I have just had two quiet and peaceful weeks in my Italian home and am feeling a lot better for it. I am not sure quite how much time I should like to spend on my own but this has been bearable. Of course the attentions of friends who invite one out for supper and so on does help a lot and my thanks goes to all of them. Last night my Israeli friends and neighbours took me to Sant’ Elpidio a Mare down towards the Adriatic coast for a choral concert in the Chiesa Collegiata. There were three local choirs taking part. It never ceases to surprise me that in this small part of largely rural Italy there is such a strong sense of culture and so much interest in singing. I can hear some of you saying what a hypocrite I am as a non believer going to a church concert on a Sunday evening. Not at all. I love Church architecture and I can get totally lost listening to Church organ music or Choral works. To bastardise what I think was an original saying of General William Booth of the Salvation Army “Why should God have all the best tunes?”

Since I know some of you are sticklers for accuracy I looked up this original quotation and reproduce the following from my Google search by way of interest: “The "mis-quote" was taken from a message Reverend Rowland Hill, pastor of Surrey Chapel in London, preached in 1844. Reverend Hill did NOT say, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" — what he actually said was, "The devil should not have all the best tunes." Reverend Hill's message was not a "call" to copy or bring the "devil's" music in the church. During the time Reverend Hill preached his message, in England, church music had fallen in both quantity and quality, which is certainly not the case today. His message was a "call" for Christians to write, compose and produce quality Christian music. It was NOT an appeal for Christians to sing the "devil's" music for the Lord. (Lowell Hart, Satan's Music Exposed, pp. 169-170) (V.J. Charlesworth, Rowland Hill, p.156).”  So there you go apparently not the Sally Army General at all. Anyway my point still stands and I defend my right as an atheist to enjoy this particular form of music.

One of the choirs was the Collegiata’s own singing under the direction of Maestro Angelo Biancamano. This was possibly the best of the three and they sang Haydn’s “Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo” and the Sterkopf “Magnificat”. The second choir was the Il Coro Polifonico di Montegiorgio under the direction of Maestro Mita Bassani. Theirs was a large repertoire of which the only piece I really enjoyed was De Marzi’s “Improvviso”. My problem with this choir was that the women’s voices completely drowned out those of the men creating a musical imbalance. I appreciate that this is a trend in modern society just as you will appreciate my concern over such a silly trend. The third and possibly the best choir for me was the Corale “San Bartolomeo” di Campofilione. Their renderings of Monteverdi’s “Cantate Domino” and the Busto “Ave Maria” were simply superb. I was interested to see what they would do with Irving Berlin’s “Bianco Natale” and all I can say is “Eat your heart out Bing Crosby”. He did not stand a chance.

As I say my Israeli neighbours knew about this concert but for information of this kind Macerate Monthly, produced locally by Duncan, does a great job in keeping people informed of cultural and other events. If you want to know how to subscribe to this (no cost) send me an e mail.

On our way home we thought we might stop for a snack and I remembered someone having told me that a new restaurant had opened in Servigliano (about fifteen minutes’ drive from Gualdo). We found it. It is called “Ribecco” and is in Via Manfredi at the rear of the old town Piazza. You may have noticed that I have refrained for many months from adding to my restaurant reviews. The reason for this restraint is simply that any review more than a few weeks olds may be totally misleading. Owners change, Chefs come and go and what was good yesterday may be awful today. But Ribecco right now is superb. Great ambience, very elegant: more like Milan than rural Le Marche and a different menu from the usual local fare. They also have a small but excellent wine list. You can go for the aperitif hour and sip wine with nibbles or have a full meal. We started with an unusual dish of poached egg with tomato and onions accompanied by a piccante vinegar and bread. Quite delicious. After that I had a past with a wild boar ragu and this was again excellent. A bottle of Montepulciano D’Abruzzo washed all of this down and our bill was very reasonable. Please note that eating out in Italy is no longer cheap and you can often get better value for money in the UK. Thank Gordon Brown, the rate of exchange and the recession.

None of my efforts to get my family together for a Xmas lunch really succeeded. So we ended up just a few of us with two good friends eating Waitrose party food at my daughter’s house. At least the grandchildren enjoyed opening their presents. In a year in which it was touch and go for me at times I had hoped for something better. But as many will discover this Christmas you do not always get what you want.

In spite of the snow and freezing temperatures our Ryan Air flight left Stansted only one hour late and so we made it back home by late afternoon on the Sunday before Christmas. Finding the house very cold we spent time on raising the temperature and thus missed one of the great parties of the season at Jackie and Mike’s on the road to Sant Angelo in Pontana. Monday morning saw us setting off bright and early to Amandola for a Christmas treat of foot pampering by the best podiatrist around, namely Moira. Three hours later we arrived home to fond the whirlpool fridge had yet again managed to freeze a pipe and spring a leak and the rest of the day was spent mopping up as few centimetres of water from the entire apartment.

It was a pleasure to find ourselves on Tuesday lunchtime once again in the restaurant Maniero on the road to Loro Piceno. This is a mix of art club, antiques centre and very good restaurant where the female chef is definitely one of the best. After a stand up buffet of antipasti and prosecco we took our seats around the magnificent dining table (pictured here) and commenced lunch with an interesting pumpkin soup with Basil.  Risotto with gorgonzola pears quickly followed and then we were on to the home straight of the secondo. Now we had been told this would be turkey but instead it was veal, served on plates straight out of the freezer. Had it been just a little warmer this would have been a good dish. The dessert was great as was the coffee and other nibbles that accompanied it. Heartfelt thanks to Val and Mike Kosh for organising this. Some thirty five of us sat down to this pre Christmas feast. It was good to see some old friends that I have missed whilst I have been in enforced exile.

If you have never slept in a wind tunnel and wonder what the experience might be like then you should have been here last night. We were hit by a Sirocco gale that was strong enough and warm enough to shift the snow from the entire landscape in one sitting. This morning I had to collect the garden furniture from where it had been blown and call the pool maintenance guy to come and help get the cover back on the pool. In spite of this having been weighed down by many weeks of rainwater it shifted in the gale and fell into the pool at one corner. Another pool cleaning job for the spring unfortunately. Chaos reigns on both sides of the Channel as planes and boats and trains get confused and miss their deadlines. I shall not be travelling BA for a while given the totally senseless move by well paid cabin staff to put their company into liquidation. I know that it is difficult for someone of my political persuasion to understand trades unions but what is the point of striking only to find yourself not just a few colleagues short in six month’s time but totally out of a job as the Company has hit the dust. The same goes for the postmen and the train drivers union. I was appalled to find myself listening to a so called short story about a lady called Granny Smith on BBC Radio Four last week. This was totally in defence of postal workers unwilling to accept change and was a political polemic in support of the Union and the BBC should be ashamed of broadcasting it as anything other than Union propaganda.

Xmas has been and almost gone It was good to see some old friends and make some new ones. Xmas Eve, known in Italy as Vigilio, was spent at the home of some Italian friends along with some other neighbours and family from Civitanova Marche. We always feel honoured to be included in this family gathering which has so much importance in Italian life. Xmas Eve is the most important part of Christmas for the Italian community as it represents the vigil kept by those waiting for the birth of their Messiah. As soon as midnight arrives gifts are exchanged. No meat is allowed at the table and so we had some interesting vegetable pate, smoked salmon, spaghetti vongole, and a lot of mixed fish dishes. The evening was delightful but difficult in some ways, mostly because the main language was obviously Italian and keeping that going for four or five hours is no easy task for the average Englishman. The Sirocco has gone and Gualdo is calm once more but at first light was enveloped in fog. Temperatures are dropping to their more normal levels and so I do not feel guilt about lighting the log fire.

I saw my oncologist just before Christmas and had a very predictable five or six minute conversation. She “You look very well. How do you feel?” I “I feel very well thank you”. She “Has the swallowing problem resolved itself?” I “yes thank you”. She listened to whatever sounds emanate from my chest, declared herself very pleased with my condition. I declined to take part in a double placebo drug trial and was told to return at the end of January for a scan to determine the outcome of the treatment I have been receiving. The results will be relayed to me on February 11^th 2010 and then I guess I shall finally know something a little more definite about the future or the lack of it.

Italian TV is dominated of course by Berlusconi. There are hundreds of channels but very little of substance to watch. Every once in a while, however, we find a gem. Sunday night at nine pm we get two hours (minus ads of course) of one of the best series I have ever seen. This is called Mad Men and is based on the advertising industry in Manhattan New York in the sixties. As I was involved in advertising in the sixties (although in London rather than Manhattan) I have found this fascinating. It is entirely accurate, very well written and directed and beautifully acted. I have yet to see a weak link anywhere. The current series is the third and I know that the first two are available as box sets of DVDs so if you have not seen them get down to your nearest video shop soon. At the same time I am still getting through the very long series of Martin Sheen’s The West Wing, another excellent series. We do watch some TV in Italian and find it very helpful in getting to grips with the language and the culture. Felt sorry for Sheen senior  (president Bartlett in the West Wing) as his son Charlie hit the headlines for spending Christmas day in jail as a result of threatening his wife.

And so the worst year of my life comes to an end. Always afraid of mortality to have its future form so clearly defined was a major shock. I wish us all a happy 2010.