Being streetwise in BA 26th October Monday

Yes we have beggars and the homeless on our streets but seeing kids work here is another thing.
Often they are expert jugglers astride the pedestrian crossings while the cars wait to move off as the lights change - they try and catch the drivers as they roar off, usually ignoring the youngsters. They work the cafes and restaurants inside and out with things to sell. They work the buses and the tubes. No one seems to forbid them, they are just tired of being asked. Some kids have such amazing confidence and voice projection you cannot help but be impressed. I have bought chewing gum so far! It`s a start. One fantastic young juggler on a subte (tube) last week got a round of applause and people did give. I am surprised that there are not more buskers but suspect they are confined to one particular street. They are not common on the Subte like the London underground.

The big march last week where a young man was shot was taken very seriously although no-one is owning up to who it was although apparently everyone knows. The police did not intervene and are now trying to decided which faction to support. The following day there was an even larger march in sympathy with Mariano who died - it was huge and everyone who had a banner or a cause to plead was on the street marching to the beat of the drum. You hear these demonstrations long before you see them - always to a steady heartbeat.

I have spotted a professional dog walker with 8 dogs in one go - best record so far! Most people seem to have fairly small dogs but they still seem to produce and amazing amount of crap which just lies around on the pavements. Yuck!

I had a lovely day on Sunday, two gardens, one botanical and one Japonese. I then visited Evita`s museum which I found very interesting set in a fabulous house in Palermo. Lots of footage of her life and the work she did for the poor and the elderly and how instrumental she was in women getting the vote. Yes there is always another side of her maybe being ambitious and self seeking - I saw a lot of parallels with Princess Di. The funeral was immense and the flowers given were in their thousands.

Great jazz band in one of the parks and then I found what is now my absolutely favourite art gallery. Museo de Ates Plasticas in Palermo. Fabulous sculpture by 4 visiting Argentinians and lots of very modern paintings that definitely had a different departure point from English artists. The art gallery itself had been designed by an architect, can`t remember who but yes, he was an Argentinian. He specifically wanted to include light and the outside in each separate gallery so lots of views of the small courtyard - with cafe and trees and more sculpture - dappled sunlight falling into smaller courtyards enclosing the trunks of growing trees and giving a feeling of space and air and the outside and the inside being part of the same space. Small and intimate but the exhibitions strangely seem quite extensive. The staff were great and forgave me for illegally taking some photos, they helped me find the right bus home and in broken spanish, me, and broken english, them, we had a great chat about art and life!

I went to a french film in the evening called `My Life` which had subititles in Spanish - it was partly for homework - I really did try and stay awake and almost succeeded. Subtitles are great but they need to leave them up for longer!

My last week at school and then a month in Palermo with Elsa with loads of tango. This week is going to go so fast. We have Wednesday off for the National Census and two consequent long days on Tuesday and Thursday to make up for it. I shall wait and see what this week brings.....