I hadn’t thought of it before, but we are about to become sardines in Sardinia. We are going on holiday there this week along with our dear friends Guido and Claudia (and children Maria, 5 and Livia, 3) and we are going to be staying on their boat. It’s a lovely boat. I know nothing about sailing so I can’t tell you the all important length measure, which I’ve come to realise is the crucial dimension, unlike with other means of transport (‘I’ve got a new car’ ‘Oh wow, great, how long is it?’) but I do know it has 3 double berths. A double berth is roughly the size of the one man tent my brother and I used to sleep in in the garden when we were about 10 and 11. So there are three of these aquatic tents. So I’m thinking that’s Guido and Claudia in one, Maria and Livia in another, and Cathy Jason Rosie Sorrel in the third. Sardines!
I can’t wait. I’ve never been to Sardinia before but everyone says it’s beautiful. The picture I have in mind is a hybrid of images of Sicily – a staggeringly gorgeous island imbued with vertiginous ancientness – and pictures from a magazine article about Berlusconi’s Sardinian getaway. His few mega-hectares there are his very own Neverland with ten swimming pools and a runway and concert hall and heaven knows what else besides. I think it’s where he takes his trainee cabinet ministers for executive summits if you know what I mean. Maybe we’ll anchor off one of his beaches and send him a black spot in a bottle or something.
We haven’t managed to adopt the correct Italian summer holiday posture. While we are going on holiday for a very conservative two weeks, Guido and Claudia, by the time we join them, will already have been in Sardegna for a month! How very white and creamy we are going to look. And how greenly envious. Yet sadly I don’t think the 2-3 month summer holiday is something we are ever going to be able fully to embrace. We pretend it’s because we have our own business which is impossible to leave for that long, but truly I think we are genetically incapable. If I have even a two week holiday, the first week is winding down and the second week an existential crisis. I don’t know if I have the courage to peer over the abyss of the deeper beyond.
Anyway, for now two weeks seem like heaven. Hopefully next time we report, it will be about some newly scouted Sardinian food delicacies. Sardines even, maybe. Happy holidays!
