for a glass of wine. How full do I want it? What a strange question...
Anyhow, back to Bari. Most people don't know that Father Christmas also had a summer job. Fishing in Bari or the patron saint of fisherman or something like that. In any case, his bones are there and every May there is a jolly festival where people do the usual things such as try and get flags stuck in the overhead tram cables, have a jolly good time etc. Fortunately, this day of merry-making is followed by a religious festival to allow people to recover...
So how did it change my life? Well, down there for a collaboration meeting, fanatistic meal of hand-selected fish, get in a random car on the way back to the hotel. What am I going to do when I finish my PhD? No idea - looking for a job. How I'd fancy going to Munich? Well, my half-baked plan was to work in all main cities round Europe before ending up in Geneva again (which I did), so OK, fine. Could I start next week? Sure. Well, that was a tough interview! Lots of other memories - where does one store these things? How much will it have changed? Beyond recognition I guess... But the meal is booked already...
