Between

Between Poggibonsi, Serskamp (B) and Istanbul, between Christmas and new year...

Sunday 16 December, teatro dei Leggeri: the concert was nice, good public, a word of thank of the director and the President and afterwards the reception: spumante (sparkling wine) and panettone, Italian Christmas sweet. Pleasant atmosphere, and I got the best wishes. And also some gifts, I didn’t expect and it was really not necessary.

We close with a dinner with the choir members and their families. It was late when we went home.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are taken by packing books in boxes: what goes to Istanbul, what remains in Italy and what must I take to Belgium. A big job. Same dilemma with clothes, CD's, DVD's and videos and more. The number of "to send to Istanbul" boxes continue to grow, there are five now and I will make at least one more. But I haven’t found a courier yet. In the worst case I can send them by plane, it goes very fast, but is also much more expensive.

Packing is interrupted on Tuesday evening for an extra "open-house" at Claudia’s. With half a choir we repeat part of the concert, errors, rhythm impairments and irritations included. Thursday morning, 6:00u and 3 degrees under 0: with 24 hours delay I depart for Belgium.

I can drive smoothly, but there is a lot of traffic so it is 8 pm when I “enter” Belgium and according to the news there is a general speed limit of 90 km/h on the highway because of the air pollution. It seems though that speed restriction is valid only in Flanders and Brussels. So at 10.45 pm I am "at home".

Friday morning: it’s freezing since a couple of days, nice views but dammed cold! It’s time for the annual visits to friends and family, in-between I get a message of Filiz: it seems she has found a studio for me in Istanbul. But then I realise the message is over 24 hours old, and the studio is not that interesting.

I only have a couple of days and must enjoy Flanders before being worried about Istanbul.