Z as Zorro

Disney-Television-Series-Zorro-disney-37211425-640-480

Zorro was one of the first American serial fiction showed by Italian tv.  Much before the Brazilian telenovelas or the upmodern series such as Dallas.
Of course this was not a semi-real story as the others but the important element here is the seriality, getting the audience used to coming back and watching tv day after day.
I have been quite a follower of tv stories and indeed also wrote a blog note on how differences between relationships with real and fiction interlocutors tend to vanish.
After Zorro there were Happy Days, Sonia Braga’s Dancing Days and many others.
quadro-20x30-c-moldura-e-vidro-novelas-dancing-days-per-D_NQ_NP_668223-MLB27895941290_082018-F

The tv series do probably influence the character building of an adolescent as much as books.
It is indeed possible that the approach of few parents (now as then) forbidding  their children to yield to tv influence was not as idiotic as we thought.
Of course, this approach make those children ‘different’ from the others.  But difference might not be bad if well managed.

NB upmodern is a neologism I invented today.  Cannot find it by google ….

See also: https://mc7858attitude.blog/2004/05/13/fiction_pals_229823-shtml/

Y as yeast

Some years ago two friends from Pavia gave us a small quantity of ‘pasta madre’, the natural yeast that you have to refresh every week and use to prepare bread, pizza and more.
Preparing our bread ourselves was a refreshing experience that we brought with us in different countries.
Making bread is a fundamental life experience that I would recommend to anybody.
And the nice thing with ‘pasta madre’ is that you cannot buy it but one will always find someone ready to pass it on.
Making things with one own hands is important for a balanced phisical and mental growth. It is a pity that after the adolescence there are few occasions for it.
There are not many things I am able to do, not good with wood or repairing house appliances, never tried pottery and limited knowledge in gardening.
Still, in the last ten years I have probably done more than in the previous twenty.

X as multiplication

32547409-mathematical-vector-seamless-pattern-with-figures-and-calculations-you-can-use-any-color-of-backgrou
At primary school I was strong in mathematics.
Later, I progressively lost interest for scientifical topics and focused on humanities.

Of course, the teachers at secondary level were not very inspiring, but it is also true that I found difficult (and still do) understanding formulas and abstract theories.

Actually, the same apply for philosophical or artistic theories.  I tend to shy away from more complex reasoning; not sure if that is because of laziness or structural limits.

Also, I am not particularly ambitious.

I wondered sometimes where I would be if I had pursued one determined purpose with everything I had got.

Probably, in the same place.

W as walking

walking
Walking is important in my life, even if I am quite a lazy character.
There is this song by Gaber that says the road is the only salvation.
Several times I felt that way.  That going on the road could help to redefine its own objectives or help overcoming difficult periods.
I walked a lot with the scouts, normally going up somewhere. It was before the use of the ‘trekking’ vocabulary, before decathlon, when the equipment was rather bought second-hand from old military stuff.
I didn’t reach any exciting destination, several times stopped before getting the top of a mountain but this is not really the point. Not for me, at least.
Doing less road since I am working in offices, but also going from country to country for the job was a sort of walking exercise.
Still, starting, getting into action has never been simple and I need indeed a clear goal to get into motion; I am never tempted by wandering without a plan.
I described elsewhere how after the fifties I got back to a tour with rucksack and tent and my try at Camino de Santiago.
Hope to have time and energy to do more.