So the Italian Church is still terribly traditional! Do not worry about the long traditional speach….it’s just formality and none of it is actually meant (or indeed expected). Most Italian people tend, as far as I know, not to really ‘believe’. The only aspect they truly like about the Catholic religion is the sacrament of confession, in that they know that after a few Holy Mary’s they can restart sinning…and so long that you ask for forgiveness at the last moment..you’ll be OK.

Hope you will at some point soon..ish return to swim.

Grazi

You raise an interesting point about the wonders of modern medicine. Yes, now there are tests and treatments that were unheard of 20 years ago, and that has to be a good thing, but some aspects of the tests and treatments can be unpleasant.

There is an important difference between ‘alternative’ and ‘complementary’ medicine. Cancerbackup have the best definition There are valid arguments against ‘complementary medicine’ [not 'complimentary'! -- that means people don't pay for it!]. All treatments need a sound ‘evidence base’ before public money can be spent on it, and the evidence for complementary therapies is being gathered all the time. Of course, I believe they work, or I would not have become a therapist myself. And my patients tell me on a daily basis how much better they feel…

Love and blessings Ingy xxx

It’s been a while since we connected and I cannot recall the moment I hit the “yes” button to receive your blog, however, to my mind this is what I believe a blog should be like based on my understanding of the word from about three years ago.

Sincerely, thanks for this. Whilst there is a healthy dose of George in the blog there is also a lot more (I lived in London for 6 years and don’t know the establishments you’ve named here so thanks for the knowledge)

SG

I can still feel it in my nostril entering that ‘never never land of the epiglotimus’ and into my lungs and that silent fight between the mind and the body not to gag or vomit. Jelly beans are a strong incentive to a two year old – separated from family and friends -a bit like beans to Jack in Jack and the Bean Stalk.

I am a social worker now and those children whom I deal with who suffer sexual abuse tell me of similar horror/pleasure parallels. The man is coming to do evil, but there is a ‘treat’ if you endure. I recognise that ‘duality’ experience.

I am going to leave this experience now, because at 57 years I can still recall it in every sensory detail – mind, body and soul, and it is still as upsetting now as it was then.

I am a very keen spirtualsit and complimentory Health fanatic. Complimentory needs to be stressed here. It does not need to be one or the other in the fight of allopatathic vs holistic medicine. Each has it it’s purpose. Patrick is a brilliant nutritionist and I gather Dilys must be some kind of alternative medicine/nutritionist practioner/ follower?

I forwarded your last blog to a friend (I hope you don’t mind) because like you he is an amateur journalist and sportsman (skis and does other adventure sport – cycles mountain climbs – like your gliding) and a keen complimentory/alternative medicine fanatic- after being a red meat eater (His dad was a butcher all his life) I hope your blogs are not private.

You similarity of journalistic style made me feel at another time and place you might have been friends.

Sometimes life’s disasters are simply opportunities viewed from another angle. Keep searching, keep looking – see this journey as an opportunity you would not have explored otherwise.

I remember our meeting at the Royal Albert Hall and us joining for drinks and cigs after…. I keep wondering if I will one day meet up with my sins for the days that I have smoked.

I also identify with you on the snow thing. I arrived in 1974 and it snowed in London in April.

Take good care – and if you don’t try my sauergraut recipe soon – grab your daughter (Celina) and mine (Lisa) and come out and I will make it. The Indian summer is proving fine in Northants.

C