Do listen to the poem read by the poet. Especially, like how the poem came about. It is only through his reading was it possible for me to find the humour, the depth, the self-effacement, the beauty, the apology, the recognition… that is contained within the poem.

It was such an odd situation to be watching the Virgin Madonna eat her pizza Funghi.

To the mother and daughter that stepped off the escalator and stopped to get their bearings…

To the four teenagers blocking the top of the staircase to the track of our connecting train…

Stay alert! Watch what you are doing! There are other people needing to get places quickly!

I wake up in the morning to the chirping of birds and I can hear the lovely mother, Maria, rummaging around in the kitchen downstairs making breakfast. I sneak into the bathroom, trying not to make any noise because everybody else is still sleeping. When I come down the stairs, I sit down at the kitchen table and Maria has a hot cup of tea and a piece of her freshly-baked cake ready for me. (Maria and her family eat homemade cake for breakfast, yummy!) By the time that I finish sipping on my hot tea and eat the last crumbs of the delicious cake, everybody else will have smelled the mouthwatering scent of tea and cake . They come down the stairs and sit down, read the newspaper, have breakfast and talk about what we are going to do that day. These are moments of total peace and happiness to me.

Looking forward to seeing you guys!

If this song, “Pencil full of lead”, sung by Paolo Nutini doesn’t get your feet tapping, I don’t know what will. For those of you who are interested in Paolo’s origins, his wikipedia page says he is Scots with Italian roots. What better combination to woo the hearts of women fans?

Summer is here.