Post-Cyclone Harry, the weather’s been terrible!
I mean: It’s been quite wet, very windy, and frankly depressing here in Modica.
Don’t get me wrong though: It’s not like we’ve been suffering from anything like “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD), that type of seasonal depression people do suffer through. Y’know, typically beginning in the colder months and due to reduced sunlight and stuff?
It’s just that we didn’t expect it to be this bad. Even though we absolutely did, and of course! It is Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, after all.
Y’see, you remain optimistic, and come to ‘expect’ endless sunshine and those clear azure skies, especially when you live on an island in the Mediterranean. You’ve seen the postcards, and know what I mean.
But then, a ‘miracle’ happened!
Albeit an entirely expected one. Around the third week of this month, things improved. I’m talking dramatically improved. The sun came out, and stayed out. All day, too!
Okay, it’s certainly still very crisp in the mornings and overnight, with the “feels like” temperatures hovering around the 6 to 8 degrees celcius mark, but still…
And no one f’sure told those uber-early Spring flowers not to come out. So, they have! Which is the icing on the (Sicilian) cake here. How can you be sad (not SAD) when that happens?
The long and short of it is: You can’t!
Still have to ask: “Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why, you had to hide away for so long?”
Don’t get me wrong though: It’s not like we’ve been suffering from anything like “Seasonal Affective Disorder” (SAD), that type of seasonal depression people do suffer through. Y’know, typically beginning in the colder months and due to reduced sunlight and stuff?
It’s just that we didn’t expect it to be this bad. Even though we absolutely did, and of course! It is Winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, after all.
Y’see, you remain optimistic, and come to ‘expect’ endless sunshine and those clear azure skies, especially when you live on an island in the Mediterranean. You’ve seen the postcards, and know what I mean.
Albeit an entirely expected one. Around the third week of this month, things improved. I’m talking dramatically improved. The sun came out, and stayed out. All day, too!
Okay, it’s certainly still very crisp in the mornings and overnight, with the “feels like” temperatures hovering around the 6 to 8 degrees celcius mark, but still…
And no one f’sure told those uber-early Spring flowers not to come out. So, they have! Which is the icing on the (Sicilian) cake here. How can you be sad (not SAD) when that happens?
The long and short of it is: You can’t!
Still have to ask: “Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why, you had to hide away for so long?”
Dread
Back in 2019, the “Withdrawal Agreement” was signed between the UK and the EU.
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| Well, that didn't happen, now did it? |
Anyways, this agreement allowed us to receive the new post-Brexit “Carta di Soggiorno” (“Residence Card” or “CdS”), which could be obtained from your nearest Questura (Police HQ) and, while not obligatory then, it was very useful. Especially for easily establishing your right to reside here, and for international travel.
Back in the day, we didn’t feel the urge to get one immediately, as any new process here was bound to result in … difficulties. That’s because, of course, Italy is a byword for burocrazia (bureaucracy) come confusion, and the CdS absolutely proved no exception.
I mean: Some Questure hadn’t heard of it; others made up a process; and some simply chose to ignore it altogether! Very few got it right, and not just here, but from one end of Italy to the other.
I won’t bore you with the details, but it took us months to get ours! And, when we did, they’d been backdated to March 2021.
Why bring this up? We need 10-year cards now, as our current ones expire in March 2026.
So: “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more...”
Saturation
We’ve reached the same point we did back in the UK.
That is: We’ve been everywhere worth a visit within an hour’s drive of where we’re living. As said, this happened when we were living in Hornchurch in London, and it’s happened here in Modica, too!
This was inevitable, of course, given we have a car and do like to get out and explore the surrounding area, and that’s been wherever we’ve been living.
So, what to do now then, you may well ask? Well, the short answer would be to revisit those places we thoroughly enjoyed visiting the first time around. Y’know: Pretty and interesting villages and towns; historic monuments; the countryside, parks, and seashore; and about everything in between.
And we’ve been doing just that!
Okay, there is so much more to explore on this island of over 25,000 square kilometres (near 10,000 square miles). Sicily is, after all, the largest island in the Mediterranean.
Really, it’s because I’m not a big fan of long(er) drives. Something that does frustrate Alice. It’s not that we’ve not driven for way longer, we have, but I don’t really like it, y’see. I entirely acknowledge this is a throwback to my childhood, as I suffered (badly) from car-sickness, and I guess I’ve never gotten over that.
Deep-seated psychological problems aside, I’ll just have to take my own advice … and grow a pair!
