Nice People 12: Nice in Nice

Spirit_2

GDB2222 wrote: »

Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometres west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. Wikipedia

Everybody knows that. Including me, now.

Sorry, I assumed too much.

Up at silly o clock as his taxi is due at 5.30am, but the sound of a car pulling up outside woke us with a start...no idea what that was about but we both sprang out of bed with a start thinking OH had overslept.

The only vehicle sounds we hear in the small hours are a milk float, the zoom of the occassional fast car go by and OHs airport taxis.

Spirit_2

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

We had to turn the news off, because I thought Isaac was getting distressed by it. We turned it back on for the Israel - Gaza part, and then Isaac got all upset again when he realised that the air-raid report was from Sderot, where one lot of his cousins live.
!

Poor Isaac, poor kids.

I saw the news item on the bombed hospital and felt real anger. I know proximity to 'legitimate' goals is an issue but think targets such as this should be international war crimes if used as screens or attacked, by either side.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

Civitavecchia is a town

LOL ... I had assumed it was some small ex-Russian country to be honest

Had never heard of it, couldn't pronounce it, thought "sounds odd, therefore ex-Russian country"

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

.... news off...

It is relentless, news coverage these days. Hard to avoid. Must be difficult when the places are known to you.

GDB2222

Spirit wrote: »

Sorry, I assumed too much.

Up at silly o clock as his taxi is due at 5.30am, but the sound of a car pulling up outside woke us with a start...no idea what that was about but we both sprang out of bed with a start thinking OH had overslept.

The only vehicle sounds we hear in the small hours are a milk float, the zoom of the occassional fast car go by and OHs airport taxis.

You didn't assume too much at all. The depths of my ignorance are profound.

It sounds lovely and peaceful where you live.

I did not thank you enough for the assistance and advice you gave DW. She has made contact with the appropriate person at UCH, who responded very keenly. They are going to meet to move things along soon. So, thanks once again.

Generali

I was driving when I realised that the news had been on for ages about the Ukraine plane so decided to talk to The Boy about it.

"You realise this is on the news because it's so unusual, this never happens"
"What never happens Daddy?"
"Planes getting shot down"
"A plane got shot down!? Why would they do that? We're getting on a plane. Will they shoot that down too? I don't want to get on a plane......."
"Groan"

GDB2222

Spirit wrote: »

Poor Isaac, poor kids.

I saw the news item on the bombed hospital and felt real anger. I know proximity to 'legitimate' goals is an issue but think targets such as this should be international war crimes if used as screens or attacked, by either side.

I worry about my friends in Israel, but the truth is that they are in not all that much danger. Stress, discomfort, inconvenience - they have that in spades. They are forever running for the shelter. Even if the rocket is shot down, there's a rain of shrapnel falling from a height.

Nevertheless, there is no military solution. The suffering by civilians in gaza is simply appalling. Hamas has deliberately provoked this situation, factoring in the civilian casualties into their political calculations. They were wrong to do so. Israel was wrong to give in to the provokation. I find it hard to watch the news right now.

vivatifosi

GDB2222 wrote: »

Civitavecchia is a town and comune of the province of Rome in the central Italian region of Lazio. A sea port on the Tyrrhenian Sea, it is located 80 kilometres west-north-west of Rome, across the Mignone river. Wikipedia

Everybody knows that. Including me, now.

I've been to Civitavecchia. It is quite a nice town away from the port area. It has a good train network to Pisa and Rome and you can get a bus to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.

PasturesNew wrote: »

LOL ... I had assumed it was some small ex-Russian country to be honest

Had never heard of it, couldn't pronounce it, thought "sounds odd, therefore ex-Russian country"

Pronounciation... you hear some horrors getting off the cruise ships that dock there on the way to Rome. It is

Chi (as in cheese) vee (as in TV) ta (stopped quickly after the a, without saying tar as in southern English) vekky ah. Will get you close enough with an English accent.

I don't know if you remember the song Tubthumper by Chumbawumba, but one of the lines in it is "he drinks a whisky drink". If you say Civitavecchia right, it should have a very similar rhythm.

vivatifosi

Nikkster wrote: »

Whatever the real story regarding MH17 is, it's inexcusible the way the crash site has been dealt with. The pictures on the news are just awful.

There's a real fog of war at the moment. However it will be hard to cover up the truth. As I've said before, there will be satellite imagery of the area. Plus whether the plane was shot down by a Ukranian fighter jet (as is claimed by the Russian ambassador) or a surface to air missile fired by rebels (as claimed by the west), the trajectory will be different and leave different damage on the fuselage. Similarly, if there was a bomb on board, the plane would have exploded outwards rather than inwards. It's best left to the experts.

At least the majority of the bodies are now in Dutch hands and hopefully the site will be in the hands of international air crash investigators too, so that some dignity can be resumed.

It's probably fair to say too - which ever side they were on in the conflict - that it must have been awful for the people who lived in the village too. They will be the forgotten ones in this horrible turn of events, to have gone through what their little village has and nobody will care about their emotional welfare afterwards, then back to war. They will have their lives (fortunately, this could so easily have been another Lockerbie) but what awful memories to carry.

PasturesNew

vivatifosi wrote: »

I don't know if you remember the song Tubthumper by Chumbawumba, but one of the lines in it is "he drinks a whisky drink". If you say Civitavecchia right, it should have a very similar rhythm.

I've never heard of it, or them

*Googles* .... doesn't sound like my sort of thing at all.