Today’s public art post, the third with fairy-tale murals from Sant’Angelo, comes with a little reality check.
As I write this (Friday, 5 pm), we have had no internet connection in home for the last twenty-four hours. And on Wednesday we were again without water most of the day. These problems are not related, neither a sign of the times when things will slowly cease to be available, but still pestering and educational.
Rather they are down to the facts that the pipes in our condominium are old, low quality and tend to burst, and that we are in the end of the line as far as internet is concerned, and as amore says – instead of coming over to fix it they are waiting for us to die.
If I step outside or go up, I can hook to the data and post on my blog what I have saved as a draft from my phone, at least this. Luckily for me, I only blog and play card tournaments online (for honour, not money). What if I needed the stable internet connection for bitcoin mining, or I don’t know, karaoke contests, or banking?
Something tells me that in that case I’d go wherever needed and get things fixed, like that time when I got our car back in Vienna after it was towed away without paying. Italy is not Austria, though. (Except maybe Milano, if you ask amore. No love lost between Rome and the second Italian city. Milano is the only city in Italy that doesn’t have a street called Via Roma.)
If only I knew a bit more about the system in Italy and technical matters. I know that I could use my phone as a… I forget the word… hotspot! for my computer. I never have and need to study the matter. (After writing this I indeed changed my phone into a hotspot but for some reason my PC doesn’t recognise it as such, only my laptop does. Still, at least I can create my posts with something other than my tiny phone.)
It was good this year, the connection, until the recent storm. The last time a technician was here was months ago. After big problems in previous years he finally came over, proclaimed our cable “mediocre”, and said there was nothing more he could do. Really? We have a lovely Slovenian plum Schnapps waiting for the lucky guy who would fix it for good. (Amore’s idea. He knows how it goes.)
In the meantime, I learn. I learn how it feels when commodities run out. It’s good for the ego, for the build-up of patience, for cutting addictions. You know, such as the internet, electricity, gas, water, food… All addictions, telling you, every last one of them.
And now here is how our visit to the fairy-tale town Sant’Angelo continued two weeks ago. We are in the middle of it, three more posts await.
Last time I left you with this view. Previously I had a glimpse of this mural over the fence but now it was here. Do you see it, a certain prop? Maybe now it’s more visible. Still not? How about now? And I didn’t even try to pull it out. Together with my companions. The letterbox for Santa Claus letters. The bare necessities. Internet is one. If you are surrounded by fairy-tales, everything starts to look like magic. For example, what is this? I love it how not every house is painted. An extra tin soldier. And here is the swan house. The doors insisted to be included. If you stay here, a genie will pop up. Maybe. The church is on the left but this is not the end. Uncle trying to figure out the next story. The Sleeping Beauty? But what is The Tree of the Pencils?
For Photographing Public Art Challenge (PPAC) hosted by Marsha at Always Write

This day in my blogging history
Wow! You, da best… thanks.
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Most welcome, Selma. There will be more!
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Grr, hope the water and internet are restored soon
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Thank you, Sue. Water came back that same day, they just have to turn it off while they fix the pipe that bursts. The internet didn’t come back but we connected to our phones as hotspots. Now we’ll see how long the data lasts…
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Best of luck
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Thee painted houses are fantastic. Perhaps the Tin soldier amd the ballerina aee from.the Nutcracker ballet? I hope you get your water sorted. That is an essential!
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Thank you, Anne. Yes, water came back that same day. They just turned it off while they were fixing a burst pipe. Internet hasn’t though. H. C. Andersen’s Tin Soldier was in love with a ballerina. I’m not sure if the ballet is based on this fairy-tale too.
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I’m so pleased you were able to take us back to Sant’Angelo despite all the internet problems 😀 I hope you manage to get things sorted, but the hotspot/laptop solution seems a good option for now.
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Thank you, Sarah. Yes, amore bought the WiFi USB key (yesterday and was delivered today, on Sunday!) and now I can hook up to data via my phone as hotspot also from my PC. Yeah! Now we’ll see how long the data lasts…
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Twenty years ago I didn’t even have a cell phone. But we have all become dependents. I think all our necessities are hanging on by a thread though.
But these houses could cheer anyone up! (K)
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Thank you, K. Right you were. Much of everything is hanging by a thread. As long as we are hanging, we can still have some fun.
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We must!
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The murals you photographed are so fun and colorful. Wonderful post 😀
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Thank you, Cee! I’m so glad that you two have this perfect challenge for me to post photos from this town. 🙂
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Hi Maja – don’t know why I didn’t see your comment from Oct. 7 about the similarity in our blogs, turning the the color of the image into whit (I wish it were white! It’s more like an antique white, but I love the one column!) The image of the couple in this post makes me smile, she is so covered up on a seemingly hot day – leggings, scarf and all, and he is in sandals and shorts:):) Love the different focus of you posts – hard to keep up with you (may be that says something about my age, haha)
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Thank you, Emille. Interesting what you noticed about this couple. 🙂 I just love them and their love for each other. The second part of my every post (since May) are memories of what I posted on that day in history. That’s why there are so many different subjects.
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Manja, your photos of these great murals are so crisp and sparkling with color. I did not catch what the prop was until your photograph showed it from a different angle. It looked right at home in that mural. I’m so sorry about your internet service. Terri Webster Schrandt of Sunday Stills has been having the same problem with hers. We did also when we lived in California. It’s so frustrating! I’m amazed that you could post this wonderful story! Thanks for persisting. 🙂
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Ahh, thank you, Marsha. Persist I will! 🙂 We got a huge help by hooking our PC’s to data on our phones. That sword was really almost invisible and I was there! So I tried hard to take photos from different angles in order to show it more clearly. Three more posts from here awaiting.
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I await with bated breath, Manja!
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Do you know how much I love your posts? Funny and informative–you and Dan have cornered the market on that.
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Haha, thanks, Lois. Dan is rather more technical though. I’m sure he would be able to solve my internet problems sooner. But now I’m happy, we are hooked to data and it’s going well. Even though it takes forever to upload a photo.
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Our phone serves as a hot spot when we are traveling, Maja. And it works fine depending on the signal. Today I am working on putting a Starlink satellite on our roof for our Internet. We have to rely on satellite services here. I’ve been using Hughes, Starlink seems to be 10-20 times as fast! We are excited!
My favorite mural was the bear and company, but then again, I am an outdoor type of guy! 🙂 –Curt
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Haha, Curt, you are a George from the jungle, I see. 😀 Thank you, my phone is a hotspot too now and it’s okay, except uploading photos takes ages.
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“… instead of coming over to fix it they are waiting for us to die”
I burst out laughing when I read this. So funny .. but I can imagine how you feel. We had the same type of frustrating week here, but it had to do with banking. I want to stuff my money in the mattress!
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Hihihi, I laughed too, Sandy. He is often hilarious like this, no matter how upset it has made us. Mattress is always a good solution. Hope your trouble stops, and ours as well. Thank you!
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I didn’t know that about Via Roma. How very interesting. And that town is plain gorgeous. So picturesque.
(I thought you lived in a house. Sorry to hear about water and internet problems again.)
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Thank you, Bojana. We live in an apartment which is a part of condominium. This means that we share walls with neighbours but none of them lives here permanently. Which means it’s calm. No internet still but now we are hooked to data on our phones and all is well only uploading takes ages.
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I remember the feeling.
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What an amazing place. Someone had a lot of fun doing all that lot. Luck you for having been there / seen it / done it!😎😎😎
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Thank you, TAB. I was amazed at the scale of it. And we are only halfway done.
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Marvellous murals, the swan is my favourite.
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Thank you, Lin. Then I’m extra glad that I chose the swan for my featured photo. 🙂
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Wow, just wow. Some wonderful murals, which somehow work so well when set against those old, warm buildings. Thank you for posting.
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Most welcome, scooj. Please find yourself mentioned in my today’s post. Had to. 🙂
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Interesting about Milano not having a Via Roma! I have been to Milan but not Rome – don’t read anything in that!
What is it about the yellow that Italians like? It is a great colour! I love it.
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Hm, I have never noticed Italian love for yellow. You mean for houses or just in general, Amanda? Thank you. I hear that south of Rome a completely different Italy awaits.
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There was quite a bit of yellow in the photos, but now you question that – I guess that Tuscan yellow might be as popular as Tuscan orange for wall colours in Italy. I would not mind seeing those, what do they call them, special kinds of houses down the bottom of ITaly or in Sicily where the houses are all white and cylindrical shaped with cone roof. Otherwise, I probably will never go to the southern areas of Italy.
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Trulli (singular: trullo)! 🙂 I have yet to go anywhere south of Rome.
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Ja. Trulli!!!
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I love this visual diary, Manja. Stunning shot of the couple walking hand in hand down the street. I felt such warmth for them instantly, I don’t know why.
Interesting how the street art feels Italian too, the boldness of it. There’s something about the culture of a place that seeps into the artwork somewhat.
I hope you got your technology sorted out! A prolific writer like you needs the internet always, addiction or not! I love this:
“In the meantime, I learn. I learn how it feels when commodities run out. It’s good for the ego, for the build-up of patience, for cutting addictions. You know, such as the internet, electricity, gas, water, food… All addictions, telling you, every last one of them.” 🙂
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Haha, thank you, Sunra Nina. I indeed have it all sorted but, BUT!, my perfectionist other wishes to have our internet replaced with a faster one. I fear this will take a while before it’s fixed as everything in Italy. We’ll see. For now it’s okay. I love it that you love that couple, I do too. And the quoted passage. It’s the truth.
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You are most welcome 🙂
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And how interesting that Roma and Milano don’t get on much, I wonder why that is? It probably started as some small snub that got blown out of proportion. Both cities are very different, though.
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Haha! Isn’t like this everywhere? The tension between cities #1 and #2? Let’s see, that would be London and… hm… Damn! Not Liverpool… Birmingham? 😀 Glasgow? 😮 No idea!!!
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Funny you should mention Birmingham and Glasgow! Whilst they have no beef with each other, they do have a rivalry when it comes to who does the best curry, ha ha! Birmingham’s famous for the Balti Triangle which does the best South Asian curries in the UK but Glasgow argue that theirs is top notch. London’s like Paris, it sort of annoys everyone! But they still go there! 😀
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