I do not enjoy spare time, breaks and changes of any kind. Taking a week off is a severe surviving exercise. Wish me luck.

It doesn’t happen often to tell personal stories here on the blog, but these two (or three?) are simply too good to be true. So I just thought they’d chase all my decent readers away. The sooner, the better.

1. I live close to an Italian restaurant. “My” part of the street is wrapped in oregano scents and Eros Ramazzotti’s tunes. One night, at the end of February, I returned from Kristianstad with the last train. The street was empty, no candles in front of the restaurant door, no cars parked in front of the building, no scents and no music. “I can’t say much has happened since closing time”, I thought in Cohen’s words. There was a faint light somewhere next to the bar/counter area though, and I was wondering whether it was a real wax candle or just a dull bulb. And suddenly they came rushing from a darker corner: a cook, still wearing his white costume, and a waitress, still wearing her black shirt. Believe it or not, he pushed her against the counter and they more or less started to have what we normally call sex. The scene I have accidentally caught, no longer than 3 seconds as I was speeding towards one of the building entrances, had something intensely artistic. And genuinely Italian; as if the street has decided to share its most exotic secret with those coming back with the last train.

2. A guy has described the worst nightmare he ever had: running in desperation, being chased by an ice cream. Yes, an ice cream. The one topped with caramel sauce or butterscotch sauce or praline syrup, the one you’d queue for, the one you’d kill for. This guy is the only one having a serious reason to struggle for reality.

PS: The picture that comes with this post could be the third too-good-to-be-true story, since it is happening – again – in front of my building. These cars could be the 2nd best kept secret of the street. A friend has sent it to me, but he has no idea who took it. Or when. We should, perhaps, ask someone who came with the last train.

PS2: The song of the day is Rufus Wainwright’s new single “Going to a Town” from the (almost out!) album Release the Stars. Just as we knew him, he comes back all tossed, all baroque and ample and intense and uneasy, slightly melancholic, but firm, making a point, as always. After listening just two tracks, I am inclined to compare this album, in a haste, of course, with Morrissey’s Ringleader of the Tormentors, even though Morrissey worked with Tony Visconti while Wainwright’s album is self-produced. We’ll see how the wind will blow after listening to the whole thing. Meanwhile, let’s all join Rufus and get tired of America.