GLOBETROTTERS

For once I won't say - almost - anything, and I will let someone else speak for me. I only want to thank Caroline and James for their fantastic surprise, for their usual joy, kindness and crushing. Bon voyage! What follows is taken from Caroline's website. Thanks again.   Amiata, du bloc pour changer, sud de Sienna Pour une fois, je laisse la parole a James, je me contenterai de traduire... "La dernière fois que j'ai vu Lorenzo,c' était en 2010, à un petit site de bloc au centre des Dolomites. Il avait conduit 5 heures depuis Sienne pour essayer 1 de ses projets, qui au cours du week-end continuerait a malheureusement lui échapper, mais au moins il avait pu essayer ... Deux week-ends auparavant, il avait fait le même trajet, pour s'ouvrir un pouce sur son premier essai, et rentrer à la maison! Cela devrait vous donner une petite idée de la motivation dont Lorenzo est capable! Lorenzo a l'echauff, comme dab… Nous avons rejoint Lorenzo près du sommet du Monte Amiata, au moment où il revenait à sa voiture après une longue journée dans les rochers.Toujours motivé, il a abandonné ses pads et nous a traînées en haut de la colline pour une tournée de tous les blocs, et bien qu'il en soit a son 3e jour de suite, Lorenzo a insisté à pour se joindre à nous le lendemain matin pour une visite personnelle d'un autre domaine. Castel del Piano Monte Amiata est un endroit incroyablement paisible. Les blocs sont parsemés dans une forêt de châtaigniers ombragée, et les seules personnes de passage habitants occasionnels à la recherche de champignons et de noix. En raison de son altitude, les conditions sont bien meilleuresque dans la ville voisine de Castel del Piano - quelque chose que vous apprécierez au moment de mettre de grandes claques sur les plats a gros grains. la foret  Cette arête de compression est un des plus beaux blocs que j'ai jamais fait! Tout au long de la journée Lorenzo nous a montré ses problèmes classiques, dont l'un tient son rang parmi les meilleurs rochers que j'ai jamais fait. Nous avons également pu essayer quelques-uns de ses projets et même réussir à ajouter la première ascension d'un Fb7B+ : «Un Italien Très anglais».  A Very English Italian! Fb7B+ Un autre problème classe, quelque part autour de Fb8A Notre peau partait en lambeaux en fin de journee, et même Lorenzo (4e jour maintenant) a admis que, demain devrait probablement être un jour de repos. Toutefois, avant de dire au revoir et de commencer son trajet de retour à Sienne, Lorenzo a insisté pour nous montrer une autre surprise locale ... Pizza Cèpes et truffes! Oui, c'est aussi bon que ça sonne! Alors ... Pour résumer Monte Amiata! Un grand espace, avec des blocs cool d'essayer, répartis entre plusieurs zones plus petites, dispersées autour de la montagne. Très calme, très calme, et très beau. La cuisine est fantastique, et plutôt pas cher!   Caroline dans un superbe Fb7B+

SPEAKING THE TRUTH

I learn a lot from other blogs. I learn how others live their lives, how hard they climb, how close they are to the mental asylum. 

I also learn what I don't like to read, and I take this as a reminder of what I don't want to write. 

I've been reading a blog recently, in which the Author speaks about very personal issues, without saying anything clear about them. So basically I read a sequence of words, that I logically understand, but whose true meaning escapes me. This is perfectly fine, this kind of self dialogue put into words, no one has to say anything more than what they want to say. And I have no right of asking to know more. 

Despite this, reading about things that I could not understand made me feel uncomfortable and also a bit pissed, because I could not empathize at all with the Author, because he (or she) was basically cutting me off from the beginning. If I don't empathize, I can't learn: everything works as in the ancient Greek tragedies, as I've said before. 

I think I made this mistake in a few entries in the past, referring to facts that I did not clarify. 

So, this post is to make things clear for everyone. Even for myself. 

Two of the most important moments of my life are still very close: the first one, in chronological order, is the death of my uncle Massimo, my father's brother, the 18th of May, after a five years long fight against cancer. He taught me a lot, humanly, in a very special and personal way, and he showed an incredible strength during his illness, always smiling, never scared. He was a tiny little man, fifty kilos of nerves, but as it showed he was made of steel. 

I miss him a lot. 

The second one is the end of my relationship with Valentina, after two very hard  years. Things change, people change, and sometimes life gets in the way of feelings. Some other times feelings just end, that's natural if you starve them. 

She got a new house and moved out in the weekend. Things are relaxed between the two of us, so hopefully it'll be for the best. 

I have been in two solid relationships, living together, for the last 13 years. A long time. Yesterday night I was at home alone, it had happened before, but now there were empty drawers, missing pictures, no dog. And I thought "Wow! What's this?" 

Of course I lived these moments in my climbing as well. I had been climbing the day my uncle went to the hospital; I had been climbing one week later, the day he died; and I went climbing on the same day the following week. This is what lies behind my post "Thursdays". Three Thursdays, three days, one life. 

I lived my relationship's crisis through climbing as well. "Anger is an energy" sang John Lydon with PiL. It's true. For quite a long time I fueled my obsession with the frustration of a collapsing relationship, with anger, with regrets. It worked, for the climbing. Now I am left without this fuel, I have no dirty energy to convert into somethig green and I wonder if I'll make it. I wonder if I'll find some kind of pure pleasure to propel me. Not something that I want to get rid of, that I need to purify. Something that's already pure. 

You can read this story behind many posts, but especially this and this. 

So, here you are. This is it. This is me. 

I hope this post will help you understand more things that I've written in the past, for sure it helped me.