One Perfect Spaghetti Strand

“You can buy beautiful scarves in Rome,” Florian said.

I looked at him. I am going to Rome on Friday to cover a conference. I will have one extra day there and will divide that on a quickie tour of the city and with a meeting with a Professor who has translated cuneiform letters dating back to 3000 b.c., research for a book I want to write. Once the conference begins, I will be working hard, but happily. This is fun work.

It had never entered my head that I would enter a store while in Rome. Even if I were not attending a conference, I couldn’t imagine wasting a precious second in one. Now if some of the merchandise arrived miraculously in my home that would be okay.

In a way I feel as if the Rome part of this trip is like being led into a Roman feast and being offered one perfectly sauced strand of freshly made spaghetti. I will savour that one strand and I know that by looking at the feast, I will know what to eat on my next trip to the Roman table of historical delights.