Add to List - #33 (Italy Edition)
I'm sorry, I've had a bit of a flu
I present you with Add to List: the Sunday newsletter containing small things that brought joy, evoked an emotional reaction or became some short-lived stability for me in the past 7 days.
Okay, okay, okay. This week’s Add to List looks a bit different. I had a nasty bout of the flu this week (I think it was probably the 'vid). I spent most of the week in bed, looking out of the windows at moody skies in the mountains. Worse places to be ill, I guess.
I’ve not got many obsessions or confessions. I’ve not cooked much. I have been readingbut I don’t have much in terms of a review yet. My brain has been fog-filled. The wifi is too patchy to watch much. Hydration has been key. Sleep has been paramount and tantamount. I’m right as rain again now (and there has been a lot of rain here too).
Substack reminded me that exactly a year ago today that I wrote an article about cities of love. Call me cocky, but I still think it’s a banger twelve months on.
It’s always interesting re-reading an article you wrote a while back: you get an essence of the person you were at the time; the tone indicative of your then-outlook; the vocabulary and flair a reflection of creative path you were hoping to start carving out. Often, the overarching message still lands even if the specific details differ. Often, it feels like you’re reading the words of familiar friend you know intricately but also feel a level of distance from.
I was moved to see how all the things I wrote in my letter to Juliet last year in Verona actually came true (despite her ghosting me — I am still hopeful she’ll respond). A year on, I am living in the place I romanticise so much in this article. Funny. We create things for ourselves without even knowing we’re doing it.
As so many of you lovely people reading are new subscribers since this time last year, I thought I’d re-share (a.k.a shamelessly plug out of laziness/illness).
For those who so kindly read it the first time, you can ignore this email and gain back ten to twelve minutes of your Sunday evening.
I promise I’ll make up for the lack of recommendations with a bumper bonanza bonus next week.
A domenica! Ciao for now!