THE ITALIAN MAMA?

It's a belief that the Italians love children. I have always thought that, written the fact, and witnessed many examples of how the Italians love children in restaurants and thus the children behave better than they would, say in a British restaurant where we are still arguably uptight about kids despite all the mummy blogs, books, experts saying the contrary.  It's become a science for goodness sake. How cold is that?

But this week I heard the Italians don't like children.  I heard it from a very informed Italian.    In fact they are up there with the Japanese on only wanting one child per family, and take their friend to the playground so they can have someone to chat to because they find talking to their own child, dull.     So you'll have six women and three children, as each woman will have a friend.  This of course could all be an urban myth but it got me thinking how perhaps it's the relaxed way of life in Italy, the warmth of the climate, the relaxed nature of the culture, food focused, sensuality focused that fits in very well with the psyche of parenting - not because they are forced on being good parents, or indeed even liking children, but because it's innate to their way of life.   To my knowledge I don't know of any mummy blog equivalent in Italy and when PLAYGROUND MAFIA came out in 2006, the Italian publishers loved the idea but said the name had to be changed.  "It means something completely different in this country Sarah."  

So perhaps the idea of the Italian mama doesn't exist after all.   She just likes her food and catering for everyone, no matter what their age, but it seems the older the better.  Perhaps that's why they look after their elderly so well.  

BREAKING THE ICE IN CANARY WHARF

I visited the Ice Sculpture Festival today held at Canary Wharf.   Devised and organised by Carol Cordrey, it's a wonderful idea.

I wouldn't have put it in Canary Wharf which despite having wonderful statuesque glass buildings twinkling as in many ways did the sculptures themselves, this place is completely devoid of soul.

Travelling to the Sculpture festival was like walking into a black hole and finding specs of stardust in the form of each glacial masterpiece; artists from all over the world there to show their talent which is eternal although their works of art are not.

Two winners (from the UK) were interviewed, one saying he had been a painter by profession, the other a gardener and that they had given up their day jobs to focus on the art form, but had returned to their roots and broke the ice as a hobby.   I don't think there's money in it.   But the art work was magical. If it hadn't been so cold I could have stared at each one for ages.  

There was other stuff to do there.   You could have a go yourself at masterclasses and the children oblivious of the cold were smiling - while their parents stocked up on the international market serving german sausage, pancakes, soups, as long as they were all piping hot. It was a very cold day and it hadn't even snowed.

There are similar festivals held all over the world. The first I visited was in Quebec held in December every year, part of the Bonhommie Carnavale, where there is an international competition, and it's held by the river.   The river is usually frozen over and yet they try to kayak down it, and there's a group of naval bods on hand to rescue anyone who capsizes (under the ice is not good).  Others are held in China, Belgium, Sweden, Russia, to name but a few and well worth visiting and supporting.  This is an almost spiritual art form.

I hope this festival continues in size and stature.   It is a testament to the incredible hard work of creative people who have soul and talent and don't do it for the money.   It is just very odd to have it in a place that is a testament to quite the reverse.

I DREAM A DREAM...

Just watched Les Mis and sobbed my heart out when Anne Hathaway sang "I dream a dream".  I think it's the first few breaths she takes before she starts singing. It's heart breaking.    The other actors are superb as well, ironically they outshine Helena BC and Sacha BC, with their acting and singing.  And the music and the lyrics are incredible. In truth, they are the real stars. For those who haven't watched the stage play, the film is mesmerising.  

THE IMPOSSIBLE

I just watched the film The Impossible.   I remember writing about Thailand as a wonderful place to go for Christmas and New Year that year, especially if you wanted to escape the commercialisation - well western for eastern depending on which part of Thailand you ventured to.  It was in my top five of places to go.   I hope no one went as a result of reading the article.

The film is fascinating and harrowing. I'm told it took a year to film the first ten minutes and the young boy playing the eldest son Tom Holland is especially good.   Not cloying, but convincing and strong for his family because he needs to be.   Like most eldest sons are. They tend to be the strongest or the weakest.   There were moments I could relate to, where the woman was so grateful to the locals who were there to help, and the time when the father broke down and became a child himself.   They were real moments.  I could tell they would happen in real life. The only thing that jarred was the music which was unnecessary.   The film was most powerful when the music was at it's quietest or non existent.    Real life drama does not need backing music.   It reminded me of the Schlinder's List when it was only at the end when you realised how many lives had been saved by one man, that you became aware of the reality of a tsunami, what it does to lives and livelihoods.  The film barely skimmed the surface of what it did to the locals but it gave an idea and it was humbling to watch safe in my cinema seat a million miles away.

LET THE TRAIN ...leave without you.

Just returned from seeing a show in town, although we didn't get to see it coz the trains were delayed and cancelled as the notice boards noted, due to someone being hit by a train in Elmbridge, or between Elmbridge and Clapham Junction.    These things happen.   I remember when I commuted from Essex they happened at least once a month. There would be hour long delays while guards would apologise profusely for not knowing what was going on and apologise for having to apologise and they would understand how this may have (never must because there's a legal issue I'm sure with saying 'we have screwed up your day, not we may have screwed up your day), just may have caused us inconvenience. It made us late for work, more tired than we needed to be, more stressed, more anxious.  One lost the will to live not just the will to get up in the morning and make way to a job one invariably hated.    There were those who could read and get into a book and then click in and out of the delays treating it as two, three or even four more chapters they could read through. One woman I knew completed the book. Then she got as pissed off as the rest of us.  Of course now you have iPhones, iPads, mini iPads to keep you amused unless you've forgotten to charge it.  

At Clapham Junction the apologetic guard urged people to get off and take the Victoria Line to Waterloo and Vauxhall.     Point is the Victoria Line doesn't' stop at Clapham Junction, something I had forgotten and 100s of others didn't know either.   We were left stranded. The train went off and we decided having been given options to either get on a bus - no number given - or a train to Shepherds Bush or one via Willesden Junction, I'm not sure.   Neither was anyone else sure including the train guards we asked.  We didn't swear, we didn't shout because it wasn't their fault.   We just wanted them to stop apologising and tell us the options.  They couldn't. They didn't.     Shit happens.  People get hit by trains.     But tonight SW Trains just made a drama out of a crisis. Their service and the staff we encountered were misinformed - so they misinformed their customers. The service was utter crap.

MADASATRAVELLER - you would need to be. My next book.

I was recently tagged by Janey Fraser (www.janeyfraser.co.uk) to participate in The Next Big Thing, where authors answer ten questions about their current works in progress. If you haven’t read her post about what she's working on now, jump over to her blog to take a look. I've never considered having an au pair, which is what her latest brilliant novel is about. It makes the politics in Parliament look like child's play. Fabulously wicked book to buy mothers who think an au pair is a good idea...

In turn, I tagged excellent writers and dear friends, established author, lecturer and journalist Anne Sebba (www.annesebba.com) who writes exquisite biographies including her latest 'The Other Woman' about Wallace Simpson.   It's a fascinating and engrossing story elegantly told.      Author and columnist Simon Hoggart (http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/simonhoggart) writes wonderfully pithy prose about anything and everything.  He observes with better eyes than the rest of us, but then he does comment often but not exclusively on politics - so he needs to.    His Long Lunch titles available as ebooks as well as in bookshops - the few that are left - will make you weep for all the right reasons.

I have also chosen two first time authors Dodie Hamilton (www.facebook/dodiehamiltonbooks) and her debut novel, the beautiful haunting romance in Second Chance and Julia Chambers first novel My Rennaissance which is elegant erotica at it's very best, putting Fifty Shades and any other variation on that theme completely in the shade....

So thanks, Janey, for asking me what I’m up to with my writing. Here’s what I had to say:

What is the working title of your book?

I have been working on three.   The Diary of Guilty Secrets, The Charm Bracelet and 

Madasa traveller..  I am currently working on a comedy thriller. 


Where did the idea come from for the book?

Diary of Guilty Secrets is what I've wanted to write for a long time, just like the protagonist.    Charm Bracelet is a series of stories, some sad, some sexy, some tragic, some hilarious and Madasatraveller.....

My email address is madasatucker and I've been twenty years a travel writer.  How I got there is a journey in itself and I'm still on it.   It's a dream job but it has it's share of nightmare scenarios. I thought it would be interesting for people to see that the pieces to camera along the golden beaches has it's fair share of quick sand and the azure blue bath warm Indian Ocean seas have their sharks....

What genre does your book fall under?

travel fiction(alined)
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

In madasatraveller - ex husband playing a very haggard looking Hugh Grant type.  lover played by a young Rufus Sewell.     main character Emily Watson as someone who looks naive but isn't and is deeply flawed - like the author.   Or Goldie Hawn when she was very young.   And it must have the actors Ed Harris in it and Bill Nighy.   Just because..

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Bridget Jones meets Bill Bryson, occasionally with bursts of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Foul Play.   

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

by an agency  Wordcents.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

a month. I know the story. 

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A Bridget with real problems who prefers the romance of travel to the romance with Darcey.   

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

Going through my old school books and diaries and realising where I started and how far I've come....so far. 

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

There's better sex in it than there is in Fifty Shades but I think there is in most novels.   And it's very funny and inspiring. you'll want to get on a plane and keep going (and take the book with you...)

MEDIA - FRIEND OR FOE - OUR OWN WORST ENEMY

I was in excellent company last night.  Sir Trevor MacDonald who needs no introduction, but got one any way from the Chair, editor of the Sheengate Titles Richard Nye, Claire Fox, the director of the wonderfully named Institute of Ideas (sounds like something out of Hogwarts) and Matthew Syed, illustrious columnist and writer of the Times and former Commonwealth table tennis champion I wanted to ask him about table tennis but felt it oddly irrelevant in context of the debate. Discussing if the media were friend or foe (it didn't specify to whom) this of course had been perfectly timed to coincide with the Leverson findings (pure fluke but that's timing for you).

Sir Trevor felt Leverson would change nothing, everything would be bogged down in committees and sub committees and nothing would be done. Ever.   Claire and Matthew felt if statute was put in place, it would potentially be very dangerous especially if you had the likes of Blair or Thatcher in charge again or some lesser megalomaniac.  As for my view, I think the politicians are playing a game.  They are losers all of them, we are the biggest ones (the punter, the voter, the onlooker), but to think they could come out and out say one way or another would be a nonsense and would take a great deal of courage, which they don't have.    When I look at politicians now I think of them as actors upon a stage, not meaning anything they are saying, not even understanding most of it, just reciting it.   I don't feel contempt because it takes courage to get up on that stage.   And Sir Trevor noted that many journalists and reporters now treat politicians with barely restrained contempt when they interview them. As Sir Trevor noted, at least politicians enter the process to do something of good for their community (although I think some do enter it for ego), something you can never say about those who work in the city.

And who will be in this organisation that will monitor the press?  Who on earth, on this earth is so honourable, so without fault, so incorruptible to be considered for this position?  A politician? No. A banker?  You're joking.   A policeman - perhaps.   I think you need a 'common man', or woman who has a sense, a common sense and an ability to see through the emperor with no clothes phenomenon of what is bullshit and what isnt, what is in the public interest and what isn't.   It isn't someone who has risen to the top. If this year has proved anything the shit rises to the top more regularly than the cream does.  Although I must say I do like Eddie George.   I think his contempt for the city mirrors that of my own, but then he deals with them on a daily basis so that's understandable.

In many ways the media has been it's own worst enemy.   Editors allowing for lazy journalism - the recent article about Canada in the Telegraph being an example.  I met the Canadian head of PR for lunch this week and she despaired that they usual cliche about Canadians came up without anything relevant or up to date on a country that had a government which managed to manage their bankers - something our politicians had not.  As she commented 'It's harmless but it's pathetic.'

Then there's the phone hacking which hacked into 'common man' rather than celebrity, who I am afraid I have absolutely no sympathy with. That includes the Royals, both the young and old.    They are sold to us as though we know them. We don't have a clue who they are.  We just think we do.

Editors encourage journalists to get stories, to hit the negative angles because they are told 'it makes better news' and people are more interested in bad news than good. I think it's been proven somewhere, with stats or something, but then so has a lot of things which turn out to be rubbish.   And all media are businesses so their bottom line is more important than anything else.   Associated Papers are making money, The Times is running on a subsidy, the rest of the papers I think are losing money. The BBC may have been dented but they are respected around the world and like the NHS should not be tampered with.   They should not be interested in profit and should aim in their production values at all times and at all cost.   Every panelist agreed on that point.

The weave between the institutions of the police, the law, the church, the city, the media, the royals, the politicians has become so entwined this is like a lover's tiff that will pass over because the end game is more important.  There is too much money, too much power and far far too much ego invested in these institutions for morality and integrity to get in the way of profit.   This has been a year of revelation but not revolution.  And if it were it would be the wrong heads that would roll.