Gary Alessio

They never have Essex. We wouldn’t want them to anyway.

Lovely! How’s your olive harvest? I read something yesterday that said the harvest in southern France had been poor this year.

Just finished the Magus. I chuckled at the first lines of the acknowledgements… I had been worried about the absence of Nathan. I needn’t have. I really loved the characters and the plot. Makes me want to to go back to Sicily. Thank you!

Really interesting article. It’s so powerful to read about real people’s experiences of the NHS. I’m glad to hear you’re feeling better.

Not sure if they still exist but in the early 80s Findus Crispy Pancakes came with a mozzarella and tomato filling in Italy. Sofficini Findus, I think. I really liked them. My aunt bought them for me but nobody else would touch them. My uncle said he’d rather eat ‘un manego de scova’.

I live in Dorset so the Poole - Cherbourg ferry is an easy trip to France. I love exploring Normandy by train and car. Caen, Honfleur, Deauville, Trouville and the magnificent abbey at Lisieux are particular highlights as well as the food…

This made me laugh a lot.

On the TGV, the guard tells you off. Never seen that over here.

I am once again begging you to boycott Tesla

I hate that scramble on planes. You should only be able to take one bit of hand luggage. The rest goes in the hold.

I’m still furious about Brexit. And I hate how politicians just aren’t talking about it. Never forgive. Never forget.

They didn’t just NOT give Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, they wrote a citation that reads like an anti-Trump rallying cry.

(He’s gonna extra-tariff Norway now, isn’t he?)

I love the ‘Gay Nights’ sheets. Maybe that’s what did it!

This was the menu at the agriturismo near my village in Italy the other Sunday. Delicious and homely. The ossobuco was amazing and we took some home to make a delicious pasta sauce the next day. And just look at those prices! So easy to eat well and cheaply in Italy.

Yes, yes I know I keep banging on about my fucking book! However, if you want one repost this and I’ll do a random winner pick thing by the end of the week because I’m great like that. ♥️📚
#amindofmyown

I always loved the name of that station! Sparks the imagination.

Happy birthday! Tanti auguri!

Always a pleasure to find myself in Euston station, brimming with all the charm of a disused abattoir

Blimey. I was lucky crossing from France into Italy then!

I was just at Milano Centrale and all the trains to Switzerland had been cancelled.

French, German and British (!) locomotives on the French border! #Modane

I bloody love France!

I hear Clacton is nice at this time of year…

I lived in Corsica for a year in the mid 80s. We called this the TGV - Train à Grande Vibration.
I’m sure these new trains are much better!

In London, hate will never win.

I remember these in service! I always think they are the train equivalent of a border terrier. In no way conventionally good looking but ever so attractive and appealing.

I was so excited to head off to university. It’s only more recently, as friends have had kids going, that I’ve realised how odd it must have been for my parents.

The finest response I've seen so far.

Interesting about not being able to read for pleasure after university. It took me until 30 and I’d moved to London and I needed a distraction while commuting. Then I was able just to get lost in books, like in the days before studying.