September 1990 and I’d left the
MONTE MALLARO “DESERTED COTTAGE”. Heading on foot towards
FLORESTA eventually by way of
PORTELLA MITTA I was passing through a beautiful open landscapes area with very very many grazing animals. I had covered about 2 kilometers of the journey from the DESERTED COTTAGE pasture when I chanced upon this shepherd. We spoke – he hadn’t expected to encounter
a lone South Londoner and although I did not expect him to speak English I did get a truly amazing surprise which I noted and have always remembered. When he realized my nationality he almost immediately blurted out with very energetic enthusiastic good humour
“ARSENAL, CHELSEA,
TOTTENHAM,
NOTTINGHAM FOREST!”.
That was his sole English – and I absolutely do not mention this limitation grudgingly – absolutely not – it was a really lovely unexpected moment. Doubly so because I had never had any interest in football but notwithstanding this our exchange and meeting was really lovely.
CLICK on photo to increase its visibility and his contadino football enthusiasm!!
He'd be pretty elderly now and I certainly still hope
he’s doing OK in that really beautiful area of
the NEBRODI MOUNTAINS REGION.
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