Lagoon

Backstory
This weekend, the fifth anniversary of the Oxford-Padua twinning link is being celebrated in Padua and members of the choir I sing in will take part in a concert hosted by our twin choir. Although I've sung with them in Oxford, I haven't been on any of the previous Padua visits as the last five years of my life have been a bit, um, disrupted. At first I thought I couldn't manage this trip, then decided not only that I would, but that I'd also tack on a trip to Sicily which I've wanted to visit for at least 16 years. I booked a fortnight's leave from work, I started to make plans and slowly it dawned on me that I needed more time for Sicily.

Well, maybe something less ambitious this time and Sicily next year...

Suddenly, at the beginning of March, everything changed. My GP phoned me first thing on the Friday morning to tell me that I didn't have the condition for which I'd requested a diagnostic blood test but I might have something else that could affect my mobility in the future. A sobering few hours followed while I got ready for the group of retired friends coincidentally coming for lunch. Over lunch I ran my thoughts past them and, predictably, they all told me to retire.

The following day I had a contemplative time working in the garden and realised I wanted more time for the garden, more time for friends and more time for travelling.

On the Sunday, a good friend invited me to his birthday party in Burgundy at the end of May, for which I definitely didn't have enough leave.

So, miss the party in May and defer Sicily to next year? Or retire?

On the Monday I asked my manager for unpaid leave and a retirement date of June, or no unpaid leave and a retirement date of mid-April. She offered me the unpaid leave so here I am, in Padua, en route to Sicily, before a week back at work, a week in Burgundy, a fortnight back at work then freedom.

All because I asked for a blood test for a condition I don't have...


Story
I haven't seen anything from the air for six years but I broke my no-flight rule today and was awed seeing the Venice lagoon from the air (with Venice in the distance). I hadn't expected that any more than I expected my bus from the airport to Padua to cross the Ponte della Libertà into Venice to pick up passengers there. (Mind you, the bus stop is nothing to write home about.)

After an extremely early start and lots of tiring hanging around during the day, I was relieved that once I got to Padua it was easy to find my little room. My lovely host lent me a needle and thread to mend my under-the-seat bag (but actually the heavier of the two) whose shoulder-strap had detached en route. I'd looked up the words for needle (ago) and thread (filo) on the bus as my Italian is deeply buried and much of it has turned to compost. It's a shame. 50 years and one month ago I arrived in Italy for a hitching trip with good French and A level Latin and I left two months later speaking reasonable Italian. Although I can still understand a lot of what I read and I understand when people speak slowly, if I try to speak it's mostly bad Spanish. I have three weeks to improve it.

An evening amble and an early night.

Extras:
More lagoon
Padua arches
A very surprising coffee shop in Stansted airport