special thanks
i’ll never forget how two young boys helped a couple with the husband’s wheelchair this morning. quite heavy rain, the slippy ground and a bridge to pass. A wheelchair with a heavy man on it, unable to move by himself. The man kept on “apologizing” while the guys around him had become 4 people, who were heading to school and work, and did not understand much of his English. But no words were necessary. “We had not noticed the bridge in our map”, the Dutch couple said; they had rented a small apt in Santa Croce, and were trying the shortest way to the IUAV, our Architecture University, so they had expected the path to be smooth. But the short way may not the best one in Venice.
Accessibility is still a fancy word in Venice. modern laws and restrictions apply to brand new activities only (one of the reason why we are still waiting for permission to open our new office in venice, is that whilst the Italian law obliges us to provide entrance accessibility and one accessible bathroom, at the same time the Safeguard may forbid it for the sake of the integrity and beauty of the palazzo. Everyone understands this is a contradiction, and the solution is (i guess) spending a long time in meditation. meditate, people, let’s meditate. Ommmmm…..
April 3rd, 2007 at 4:48 pm
Although, after many years, I know the shortest and least crowded routes thru the city, I always take a busy calle when I am carrying something heavy. Without exception, when I get to a bridge young people will step forward almost immediately and help this eighty year old. Tourists, locals — all kinds of people — (except gondoliere, of course).
April 4th, 2007 at 4:14 pm
hi Bob. also the gondoliere will help you from now on
the most famous scene in the film is the massacre of civilians on the Odessa Steps (the Potemkin Stairs), with a baby in its carriage falling down the steps. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, and Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables have a similar thrilling sequence. and sometimes it really pops up to my memory when i see carriages on bridges.
)
i’m in the age when i’m supposed to help others. my favourite is helping with baby pushchairs up and down the stairs, i offer to do that basically because i always fear the “Battleship Potemkin” effect (do you remember Sergei Eisenstein’s old movie?
then when it’s my turn to carry something heavy, it’s always so hot that people melt on their way. so i sit and get an ice cream, dreaming of building an autostrada (highway) all over venice, with a huge parking area in st.mark’s square (should i see a therapist?