How was your weekend?

Really, so how was your weekend? While you think about it...
Mine was pretty boring except for a few things. The most exciting thing is that the Big Ben opened Friday night, which according to Erika it means, “It’s winter!!!” I think she’s going overboard but IT IS the non-summer hang out. The Big Ben is always trying to be a better pub and they have succeeded secondo me (according to me). They have added a “magic Guinness” to their beers. Let me explain. They pour a Guinness from a can into a glass. They put the glass in a little machine and puff… the carbonation and cascading of a Guinness happens right before your eyes. It’s like a Guinness from “alla spina a Dublino”. The magic is cool but most importantly, it’s pretty tasty and probably the best Guinness I’ve had since the days of the Henry Gratten in Broadripple. I wonder if Austin reads my blog? How could I find out? I know I remember how much I love visiting the country of Great Britain, but I don’t understand why they use the euro in Ireland and the pound in London. That should generate an email or two unless the company email filter picks up Irish curse words….
Then Saturday night I had a huge dinner with coworkers (there was about 40 to 50 including family members!). A group that size needs a whole masseria, which is what we had but it was outside. That’s a problem because it’s a little cold to be eating outside so you could tell that by the end the night that no one would be hanging around after dessert and an amaro. To my surprise there was entertainment included in this dinner. I’ll put it nicely and say I was amazed and frightened by coworkers’ ability to sing. You see it was Karaoke night, which is not my favorite night, anywhere. Of course they kept trying to get me up to sing, “qualcosa in inglese”. I believe my choices were mainly Frank Sinatra songs. I’m sorry guys, but I REALLY can’t sing and I KNOW I can’t. Yes, yes, I know we’re all friends and as a friend I wouldn’t want to subject you to me singing “My Way”. I’m being a friend by NOT singing.
Daniele and family. One of my caffe` dependents. Notice the Karaoke microphone close by.
Claudio and family and part of the appetizer


Then I Sunday I decided I wanted to try my digital Rebel out in Lecce. I realized that I might be able to get all of Santa Croce in one shot. Guess what, even with a lens that goes down to 18mm you can’t get the whole church in. For crying out loud, why did they build that church on such a narrow street?! I also wanted to get a picture of the column we discussed last week. The latest on that fight is that it seems the mayor of Cursi (in the province of Lecce) is offering Brindisi a perfect replica of our column made out Lecce stone. Nice try buddy. That Lecce stone column would be more at home IN LECCE! As I was heading back to Brindisi I had the brilliant idea to get a picture of the wind farm they built near Lecce. It looks sooo close to the Autostrada but then I tried to get “there” and oh what fun.

The column that's not in it's rightful place.


Does this look like the right road to the wind farm? There's no one to ask for directions, not that I would.

The wind farm! These babies are huge. Puglia is one of the leaders in wind power in Italy. Brindisi is working on a 11 MW photovoltaic site near where I work.