Weeknotes 236

I spent the week in Florence. Thus: ciao.

The journey to Italy was relatively easy because it turns out that flying from London City Airport is convenient. Unfortunately the plane was populated mainly by coughers & sneezers; that’s foreshadowing.

Florence reached 37 °C which is too hot. In retaliation I set the hotel air con to 18 °C which is too cold. (Alice: “Tom loves being different temperatures. I look forward to the weeknote commentary.”)

The city in July is almost unbelievably touristy, narrow pavements groaning with holidaymakers, piazzas dotted with hucksters gorging themselves on the nutrient-rich flow of gulls. The shops in the centre deal exclusively in pizza, knock-off handbags and authentic Veblen goods.

I felt obliged to visit the Uffizi Gallery and spent the whole time standing in queues and wondering why so many people flock to see — or be seen to see? — art on holiday when we manifestly have no interest in it in our normal lives.

Fortunately I also saw Louise Bourgeois’s powerful Do Not Abandon Me exhibition at Museo Novecento which was excellently presented, sparsely attended, and in general redeemed the entire concept of art from the damage caused by a morning of dodging selfies at the Uffizi.

The food was absolutely great. The hotel served ripe fruit and vegan croissants for breakfast and there were loads of veggie restaurants to choose from. My favourite meal was at Brac but 5eCinque and Ora were very nice too. Leo tipped me off about RivaReno where I had some amazing pistachio gelato.

I’d been abstractly worried about finding vegan food in Tuscany but in the end the quality and variety of meals made the whole trip worthwhile. Sitting outside at dusk drinking a beer felt pretty special too.

Because of the heat and crowds I spent a lot of time between restaurants just chilling in the hotel room. I took The Wandering Earth expecting to read it all, but in the end only managed the titular novella and Mountain, both of which were fun and imaginative but too silly to have much impact.

The journey home was horrible and I don’t want to think about it.

As you can tell, I’m not very good at holidays. This was my first overseas vacation since 2019 and I‘ve definitely lost some of the tourism resilience I’d built up in the Before. I’m glad I went but I’m glad to be back.

Anyway, point is, I’m home now, and I’ve got COVID. ✅

I await tonight’s football with dread. Regardless of the result it’ll be catnip for complete bastards.

Sorry to sound a bit grumpy. The COVID’s thankfully mild but I feel absolutely wiped.

That’s it. Ciao!