The fourth article from Hamish Moore – the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008 – I am now beginning to wonder when the door will slam – you know that old feeling:Its almost a barometer of how well things seem to be going and it brings to mind a song. The old expression : "when one door closes another will open" was given a new twist by the celebrated Scots singer, Rod Paterson, when for one of his songs he modified things slightly to read: – " when one door closes another will slam in your face !" I am sure many people will be able to relate to that one. Typical also of Scots humour and a sound positive attitude to life.!!
Humour, yes, but there is also a serious side as to why in Scotland we can be so down on ourselves; social history, religion, politics to name but a few. Maybe a few comments coming on future blogs but in the mean time lets focus on the positive. Things are going extremely well. It's working. This adventure thus far is working. Doors and Windows – metaphors for opportunities and it was certainly opportunistic when my laptop here wouldn't boot up last week and I got to spend some precious time with Keane. We jumped in his wee Panda and headed off down the mountain to Mologna and Gallicano to see the computer doctor.
One of the beautiful things about life here compared with home is, that instead of getting in your car, fighting for a space to park it and then propelling yourself and a massive trolley round as many impersonal supermarket aisles as possible in the least amount of time and then to cap it all being told to "have a nice day", that shopping here is a social event and is one of the means by which information is transmitted round the town.
For a start the bread, because it contains no preservatives has to be made and bought on a regular and probably daily basis and many of the vegetables although not labelled as such I am sure will be organically grown and definitely all locally produced.
What I saw in the centre of Mologna that day was so so sad. This lovely old Tuscan village was built round a central piece of land (rather like Spittalfield, or Yetholm or Dirleton etc at home) This central focus was renowned for its fantastic fertility and because it is naturally irrigated by underground springs was considered to be one of the best bits of horticultural land in the area. Here however is a slamming door – pouring thousands of tons of concrete into this land to build a supermarket. Words fail me. Fight on the people of Partick in your resistance to the proposed new Tescos ( apparently the biggest in Scotland or Europe or the Planet – what does it matter ) After all, Portobello managed to stop their one happening.
I do remember saying that it may take years to spot every architectural gem in this old town and it was on the way back from Mologna that day that I spied a beautiful semi circular window. Keane explained that the house belonged to people from Pisa and then went on to quote an old saying : "Meglio un morto in casa che un Pisano all'uscio." – " I would rather have death in my house than a man from Pisa at my door " What awful deed would it have taken for such a saying to enter a tradition but it is fascinating and lovely (although maybe not for Pisa people) to know how these bits of language stick. Its (even by Rod Paterson's slamming doors standards) pretty black and bleak though. I have been working at my Italian in an ad hoc sort of way and as well as learning new vocabulary every day, am picking up fascinating grammatical quirks. I love this stuff about language. Did you know, ( I said to one or two in Aristos the other day, and showing off slightly my new found knowledge), the only Italian noun which is feminine but has the masculine ending. (In Italian,all feminine nouns end in "a" while masculine ones end in "o") ————— Mano is the answer : feminine noun/masculine ending.
It must be some sort of concept of a male/female thing in the deep psyche of the way of thinking of a hand – you know – ambidextrous maybe !!!! And then the knees and the ears – masculine in the singular but feminine in the pleural – what a fascinating and funny discourse as to the possible reasons why this may have developed. Italian grammar I complained – so many irregular verbs – its such a difficult language especially compared to the simple verbs of English. "Ah – you have to find the sleeping dictionary technique" retorted Keane. Oh yes I said : I well remember when trying to pass my Latin exams at school taping translations of all the Letters of Pliney on my first enormous reel to reel tape machine and playing them over in my sleep. I assumed that this was what he was meaning by the sleeping dictionary ? Oh no : Oh no !!! – what you have do to is find an Italian woman to sleep with ( or should that be – with whom to sleep ) and you will be amazed at how much Italian you will know by the morning – That's the Sleeping Dictionary explained Keane !
I suspect that Keane's sleeping dictionary would be no more effective than my version. What I am sure of however is that it would be a lot more enjoyable ! This all led neatly to kilts – no pleural of Kilt Keane informed me. 1 kilt , 5 kilt 230 kilt. Rubbish I retorted: not in common usage. It must be some old military thing that was invented, a bit like lots of supposed Scottish culture – nothing but myths !! (please see editor's note at foot of this article)
What about that funny drinking cup someone said – oh, the quaich: – the 2 handles are so that as a dr
ink is offered and received with 2 hands I explained, that neither hand is available for the use of a weapon. Table manners – we at home may have adopted the idea that it is right and proper to have the left hand on the lap while supping soup but ironically enough there happens to be a sinister reason for this: left hand below the table was the potential operator of that weapon. Not so in Italy – both hands on the table is the proper thing to do – no weapons involved.
Serving wine – always in Italy with the right hand and with the hand in the prone position. This way the poisoned ring could not be emptied of its contents into the unsuspecting wine drinker's glass. All amazing stuff and I have long been interested in language and what part the structure and grammar of any particular language has to play in how a people think collectively and maybe even how laws were made and operated. Another chance meeting ( on Sunday morning in the bright sunshine outside Aristos and over a leisurely cappuccino ) with a professor of linguistics who had done a PH.D in exactly this subject. She went into considerable detail on the subject and was fascinated with my long held theory that our Laws of Trespass ( or rather lack of them in Scotland ) are indeed linked to the fact that Gaelic does not have a concept of ownership – no possessive tense . I explained to Gloria that in The Gaelic language and culture, the computer I was holding was at me rather than being owned by me. That concept was foreign to the Gael.We went on to have a wonderful conversation about many aspects of this and related subjects – cultural differences – and how it is easy through ignorance to offend.
She explained the Italian concept of Bella Figura, (literally translated it simply means beautiful figure) but its much much more than that. I am not sure that I completely grasped this in one sitting but here are a few words and phrases which may help : a way of behaving, demeanour, deportment, good manners, a code of conduct, the proper way to go about things and maybe surrounding yourself with good energy. I am not sure if I have covered it or whether its been truly, " lost in translation ". I would be delighted to receive comments if I am slightly off the beam.
All of this and more is the wonderful wealth of experiences in Barga. Those of you who know me well will have long heard me ranting about how wonderful it must have been to experience some of the great periods of creativity in history and to sit in that cauldron and on a daily basis rubbing shoulders with and being inspired by and in turn inspiring like minded people : Florence in 15th century, Greenwich Village in the early 60's, Edinburgh as part of The Enlightenment in the 18th century etc etc. How wonderful, I have said so many times, would it be to create albeit artificially a modern day 15th century Florence.
But, here it is in Barga – a living breathing example. It has attracted all these creative like minded people and for that the town has an energy which I can't say I have experienced anywhere else. No slamming or even closing of doors here – they are all open and welcoming – Benvenuto a Hamish they are saying..
The weather is now even warm enough for all the windows to now be flung wide open and for that wonderful pure, fresh mountain air to drift into the houses and enliven and enrich the souls of the people.
Hamish Moore 2nd February 2008 – All of his weekly articles can be seen here
Rod Paterson – Songs from the Bottom Draw
Editor's note: I had just read an article in the Independent newspaper which stated;
The kilt was first seen in the 16th century, as a long piece of cloth wrapped around the torso and waist. The version we see today, patterned with tartans said to represent specific clans, did not emerge until the 1800s. In recent years, other Celtic nations such as Ireland and Wales have adopted versions of the kilt.
The name comes from the Scandinavian word kilt, meaning to tuck clothes up around the body. A typical adult Scottish kilt uses about eight yards of tartan wool and the hem sits just below the knee. It is usually teamed with a belt, a jacket, a sporran and a sgian dubh, a small knife worn in the top of the sock. Folklore maintains that a true Scotsman should wear nothing under his kilt.
Traditionalists insist that the plural of kilt is also kilt, rather than kilts.
