And We're Back!

After a year long absence from this blog, I am making what I hope is a triumphant return to Rome and to a second aestas mirabilis, my second summer of wonders and miracles. As perhaps you can deduce from the last few posts on this blog from last year, I have been mostly in Ireland since leaving the Eternal City last summer. It was a wonderful year, but it feels just right to come back to Roma Homa, a city that somehow still feels like home.

Perhaps this feeling is aided this year by my return to another familiar location: Casa Rolex! Though Roisin is not my intrepid flatmate again this year, I think the name of the apartment has stuck. In planning this trip, I knew I wanted to come back to Casa Rolex, but this of course meant reconnecting with my Italian landlord, Riccardo. I can't remember if I ever mentioned him before, but if I haven't, let me tell you a story to give you an idea what he is like.

Back in April, I emailed Riccardo to see if Casa Rolex might be available for a longer rental period than last summer (3 months instead of 1). I was very friendly, saying he might not remember me, but that I rented the apartment before. He sent me back an email that said, "Ah, Alessandra, how could I forget you, lovely blonde girl! " For those of you who don't know me, this is made all the more amusing by the fact that I am not, nor ever have been, blonde. At least I was not wrong when I thought Riccardo was talking to my neck last year...

I am not so sure that Riccardo has noticed that I am not blonde yet, but he is at least a good and honest landlord. Casa Rolex was sparkling clean when I arrived, although the comfy chair (hideous leopard print but outrageously comfortable) was conspicuously missing. The most amusing change to the apartment, however, is the method by which one enters it. It is an old building, and the doors are all thick wood with metal reinforcements. My doors are opened by a large key, which is strong enough to unlatch the heavy metal bolt. This year, however, the key doesn't turn as well as it should, and now to open my doors, I need nothing more serious than a credit card. Not because it costs any money, but because I slide the card between the doors, pushing the bolt to the side, and push them open.

Riccardo has promised that someone will come to change the locks tomorrow or sometime (he is very vague), but I frankly can't tell how they would replace the lock without replacing the doors as well. I'm sure that will be an adventure, when (and if!) it happens, but until then, I will continue to break into my own apartment with a credit card, and hope none of my neighbors notice...