Made it back to England safe and sound after a fairly Twilight Zone-ish Easy Jet trip where I didn’t get charged for an overweight luggage, the flight wasn’t delayed even though it was snowing and foggy in Milan and I didn’t have to wait for my luggage on arrival in London. I kept feeling like something had to go wrong to compensate for the crap stuff that wasn’t happening.
Being back in London has been entertaining so far. 2 pound bus rides, 6 pound travelcards, CCTVs everywhere and no free internet in cafes. Some things never change I guess. On the plus side it’s been a beautiful day and I’ve just found The Bug and Loefah have started their excellent Bash nights again at Plastic People the day I come back. Sweet.
Also to add to the recent post about Italy’s downsides, another thing came up at lunch yesterday. And that’s the small mindedness and protectionism that is often apparent in Italy. That’s one of the things I was thinking of when I mentioned that anglo-saxon societies have certain aspects which are quite appealing compared to more latin societies. It’s not to say that you won’t suffer from some of that in England either, but by and large there is a lot less of it than in Italy. I’m seeing it first hand with the new project I’m working on (more on that soon) after trying to set it up in Italy and encountering no end of protectionism and a lack of understanding for things that stretch beyond certain accepted conceptions.
You can find some forward thinking events and people in Italy, but they’re rare and few amidst many many more. The Dissonanze festival in Rome or the festival I went to in Carpi last month are good examples of forward thinking and open mindedness when it comes to music and art, but they’re few and far between and they still suffer from the majority of the crowd and public approaching them from a fairly close-minded perspective. 2tall was telling me how the audience at the show he played with Various Productions at Dissonanze a couple of years ago just seemed to come to see the band rather than actually enjoy the music or the event, like being stared at for 40 minutes rather than feeling people are appreciating what you’re doing. I saw the same thing to an extent at the Prefuse gig last month in Carpi.
Funnily enough, since writing this post about the similarities between Italy and Japan I keep thinking of new ones or coming across more of them. It’s scary and funny, and I’m now more convinced than ever that the two countries are a lot more similar than most people would think.
Anyways back ‘home’ in London now, should be interesting. Looking forward to it though, there’s so much I’d forgot about but also so much that’s just so easier to deal with it.
welcome back bred!