So good, we decided to stay

While we returned from a wonderful trip to Italy and France our luggage decided to stay in sunny Italy at least one more day. While I doubt the two old bags would not see anything more than the tarmac at Rome Airport, they were lost in transit. But not to worry as we were told at the Alitalia office, located just a few steps from the luggage carousel at JFK. Seems like extended vacations for luggage requires an office complete with permanent signage. I'm sure other airlines have the same issue but an office with a constant staff of two people to handle luggage issues?

So we went home armed with the equivalent of a 2000 fax machine print out of our case and invitation to call  to check on the whereabouts of our luggage.
Well 24 hours later we still await confirmation that the luggage did return from Italy. Calls to the 800 number, 5 calls,  resulted in automated messages that they could not take our call. They were unavailable.

With no where to turn I called my travel agent who sheepishly answered the phone and said he had received my email 2 days ago. I was not happy then over a transportation issue and I continue to be not happy. He offered to help and so we await word on the fate of our luggage.

Recently an Italian asked me the difference between baggage and luggage. When it comes to customer satisfaction it seems that when dealing with luggage, Alitalia has lots of baggage.

Back in the USA

Just returned from 2+ great weeks in Italy and France. Will discuss my observations in the next few weeks. Suffice to say the food in Italy was great, the French still don't like us and our luggage continues to vacation on the tarmac in Rome! It's good to be home and back to 7200 days as I prepare to celebrate my first year of blogging. 7200-365= A Long Life, I hope.

Good minds, think alike

I don't want to be presumptuous and contend that I have a great mind but from time to time over the course of my blogging I am scooped by another blogger, reporter or TV news report. Case in point this morning. The NYTimes carried a tongue and cheek story of the 2 very annoying Yankee Radio announcers, Susan Waldman and John Sterling.

If I am listening to the game on the radio, I go out of my way to find another play by play as the 2 are so sugar sweet on the Yankess, who this year are a shell of themselves. They are anemic.

Sterling, ever the pitchman, can't say 2 sentences without tying it into some promotion for a bank, insurance company, cereal, car or other commodity.

"That first pitch at 95 miles per hour was brought to you by...."
"That was the 15th out and you can save 15% on car insurance"

and on and on

Mel and Red are turning over in their graves, "How 'bout that?"

The Saints go marching in

With all the trouble the Catholic Church has had over the last 5-10 years it was only a matter of time before they brought out the big guns.

Pope Francis has moved quickly to canonize 2 new saints. Both are former Popes, John 23 and John Paul II. In the case of JP he will have moved to the head of the VIP line in only 8 years! Most take 25+ years to make it to sainthood. But these are difficult times for the Church so they need to pull out all the stops as they work to restore honor and credibility to the institution.

To further cover their bases, they chose a liberal pope in John 23 and a conservative in JPII.

Another prerequisite is the rule that 2 miracles form any candidate must be verified. In the case of J23 only one can be confirmed, but the Pope has final say and the Church's umpire can change the rules and he did.

So look forward to a grand celebration, as only the Catholics can do, when these 2 saintly men are sainted.

Viva la differance- The French are different

I have a dear friend. His children spent some time at my school several years ago. About 2-3 years into the relationship he and his kids and new girlfriend(story for another time) moved back to Nice, how nice.

In subsequent trips to France he has graciously opened his doors to us and showed us around one of the most beautiful places on earth. This year we will return and once again hope to connect with him and his very French family.

About two weeks ago I received an email stating that his daughter was on her way to the USA for a three week on her own vacation. From what I could gather from his rather sketchy communication he'd like it if we could talk to her on the phone or put her up for a night or take her to NYC for a day or have her live with us for 4 weeks? For the better part of 2 weeks we tried to connect via email, I'd send her a  message, she'd not respond for several days, and when she did she was vague about her plans. Well after all she was only 16! Imagine sending a 16 year old to another country where her language would be broken at best, no real plans for housing, all alone in the big city.

Finally we connected and low an behold she was in the very next town staying with some colleagues of her dad and she'd love to see us. I expected a typical, and perhaps stereotyped 16 year old citizen of the world. Jeans, high top sneakers, T-shirt, jean jacket, bulky backpack, ear buds, maybe even a slight tattoo. As the 10:40 pulled into the Glenbrook station, I noticed only one passenger get off the train as it was the 4th of July and ridership was light. Walking towards me was a striking young girl, with long brown hair, a flowing blue summer dress, designer sunglasses, a "grownup" pocket book and a smile as captivating as the Eiffel Tower. This was the little girl who 10 years ago was a first grader at my school, with very little English and a bit overwhelmed by the events that had shaped her young life.

Throughout the day she did nothing but amaze me and Joyce. She was thrilled to be in NYC, loved the vibe of Washington Square Park, spoke about the French take on immigration, reminisced with friends of ours who happened to live in the same town as she many years ago. She was so totally into Joyce's photography impromptu photo lessons and could not have been more gracious as she constantly asked, How much do I owe you for ....

I thought about my life and whether I could have done this when I was 16? The answer was a resounding NO!

There was a moment when she showed her age as she spilled a bottle of water into her pocketbook, perhaps causing irreparable damage to her phone. But even with that there was no pouting, no panic, just the typically French attitude of Se la vie, I'll figure this out.

S%#$ Doesn't Happen

There is a saying that it does happen but it has been my experience that for the most part the doom and gloom stuff that has been predicted over the years either arrives in a less gloomy version or not at all.
Remember:
Y2K
Numerous snowfall predictions of gargantuan proportions
Mayan prediction of the end of the world
and now the 17 year onslaught of the cicadas.
All turned out to be non-events

It has always been about the stuff that sneaks up on us, unless of course you believed in the European  prediction model of Sandy.