Moment in Time: Italian Expressions

In a train car traveling en route from Camogli to Bologna via Milan, Italy, I’m trying to concentrate on reading Forty Rules of Love. I’ve read and re-read the same paragraph a couple of times, unable to stay focused.

All I can hear are the sounds surrounding me: computer keys clicking as Cindy types; a woman licking her finger and angrily flipping pages in her Italian beauty magazine while muttering things under her breath; the train engine whirring at its current stop; distant chatter in Italian from other cars; occasional text messages coming through or phones ringing. Tap tap tap tap lick turn tap tap hiss “allora” lick turn tap tap chirp chirp hiss.

We arrive late to Milan—the connection to Bologna has already left. In the queue at information, Italian tempers flair as the information desk gentleman gets reamed out by one angry customer after another. Hands are flailing about in flamboyant gestures as words fly rapid-fire out of Italian mouths—I only manage to catch every few words, and even though I know it’s angry and the words are nasty, it sounds so beautiful to listen to.

It seems everything in Italy is done con musica.