Today is the day the Lord has made...

And it's not even Sunday... at 9:30 this morning my world famous novelist wife and I walked to nearby Campo S. Margherita to our usual outdoor cafe. We refer to the proprietor there as "the little man", a nickname we assigned him eight years ago based on his stature and rather sad demeanor and only says Buon Giorno when we say it first, even though I sometimes say "Salve!" but never "Ciao!". But we go there many mornings because he is at the far end of the campo where it is quieter and he doesn't attract any young, loud, smoking students, just old farts like us. But we think we have won him over. Also, he makes fresh every morning a delicious apple-ish-buttery pastry called sfoglia (flaky pastry).

Anyway, this morning was spectacularly beautiful, warm with a slight cooling breeze, solid blue sky with no hint of a cloud, old ladies buying their fish and vegetables, a few students drifting buy and a handfull of tourists gawking at one of the three fish stands in the square. It was a beautiful Venice day making up for all the annoyances I have written about in past blogs. For instance, the transportation strike this morning from 9AM to 12:30 PM, stopping all land buses, water buses, and trains.

Sick Bed?...There is a brand new hospital for Venice, situated in Zelarino, a few kms from Venice proper. It is meant to replace or off-load the old hospital in Mestre. It is a modern affair with a huge glass wall (see photo), slanting at about 30°to allow light to stream in. The area behind the glass contains the open corridors, fly-overs and the main waiting areas. It opened for business last week and, surprise, surprise, it gets very hot inside, in fact, oven hot. It seems the builders did not use special glass (as was specified in the design) to filter and reflect the sun's rays...they used vetro normale, ordinary glass and, thereby, created a furnace. Yesterday, as an emergency measure, they took the large canvas opening day sign reading "Il Nuovo Ospedale di Mestre" and repositioned it atop the glass to block part of the sun.

Finally, it seems some of the windows at the top can be opened and they were opened for hot air to escape. But a defect in the windows' metal framing structure (it transpires) allowed the wind to cause the metalwork to vibrate so violently and loudly that people below thought an earthquate was occurring and they fled in panic.