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Brexit Done!

Brexit Done!

So it’s done.  It’s over.  It happened

Thursday 23rd June 2016, the day of the referendum.  There was only one question written on the ballot paper, “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union.”  A simple and concise question, however, what followed the vote was anything but.

 

Thursday 23rd June 2016

I can remember the promise David Cameron made on the Conservative party manifesto, which was a result of his January 2013 speech at Bloomberg event that promised, should the Conservative Party win a parliamentary majority at the coming general election in 2015, that government would negotiate more favourable arrangements for continuing British membership of the EU and hold a referendum on this question.  So the stage was set, he won and he was bound by the promise.  Mr Cameron made his request to the EU for changes to the UK membership, some changes that would placate his party but the EU was in no mood to make the requested changes for the UK.  The European Union Referendum Act was passed and gained Royal Ascent on 11th December 2015, pathing the way for the referendum to be called.  So the date was set for a referendum on Thursday 23rd June 2016. 

I can remember visiting the UK several times in the run up to the vote, listening to the news, various discussions, reading various articles and obviously speaking with friends.  The opinions were of course divided, as the end result, pretty much down the middle.  I do though remember coming back to my family in Italy and saying to my wife, the vote will go the way of an out vote, I am sure of it. And so, with that the vote ended 52% -48% to leave.  It then took over 4½ years to actually leave the EU’s rules but here we are.  It consumed almost 3 years of my life from 2017 to the end of 2019.  The drama, the subterfuge in Parliament to try and thwart the vote, but finally the UK is out.

Was it all worth it?  For me, if you believe in democracy than yes, loser’s consent is very important, without it, a democracy cannot function.  Something I hope the next generations are willing to understand but my experience with the Brexit vote and all the shenanigans after, with various bodies try to block it, I feel this is a rough road ahead. Debate is essential and agreeing to disagree is a corner stone.

I do not see a smooth path for the EU going forward.  It has problems and its unwillingness to reform and change is worrying.  It’s path to a federal super state, a United States of Europe is evermore apparent.  The recent admission that the EU needs to keep its ‘ambassadors’ to the UK, which the UK has so far refused, has ignited a new discussion.  If the EU can have ambassadors, as it states is it’s right, just like the USA has ambassadors, then surely France, Germany, Italy etc. need not send an ambassador to the UK.  After all, do Texas or California send ambassadors to other countries?

Image: By The Electoral Commission - http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/uk-voters > JPG, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49082611
The Anglo South Tyrolean

And now

So the UK has finally left. The UK Parliament is again fully accountable to the people of the UK and should and will be held to account for any shortcomings.  No longer can the politicians lay any blame at the door of the EU.

To this day friends and family still think it was the wrong decision to leave the EU.  I do not.  The road is not clear and there is no mountain of milk and honey to sit next to…yet.  I believe my decision taken nearly 5 years ago was still the right choice.  Nothing the EU or any UK politicians that tried to overturn a democratic ballot have said, or implied has made me doubt or change my mind about how I voted.

I appreciate that I live in Italy, within the EU, but my home will always be England and for that I will never apologise for putting first the benefits that I believe are right for my country.

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Local Council Voting

one voice one vote!

Recently we had the local council elections.  It took place over a Sunday and Monday, 2 days, which was bizarre, as I was always used to voting on a Thursday. This was the first time I had taken to voting in my adopted country.  Surrounded by police officers with guns, Coronavirus restrictions it was certainly an interesting voting experience.

Local Election Voting

I wasn’t too sure if I should vote or not.  I had only spent a short time looking at the candidates and what they basically stood for. Politics in this part of the world is a touchy subject.  Do I stick with the mainly German speaking side or look at the more Italian parties?

I mean it’s only the local council elections, nothing major, right?  Don’t believe that for a moment.  The election was two fold, a new mayor candidate and the party responsible for running the council.  Where I live, the majority is German speaking, over 91% with the remaining being Italian, Ladin and other languages including mine.  Being a mainly German-speaking village, the big party here is SVP (Südtiroler Volkspartei), fiercely South Tyrolean but not on the same level as the Südtirolrer Freiheit or Südtiroler Schützenbund.  These will be the subjects of a later blog.  Nonetheless we are a South Tyrolean village where any Italian party will struggle.  Thus the dilemma, what if none of the above parties represents your views, or are at odds with your views?  

One aspect that I found very interesting was that the police were present at the voting station.  Now this is something I had never experienced before.  I do not recall the police ever being at a voting station I used whilst in the UK.  That would have been a really strange thing to see.  Can you not trust your citizens to respectfully queue and vote?  It was a strange experience indeed.

Whilst waiting in line to vote, I thought that the process was not too dis-similar to that in the UK, apart from the police presence.  Why should it be though I thought?  As I got closer, I realised  that the polling staff were calling men and women separately.  This was strange I thought.  Then I realised that they had separate voting booths for men and women, now that was strange. Was this just in our voting area, I don’t know?  So I got to the desk, gave my ID card and was given the voting forms. 

Here was an alarming difference; the voting form for the parties was just a piece of paper with the party logos on, no other information.  Nothing.  No candidate or party names, nothing.  Just the party logos.  On the second form for the mayoral vote was also nothing.  Not even a logo, I was supposed to just write down the name of the candidate I wanted as a mayor.  What if I wanted to change my mind at the last minute, it is possible?  There were not even information sheets in the booth for that last minute check on the parties and people.  I always found that an important factor in UK elections. In the booth you had all the party information of who the candidate was and what they stood for.  That last reminder or chance to change your mind.

So I made my decision and popped the ballot in the box.  My experience of voting in Italy accomplished; an interesting experience that may be repeated and may not.

The Anglo South Tyrolean

Referendums again

The last point to mention was that one aspect I was not allowed to vote on was the national referendum.  The referendum was a question to reduce the total number of Senators in the senate and parliament. It passed. 

I appreciate that as a person who is not a citizen Italy, I cannot and should not be allowed to vote in national referendums.  Having experienced a national referendum in my own country that took over 4 years to implement, I only hope the Italians can implement their decision in a timely manner.  Out of interest, I would have voted to reduce the number of senators. Just look at the salary of an Italian politician!!!

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I think I spider!

I understand only train station

Having lived here now for some years, I often come across signs, advertisements, information and other texts that have been translated in English from their original language meaning, whether that is Italian or German.  Take the two pictures of cards that are English phrases translated from German sayings.  Although done intentionally, it is interesting how languages are used.  Take the phrase, “ich glaube ich Spinne”, a perfectly meaningful phrase in German that means, “I cannot believe it”.  Now, translate it literally into English and you get “I think I spider”, die Spinne being the German word for a spider.  Once you know the German phrase it is hilarious when you read it in English.  Or take another phrase, “Ich versteh nur Bahnhof” – “I understand only train station”.  The meaning here is that one simply does not understand what the other is saying.

50 shadows or 50 shades?

One thing I have noticed during the process of learning to speak another language, is how many English words have been adopted or borrowed to become new words in that language.  The same can be said for English, the ultimate mixture of Latin, French and Germanic languages.  Is it though, not the purpose of a language to breathe and grow, to change and evolve? 

I am always surprised when I see signs written in English that have the unenviable task of conveying a meaning to explain or direct the point of the phrase that has been translated from the original language.  For example, I recently saw a local website that had the tag line for one of their products, Neuer Imagespot: Cool shadows.  What caught my eye was that the German word for shadow is der Schatten or die Schatten for the plural.  The same word can also be used for the English word, shade or shades. So, German has one word that has two potential meanings in English, depending on what you are trying to convey.  Many languages have this double meaning; German for example has the word das Schloss.  Das Schloss can be either a castle or a lock, depending on what you are trying to convey.

Now, I would presume that this tag line was not meant to portray the image of shadows in the readers mind; perhaps shades would be the more appropriate word to use. The English word shade has a different meaning to shadow.  Did they mean shadow?  I do not know, but I would hazard a guess that the implication was to mean shade.  The person who wrote the translated sentence might not have been aware of the word shade or that in English, cools shadows is simply meaningless unless you are specifically referring to a series of shadows on the ground. In this case, the image accompanying the tag line was of a woman in a black and white photograph, which makes me assume the correct word to use would be shades. 

I must also remember that perhaps the intended audience is not bothered about the use of a particular English word within a mainly German or Italian piece of text.  Is the aim to use an English word to convey meaning or is it to create a new meaning?  Take the German word for a mobile phone, das Handy.  In English, handy, again, has a different meaning but I can understand why word handy would be used by the German language.   After all, German has the same word as English for hand; therefore a mobile phone is a handy tool.

The Anglo South Tyrolean

What a beauty!

I have seen several signs that have used English words or phrases to convey a meaning.  For example we have signs informing motorbike riders who ride to fast or drink drivers that there is “no credit” after a crash or in an afterlife.  Take the, “you are beautyful” sign in the images, a case of clever marketing and individualism or just a lazy spelling mistake?  The best one that I have seen though, is the sign to inform about the potential of sudden water surges in rivers due to the release of water from hydroelectric plants.  I will let you read the sign and take away the meaning.

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Adventurous day out

Let's see what we can see!

A Sunday day trip out, The Beatles playing in the car and the anticipation of adventure ahead.  A day out in Pfelders offers a lot for everyone.

Mountain Adventure

We had planned a day out to Pfelders, a place I have only ever been to in the winter to ski or sledge. Pfelders is a popular place for winter holidays, a quaint car free Alpine mountain village that could easily be used as a picture postcard of winter in the Alps.  A typical Alpine winter location with lots of snow and skiing fun.  So a summer trip was always going to prick my sense of interest.

First stop was to take the cable car up the mountain, the interesting point here is that the cable car starts at 1624m, which is the altitude that Pfelders sits at.  To put this into comparison, Ben Nevis the UK is 1345m.  With two kids in tow, first stop once off the cable car is the restaurant for a coffee and hot chocolate.  From here it was which route to take, do we take the panorama trail or try the more adventurous Spronserjoch trail to the various mountain lakes.  This was always going to be the least favourable option given my son and daughter were really looking forward to the big adventure of the mountain carts and the SpronsorJoch trail is a 6 hour round trip.  So, the panorama trail won out.

It turns out it is a very easy trail, undulating and not at all steep in places, easily manageable for the average fit person.  Even if you are not slightly unfit, it is still not at all challenging.  The benefit with this is that you can spend time looking at the end of a closed valley, Pfelders is surrounded by mountains that provide it with plenty of snow in winter and a very cool breeze in the summer.    Following the trail, leads you to various mountain alms or restaurants.  Alm is always a word I struggle to translate; it’s a hut that serves food.  Here we stopped at Falschnal Alm for a bit to eat and a drink.  Given that the Coronavirus is still within our minds, you would not have known it even existed given the full house at the Alm.  This was pleasing to see because the Alms survive off the summer tourism.

Following the lunch, a quick walk following the trail back down to Pfelders.  This proved to be a very interesting 40 minutes. Walking along talking with my daughter we happened upon a herd of Haflinger horses roaming in the forest.  Now the Haflinger is not a very big horse but is big enough.  An excited young girl who was recently horse riding was difficult to keep quiet, but these horses are very approachable and gentle.  Patting the horses was the highlight for my daughter at this moment.

Back down in Pfelders, time to leave the rucksacks in the car and book the Mountain Carts.  This is done at the base car cable station and you book for the hour or two if you like.  So a booking for 2 adults and 2 children for one hour and we were good to go.  Taking the cable car up you have to fill out the disclaimer that you are responsible for the cart and your own safety.  At the top, grab your cart, helmet go.  The track is 3.5km give or take, arriving back down at the base cable car station.  We managed 3 runs, the second run being a race between my son and me.  A few tight corners and long straights to get up the speed, smiles all around.

At the bottom, it was time for a drink in the village before heading home for pizza.  So, if you would like to combine an easy mountain walk with a more adventurous mountain cart addition, give Pfelders a try.  You can also stay over in one of the many hotels Pfelders has.  For more information, look at their website, www.pfelders.info 

The Anglo South Tyrolean

Take the Cable Car

Taking the cable car up as a family and both with and without the mountain carts.

if you go down to the woods.....

Walking back down to Pfelders, who do we happen upon, a herd of Haflinger horses.  Beautiful horses that you can carefully approach.  Look at my Instagram account for a video of the horses

POle Position

The last lap and last ride down the mountain.  Who’s going to win?  Well that would be telling….

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A wine bar with a decent beer!

A beer in a wine bar?

So I went out for a drink with ‘Die Frau’ and we decided to go to a newly opened wine bar. She had told me they have a few good beers.  So…….

What's a beer like you doing in a wine bar?

It was a pleasant warm evening, a really summery feel, well it is July after all and the height of summer.  The newly opened wine bar is named Quo Vardis Wine & Tea. The bar was always there, now just under new management and ownership with a new name with a really friendly and nice owner who also happens to be a wine sommelier. The big plus for me was that they have a few beers.  At last, a bar with a choice of beers.

The first choice was from this brand, Simco 3 from www.riegele.de.  Now usually I’m not a fan of German beers because lets face it, they’re mostly fizzy lagers that conjure the image of a large German beer hall, bland beer and an Oompah Band. Here though, we have a beer that is not that bad. An India Pale Ale, which has a good body and smooth taste. It’s always enjoyable when you get a small bite to eat whilst sampling the beer.  It encourages the next beer to follow easily.

A couple of beers later and the wine bar is definitely a place to visit.  It probably looks strange to some that one would visit a wine bar to drink a beer, but when the beer is a half decent brew and you prefer a beer to wine, then who cares.  I like this place and the fact I have a decent choice of beers to choose from.  The same obviously applies to the wine selection, outstanding local and Italian wines are available and I will on occasion take that as a preferred choice.

The Anglo South Tyrolean

Actually not bad!

So that’s at least another bar that now offers me a chance to have a decent beer when I’m out with friends who prefer a glass of wine.  They even have a beer in a can.  A New England IPA and an American Pale Ale from Finix Brewing Co, www.finixbrewing.com.   A local craft beer brewing company based here in Pustertal, South Tyrol.  I will definitely be paying their brewery and restaurant a visit in the near future.

So if you are in the Lana area and want to try a decent beer or an elegant glass of wine, give Quo Vadis Wine & Tea a try. 

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Taking a walk!

Time for a walk!

What do you do when it’s absolutely baking hot in the valley?  You take a cable car and go up a mountain in search of a cool breeze with less of the hot and sticky weather!  But be careful what you go looking for.

Well that was a windy day!

It’s well and truly summer with the temperature rising and the kids starting their 12 week summer holidays.  When it’s hot in the valleys you’ve always got the mountains as a refuge.  It is the case that the higher up you go, the cooler it should be. This was the plan anyway.

We chose the tried and tested location of Meran/o2000 .  Only a short drive to the cable car and then a 7-minute ride up the mountain to 2000m and the ‘Merano terrace’.  Those of you of the adventurous persuasion, and if you want save €44 for a family return ticket, can drive up to Falzeben and walk the remainder of the way to the cable car station.  

On this particular day we decided on Merano 2000 so we could walk to the Kratzberger See, S. Pancrazio mountain lake in Italian, at an altitude of 2138m.  It’s a lovely walk and not that difficult if you’re not particularly fit, just nice with undulating paths and really quite easy with nice views and the occasional greeting from a friendly cow. 

My daughter and I had planned to take a dip in the lake, something we usually do with mountain lakes, especially when the weather is warm enough, it has sort of become a tradition for us.  Not on this occasion though as we hadn’t planned on the ferocity of the wind.  Think coastal wind and you get the idea, the only difference was that the wind would subside for a few seconds and then come back and smack you in the face like a wet fish.  Usually I don’t mind a wind or breeze, that’s something I miss form the UK.  But then there are days when you’ve had enough.  Windy days are not really common here, it’s just something you don’t usual get, unless of course you live in Vinchgau/ Val Venosta but that is another story.  Lets just say that on this day it was fleece weather all around which anyone going up the mountains knows, always have a rucksack with at least a fleece and rain jacket.

So our excursion consisted of a walk to the lake, a packed lunch picnic by the side of the lake while we dipped our feet in the ice cold water and then the walk back.  We could have continued to the peaks but my two kids in tow weren’t exactly enthusiastic for the continued hike.  Let’s just say we made a decision not to extend our afternoon and we decided to go for a drink.  Now here comes the nightmare for me, what do I drink?  Up the mountain the choice is either the local tosh beer or a Hefe, otherwise known as a wheat beer.  When you have a thirst a Hefe beer just doesn’t do it, but as a beer drinker what can you do.  I took one for the team, drinks for kids, wine for the wife and I took a Hefe and finished the beer, bad choice. Anyway, a quick drink, take the cable car down and off to a bar near home which I know has a decent beer.  

The Anglo South Tyrolean

Finally back down!

So back down to the warmer valley and off to eat ice cream for the kids and drink a nice beverage for me and die Frau.  The chores of a parent, the never ending cycle of fun in the Tyrolean sun.   

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What is Speck?

is that speck?

So what is speck and what does it look like?  Speck is basically cured port.  Think of bacon but just don’t call it bacon and definitely not pancetta.

That's Speck?

The first thing to know about speck is that it comes from a pig, one of nature’s finest beasts.  I am lucky enough to be in a speck club.  A private club of friends who join together to rear pigs for our own speck.  This means paying a farmer to rear the pig, feed and keep it well and then comes the time of the cull.  At this point the butcher comes and the pigs are killed. 

Now here you need to be aware that the pig is a big animal.  A big animal!  The pictures above are of one side of a pig, my side of the pig.  This is the half of a pig’s outer skin and muscle.   The butcher will prepare the sides ready for salting.  What’s that?  Well at this point in the club, the male members usually congregate at the farm where the pigs were happy.  Here we will salt both sides with a mixture of salt, herbs and spices.  This is used to cure the meat.  The mixture is usually made to traditional South Tyrolean recipes and prepared by the female members of the group, although there are no defined roles for this.  Once all the sides are salted, wine tends to follow plus maybe one or two homemade schnapps.

Then all we have to do is wait 6 months for the curing to take place.  Once that’s done, collect the sides and hang them in the cold room.  Now this being South Tyrol and my brother-in-law a farmer, of course we have a homemade cold room to hang the speck.  Where there is usually beer and white stored as well because it is a cold room.  Ideally you would then leave it for another 3 months.  

And once you are ready to cut a piece off, well sit back and let the wine or beer flow with some speck, cheese and local Schüttle Brot or Ultner Paarl bread.  South Tyroelan’s call this marend.  Mahlzeit!!

The Anglo South Tyrolean

So where can you buy Speck?

Any good butcher will offer you the speck of your choice, just advise the butcher what type you prefer.  More of the white fat part than the red meaty part or vice versa.  Supermarkets will also offer you a vacuum packed choice in smaller sizes.   Or if you’re like me, you should join a private group, get to know a farmer and get your own speck.  Enjoy!!

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Pizza Italia

Pizza Time!

What could be more Italian than a pizza!  The obvious question is what choice would you make, a classic margarita or a Napolitano? Perhaps the Diavola but please note a Hawaiian.  That’s a really weird choice of pizza.  Given the recent pandemic situation, I recently met a friend for pizza and of course a beer.  Obviously social distancing was a bit strange having to sit 2m apart on a table.  A new normal perhaps?

Luckily my brother-in-law has an authentic wood burning pizza oven.  Perhaps better to make a homemade pizza with a nice Italian red IPA. Good times had by all with the opportunity to practice being a pizzaiolo.  You’ll never really have had a good pizza until you have eaten a pizza on Italian soil.  Make your choice wisely!

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Lockdown over, time for a beer

What happens when the lockdown is completely lifted?

So the local Buschenschank has re-opened its doors after the lockdown.  Cheers all around from those who like a decent beer, which can difficult to come by.  For those that search, reward will find you.  You can even find a few places that have a decent ‘home brew’.  Ah, to be tempted by the pale or dark beer, the dark one is usually for me, you will not be disappointed. 

The facemask is obligatory at the moment.  Wearing when drinking, that is optional.  On this occasion I opted for the pale beer, something a bit lighter and refreshing.  After all it’s June and the temperatures are rising.  Bella Vita!

In all seriousness, finding a decent beer is very difficult if not impossible, especially on tap.  The local beer is not much to write about, my personal opinion is that I never drink it, ever.   If you go to the local beer & wine wholesalers, you can find a lot of German beers, again not that good.  But if you look you will find a treat, Pefferlechner in Lana, Pizzeria & Brewery Brückenwirt in St. Martin in the Passeier Valley and of course the Batzen Bräu brewery in Bolzano.  Not bad if you want to taste your beer.

IMG_3240

As the summer approaches, I will be sampling many more beers and dropping short posts on all of these, especially on the beverages page, but I will also occasionally mention a few wines, those that epitomise the region.  After all, when in Rome….

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Welcome to my website

Welcome

This website will offer an insight into living in Südtirol. For the past few years I have been living here with my South Tyrolean wife and children, although I have been coming to South Tyrol on and off for over 20 years now.  It’s been a long ride with ups and downs and challenges along the way, especially the language and lack of crisps.  The Italians really have some boring crisps and don’t even get me started on the beer, only one beer option at the bar.  Talk about a monopoly.  Anyway, this blog with hopefully make you laugh and smile occasionally if not a little frustrated.  Enjoy!!

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