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CHAT [ RADIO SHOW ] - STORIES - November 2007
 
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  #60 - November 30, 2007
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Chicco di grano" - Sandokan and Verdeluna do a "memory contest" together. She recalls the time when her grandfather gave them a puppy, Chicco di grano [literally: a grain of wheat], Sandokan however does not have memories earlier than his encounter with the Pearl of Labuan.
- "Chicco di grano" - Sandokan e Verdeluna fanno una "gara di memoria". Lei ricorda di quando suo nonno le regalò un cucciolo di cane, Chicco di grano, Sandokan invece non ha ricordi precedenti all'incontro con la Perla di Labuan.


#59 - November 29, 2007
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- Rai provided for today, November 29, the summary of the October 18, 2007, broadcast episode #29: "Barbie 69".


#58 - November 28, 2007
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Power to Women" - Sandokan and Verdeluna speak about wine and its importance. Verdeluna talks of Cavalier Ugo's strange reaction to the arrival of the mayoress of the municipality in the store and she dreams of having greater power, to become the owner of the store?
- "Donne al potere" - Sandokan e Verdeluna parlano del vino e del suo significato. Verdeluna racconta delle strane reazioni del Cavalier Ugo all'arrivo della sindachessa del paese in negozio e sogna di avere maggiore potere, di diventare la proprietaria del negozio?


#57 - November 27, 2007
Sandokan is in a poetic mood tonight, sitting on the deck of his galleon and looking at the Mompracem shoreline. Yanez is convinced the island is held afloat by sirens. Verdeluna thinks any excuse will do for the pirate and his friend to be discussing women.
You are my enchanting siren, Verdeluna, my inspirer, my muse, who turns me into a poet and makes me see the world as if it's the most beautiful painting ever made. Verdeluna's urban landscape is also transformed into a paradise of palm trees, rocks and cascades as she chats with Sandokan.
Waiting for the traffic lights to change that morning, Verdeluna saw an ad for an art school, and daydreamed about being a talented artist. It's not too late yet, says Sandokan, many a famous painter was discovered when they were no longer exactly young. Even at Mompracem, we had a recent visitor who... STOP!!! Let me guess... A famous painter? Caravaggio? Antonello da Venezia?
Naahh, those are far too old, Verdeluna. It's my friend Picasso, Verdeluna.
Ah, Picasso! I could have guessed!
Verdeluna loves Picasso's paintings, because they are so wonderfully confusing. To Sandokan, Picasso was both a painter and a poet, and he had the candor, the spontaneity and the freshness of a child.
And did old Pablo ever leave you one of his paintings, Sandokan? It's anybody's guess how much it would now be worth! Well one day, Sandokan saw Picasso perched on the highest banner of his galleon, with his cloth, paint and a large quantity of eggs, for making zabaglione.
So what did he paint? A giant battle between bulls and the waves of the ocean! Such force! Such disturbance! Such a tempest of the senses! Such infinite confusion! You should have seen him there, on the highest pennant of my galleon. He was more than a painter, he was a toreador, a bullfighter, a picador, a living legend! Sandokan and Yanez were as transfixed, unable to take their eyes off the artist day or night, one exquisite coffee after another...
And because of all that caffeine, the two friends had their first and so far only argument. Yanez dared to compare the airborne artist to Bruce Lee, sitting there atop the ship's mast.
After eight nights and eight days, Picasso came down from his perch, with his painting, and walked over to Yanez' kiosk, asked for a coffee, and fell asleep on the spot for a whole week.
And the painting? It now has pride of place in the captain's cabin of Sandokan's galleon. Lucky Sandokan... The only painting Verdeluna was ever given as a present was her own portrait, done by a street artist on the Piazza Venezia in Rome, and commissioned by The Twit. What a shame it somehow ended up on the wall of The Twit's workshop, on top of the Playboy calendar... You get the picture, Sandokan?
Give me your hand, and we will climb the main mast like Picasso. I want to be the bull in your arena, and you will be my matador. There's nothing sweeter in the world, Verdeluna, than to die by your hand... olé!
Rai summary:
- "Picasso" - Verdeluna talks about her desire to be a painter and Sandokan recalls Picasso on Mompracem, who attempts to paint a picture while he is hoisted on the yard of Sandokan's galleon.
- "Picasso" - Verdeluna racconta quanto le piacerebbe essere una pittrice e Sandokan racconta di Picasso a Mompracem, intento a dipingere un quadro issato sul pennone del suo galeone.


#56 - November 26, 2007
There's a kite festival on Mompracem. Every kite flyer gets to have a secret wish... and Sandokan's is that one day he will be able to make a kite that will take him to the stars, an intergalactic Don Quixote. Will there be a place on board for Verdeluna, in the guise of his sidekick Sancho Panza? Of course, just grab the strings of silk and hold on tight...
So what's Sancho's dream? He wants an island to call his own. Just follow your kite, says Don Sandokan. It will find you an island, just beyond the rings of Saturn, where you can see the dawn on Jupiter. There's a whole cluster of residential islands there, all less than 20 minutes away from town.
For now, Verdeluna has bought a more down-to-earth means of transportation, the old Land Rover that belonged to her friend Olivia. She was invited to a meal of sauerkraut with bread dumplings. Clearly, the dumplings had a strange effect on Verdeluna. She just couldn't resist them and kept eating and eating, all the time having a profound sense of being at peace with the contents of her plate and the world in general. And then, Olivia's Apulian husband, Nicola, opened a couple of bottles of Primitivo, a very powerful wine.
And during a walk in the garden, they talked about old friendships... So Verdeluna got to talking about one old friend that recently passed away... her old Fiat 131.
You know what, says Nicola. Why don't you take our Land Rover? And, to counter his wife's glare, and the imminent deployment of her highly respectable left fist, he bribed her with the promise of a new set of wheels. So off they went to the garage to admire the old Landy, and Verdeluna fell in love at first sight!
Zo vere vill you take zis offroader, asked Olivia. To Mompracem of course, all'assalto!!! And when Olivia promised the car would get Verdeluna there ("Jawohl! I am betting all ze dumplings you can eat"), the deal was done. Long live the new offroader!!!
Does Olivia know about Verdeluna and Sandokan's chats? No. And Yanez. Never. Only the wind knows, and the moonlight that illuminates the keyboards of their computers...
Rai summary:
- "The Kite" - Festival of the Kite at Mompracem. Verdeluna has dinner at Olivia's place and after she quite stuffed herself with dumplings, she buys the Land Rover from Olivia and her husband.
- "L'aquilone" - Festa degli aquiloni a Mompracem. Verdeluna va a cena da Olivia e dopo essersi abboffata di canederli, compra la Land Rover di Olivia e suo marito.


#55 - November 23, 2007
Sandokan's sense of smell is heightened by the night, and he can smell Verdeluna's perfume, like the notes of a flute, far, far away. Verdeluna is flattered, and would like to make the olfactory concert last as long as possible.
But alas... her nostrils are assaulted by a strong smell of onion pervading the entire building. To Sandokan, though, that's more like a violin. Perfection itself. Like the onion fry-ups of Yanez, which attract people from all over Mompracem and, if the wind is right, even beyond.
How would Valerio have seduced his astrophysicist, Verdeluna wonders, with fried onions? Maybe... And how would Sandokan seduce Verdeluna? With a magnificent pot of mussels, cooked by Yanez. No, that doesn't count. Ok, with a green salad?
Yanez has a huge kitchen garden on Mompracem, so big he even gives guided tours to schoolchildren. But Sandokan's favourite has to be Nicole's Pumpkin...
Nicole Kidman visited Mompracem many years ago, to prepare for her lead role in the blockbuster "Cinderella". But on visiting Yanez' kitchen garden, she got furious with him (causing poor Yanez, who likes strong women, to fall in love with her instantly), and why? Because in the entire vegetable plot, there wasn't a single pumpkin to be found.
And so, Australian pumpkins being the biggest and the best in the whole wide world, Yanez had some seeds flown in from Oz and...
Wham!!!
He had the biggest pumpkins ever known to man.
Nicole was delighted, and danced the night away with Yanez on the beach (until the stroke of midnight, when she suddenly ran away, leaving a little shoe made of crystal behind her...)
Verdeluna reminisces about the huge Sunday meals she and her brothers would have with their parents at some countryside trattoria, sitting around a big table in the sunshine and gorging themselves on an endless succession of courses. And when she wanted to run away to play, her father always insisted on giving her a big hug first...
Nowadays, people don't even look at each other any more, says Verdeluna. They don't greet, they don't talk, even when they're together in a lift. There are no lifts on Mompracem, but there too, society is changing... From tomorrow, Verdeluna will look the first person she meets straight into the eyes, and greet them politely. People may think she's mad, but better to be a single mad woman in a sane world than the other way round...
Verdeluna has prepared a wonderful aubergine bake, famous all over the neighbourhood. The smell is absolutely devine, and she's going to put it into the oven now, just for the two of them, just for Sandokan...
Rai summary:
- Rai provided for today, November 23, the summary of the October 23, 2007, broadcast episode #32: "Jellyfish".


#54 - November 22, 2007
This time, Verdeluna is late. She was outside on the balcony and nearly got caught by a violent hailstorm. Sandokan, too, once ended up in the middle of one, just after he'd won the Labuan boat race. The weather suddenly changed, and his galleon was covered in hailstones. Yanez collected the whole lot and took them to his kiosk. That night, they celebrated Sandokan's victory with super-fresh rum mojitos!
Last night, Patrizia sat down next to Verdeluna, and frantically zapped through all the TV channels. She then turned off the set, and the two of them just sat there, silent. Verdeluna knows her daughter well enough that this meant she had something important to say, but couldn't muster the courage to say it. Just like Marianna, says Sandokan, she would beat about the bush for hours, and would make me stop doing whatever I was doing.
Yes, well, Patrizia said that she and her boyfriend, the DJ, have hmnnnmgh... What? They have begun to have mnwmnm.... What are you saying?? Ahem. They have started to have sex! Those were her very words!
Not only that, the DJ has asked her to start taking the pill. And that's fine by Verdeluna, as long as it's her daughter's own decision, not taken under the influence of any DJ or other man!
Sandokan is delighted, however, and offers to pop a bottle of Yanez' best champagne. This is great news, and it's even better that Patrizia has confided in her mother. She must be a very smart girl.
But it's only yesterday that she was still my little girl. Now she's not my little girl any more.
And it seems like yesterday when I met you, Verdeluna. With you, every time is like the first time. Ooh you men, you are always so harmonious, so able to hold a multitude of conflicting emotions together. With us women, it's always a disaster. We're always in turmoil..
But that's normal, Verdeluna. It's all about hormones. You women have to fight the cycle every time. And Verdeluna deals with that little problem at the gym. One good kick planted on her friend Olivia's head and she feels ever so balanced again. Yodela hoohoo!
Yesterday, Verdeluna travelled to the gym by bus for the first time after the demise of her old 131. She liked the experience. Sandokan often uses the toy train that travels around Mompracem, which makes him want to shout "all'assalto!!!", or else one of Yanez converted ferries, built from old galleons.
Come with me Verdeluna, to the No.24 bus stop. There's a special galleon service, only once a year, that will take us straight into space... And there's hardly ever a ticket collector...
Rai summary:
- "The Pill" - Patrizia asks her mother for advice on using the pill. Verdeluna travels on the bus, Sandokan on the galleons-ferries.
- "Pillola" - Patrizia chiede consigli alla mamma sull'uso della pillola. Verdeluna viaggia sugli autobus, Sandokan sui galeoni-traghetti.


#53 - November 21, 2007
Enter Sandokan, Master Hunter of Tunafish and Assorted Crustaceans, bang on time for a change. But he isn't welcome. In fact it's better if he just went away. Just because he calls himself Sandokan, should everybody lie at his feet?
- I don't call myself Sandokan. I AM Sandokan. And I don't like playing games.
- Oh yeah?!? So who's playing games here? Who are you calling yourself a pirate who lives on the island of.. "Mompracem"???
- That's enough! No one ever made you chat with me if you don't want to! Just pull the plug on this conversation any time you want!
- You want ME to pull the plug? Do you really think it's that easy? I work all day and have a love life to get back on track. I want you to be honest with me!
- Just as YOU have to be honest too! You also could be just anybody. How do I know you are who you say you are? Are you really a mother of two children? Do you work in a shop? Are you divorced? I've heard all kinds of stories about people in chat rooms!
- And why should I do that?
- SHUT UP! You're clucking like a chicken!
- Toc toc toc toooooooooc!!!
- SHUT UP!!!
- I am as silent as a tomb.
And so they bicker on, until Sandokan tries a more conciliatory approach... Well OK then. She's had an awful day. First she ran into The Twit, in the local supermarket. Did they argue? Nope. Worse. Peering from behind a stack of canned tomatoes, Verdeluna saw he was alone. No Vanessa Paradiso. Then Renato saw her, and showered her with compliments. Ever the charmer, he even tried to get a date! How horrible! Verdeluna is convinced he never even realised she was his ex-wife!
Then there was Walter, the priest. He'd been waiting for an hour at the shop, after leaving a message on her mobile phone. Verdeluna had answered "OK" - so where was she??? Well, the "OK" was really meant for Olivia, who wanted to meet at the gym. So she made a mistake. Who doesn't?
Then, of course, she realised she'd forgotten her phone at the supermarket. She went back after work, picked it up and... there was a message....
" It's me," the message said. "Let's meet in Sailors Square at eight. Under the Mariner.'' And so she went, thinking of course that with all those maritime suggestions, it could be none other than a certain pirate...
She got there twenty minutes early, and waited until quarter past. All manner of men passed by the Mariner, and poor Verdeluna was torturing herself about who could be the pirate... The kind old pharmacist, who always gives her a discount? Even Tarzan, the car mechanic, came along. He smiled, and walked past. Then there was Patrizia's math teacher, making Verdeluna cringe at the thought he might be S... (Well in that case, she'd have run to the nearest convent).
In the end, no one turned up. And Verdeluna went home, gutted, humiliated, and furious at her pirate...
But the pirate denies all knowledge. The message wasn't his. Simply not guilty, your honour! I would never do anything to risk losing you, Verdeluna. You've become too important to me.
Mmmmmm... Really...? Then show me!
Let us be carried away Verdeluna, just as we are carried away every evening. Come on board Verdeluna, and it will always be this way. Oooh Sandokan, I just can't help believing you, it's stronger than me... Hold me tight Sandokan...
Rai summary:
- "Identity" - Verdeluna receives an anonymous message which invites her to go on a date. She thinks it is Sandokan...
- "Identità" - Verdeluna riceve un messaggio anonimo che la invita ad un appuntamento. Lei pensa sia Sandokan...


#52 - November 20, 2007
Today's excuse for being late: Sandokan has followed a shoal of stingrays, from the comfort of his deck chair, sipping an exquisite Yanez coffee. The magic of their electric discharges is like the magic of a kiss.. like Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss," says Verdeluna...
Close your eyes and feel my fingers caressing your face, while your feet stand upon a bed of flowers...
How many different kisses are there, Sandokan? - Let's see... there's the pirate's kiss, but also that of the rhino, horn against horn, or of the gazelle, side against side, the lion's kiss, as deep as its growl, and the civet cat's, and that of the Napoleon fish, as long as the Russian Campaign...
But how about love kisses, between a man and a woman? Well, there's the Gone-With-The-Wind-Kiss, and frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. Then there's Doctor Zhivago's kiss for Lara. Or there's the nine-and-a-half-week kiss, for which you have to pour ice cubes on to yourself, and I don't think it's worth it...
Go away! I don't mean movie kisses!
Ok then... the first kiss of two lovers. The goodbye kiss outside the front porch. Or outside a restaurant. A new year's kiss, full of promise. Or a kiss in a motel, or on a little square in Paris. Or the kiss before making love, that calls on the heavens and the stars to accompany us through the night.
See how many kisses you know?
But I still prefer the kiss of the pirate, full of love and passion...
Verdeluna saw Patrizia kiss her boyfriend, the DJ, the other day. Aaaah - it finally made her understand that her little girl is now a woman...
She's a big girl now, and must have been a wise woman in her previous lives, says Sandokan. He thinks reincarnation isn't for everybody, but yes, for some people it exists. Maybe he was a captain on a large ship in a previous life, or a humble fisherman... But it must have been somthing related to the sea. Every time he looks at the sea, he feels it has always belonged to him... Could he have been a fish? Maybe, a big and majestic swordfish...
Verdeluna says it's hard to believe she could ever have lived in another age but the present. In Europe at least, there is no war, no hunger, no pestilence. Living in another age would mean having to give up all of that... She wants to reincarnate as a delicious pesce luna, a moonfish!
Rai summary:
- "The Kiss" - Sandokan and Verdeluna distinguish between all types of kisses possible (between animals, in the cinema, between human beings) and she talks about havings seen her daughter kiss her fiancèe dj.
- "Il bacio" - Sandokan e Verdeluna discettano di baci di tutti i tipi (fra gli animali, nel cinema, fra esseri umani) e lei racconta di aver visto sua figlia baciare il suo fidanzato dj.


#51 - November 19, 2007
Oh Lord, won't you buy me... Verdeluna is in dire need of a new car, even a used one is fine, thank you. Connecting, connecting...
But Sandokan is quite out of his depth when it comes to automobiles. Well, she could perhaps borrow his galleon for a couple of days? Her old Fiat 131 has finally gone to meet its makers, if that's what cars do when their time comes. She was on her way to work when the old girl finally packed it in, while Verdeluna was waiting for the lights to change, and she was showered with a torrent of abuse from the waiting cars behind.
But there was a happy moment with the 131 too... Behind her, a gorgeous mechanic pulled up... Hang on, wasn't The Twit a mechanic too? But what's that got to do with it! The handsome young man loaded the 131 onto his trailer and took car and driver to his workshop.
Ha! Sandokan is not about to be outdone. He too, once broke a mast on his galleon, and was towed to safety by a pearl-fishing boat called "Silence," with, yep, an exquisite all-female crew.
Be quiet, Sandokan, and let me finish. The handsome mechanic got out of his car, and they were in, well not really a workshop. It was more of a tropical garden (Ah! A workshop-garden! Lots of those on Mompracem!) Well, the car was beyond repair even by the tropical demigod, but lo! there were palm trees in the garden, bananas, even monkeys and... dinosaurs!!! Made of old car parts!!! A T. Rex, a Bronto, and even a flyosaurus! And so the good old 131 will become a piece of modern art - or was that a piece of prehistoric art?
Sandokan urges Verdeluna to bring out her inner child, full of wonder and excitement but burdened by the weight of adulthood and responsibility. There's no such thing as making the wrong choice. What matters is that you follow your heart... There's one choice that Verdeluna is really proud of, and that she wouldn't ever go back on: that of chatting every night with Sandokan! And what if she chose to come to Mompracem right now, what would await her?
A Pink Floyd concert!
Yanez persuaded Roger Waters and David Gilmour to play at the opening of his sushi bar, built in memory of Syd Barrett. Syd lived on Mompracem ever since leaving the band, and found his guru in Yanez. Unfortunately, he succumbed to diabetes, brought on by his love of sweets... Nick Mason and Richard Wright will also be at the gig, a huge thing set up by Yanez!
Hold me tight, Sandokan, hold me tight, as David strums his guitar...
Rai summary:
- "131 Happy Moments" - Verdeluna's 131 has kicked the bucket and she was rescued by a mechanic who was as beautiful as Tarzan and who constructs dinosaurs using car wrecks. Sandokan recalls Pink Floyd on Mompracem.
- "131 momenti felici" - La 131 di Verdeluna ha tirato le cuoia e lei è stata salvata da un meccanico bello come Tarzan, che costruisce dinosauri con i rottami delle auto. Sandokan racconta dei Pink Floyd a Mompracem.


#50 - November 16, 2007
I like the night, like any honourable pirate... Connecting... Connecting... Waiting... Like I wait for the wind when I want to leave port...
Sandokan has helped Yanez stock up his kiosk with coffee bags, but the thought of that exquisite aroma made the bags as light as feathers. Speaking of which, Verdeluna followed a feather blown by the wind with her kickyodelling friend, Olivia. It started out as a game but became quite serious. And so they trailed the little feather this way and that, their heads in the air, counting the stars, until it flew towards the port. And so they gazed at the little feather as it drifted ever higher, ever higher, and ever further away. "Auf Wiedersehen,'' said Olivia, the South Tyrolean. "Auf Wiedersehen,'' echoed Verdeluna. Porzellana! We nearly fell in, didn't we?
Then they just stared into the distance, and got gloomy, until Olivia announced she would go home and make a zucchini strudel. Would she eat it all alone? - Nein ! Tomorrow I vill bring half to ze shop for you! A very practical lady, says Sandokan. If she'd known Hamlet, it would have been a case of to strudel, or not to strudel...
Sandokan explains the Day of Light, a Mompracem festival when the fishermen place all kinds of objects by the sea that represent missed opportunities in life. If the next day, the sea has washed some of the items away, that means another opportunity will soon present itself. Ernest Hemingway put down a swordfish made of sugar, to remember the day he went fishing in a rickety old boat after having some of Yanez' exquisite coffee!
When he came back from his trip after three days and three nights, Ernest had with him the biggest swordfish ever seen by man... except it was so big he'd had to tie it to the side of his boat, and it got eaten by sharks. Hemingway went to his cabin, and disappeared for a whole week, until the smell of Yanez' coffee brought him back to the world... And another fisherman left a wooden giraffe, to show his pining for a long-necked ukulele player that once visited the island...
Verdeluna once visited a safari park in Fasano with The Twit and their children, and when a giraffe started licking their car windscreen, Renato had the brilliant idea of honking to scare it off. With the result that an equally scared elephant decided to sit down on their vehicle, and The Twit, ignoring all instructions to the contrary, got out to inspect the damage. Within seconds, a troupe of monkeys descended on him and undressed him to his underwear...
A small feather has settled on my computer, Verdeluna, the feather that Olivia and you followed to the sea. I will keep it, and put it on the beach on the Day of Light...
Rai summary:
- "The Day of Light" - Verdeluna and Olivia chase a feather as far as to the sea. Sandokan recalls the festivities of the "Day of the Light" on Mompracem, Verdeluna recalls a trip to the safari park in Fasano [a coastal resort, south of Bari, Puglia].
- "Il Giorno della luce" - Verdeluna e Olivia inseguono una piuma fino al mare. Sandokan racconta la festa del "giorno della luce" a Mompracem, Verdeluna la gita allo zoo safari di Fasano.


#49 - November 15, 2007
Verdeluna is struggling to assemble an Ikea bookshelf, while Sandokan is out snorkelling among the coral. Verdeluna loves coral necklaces, especially the one she got from her Granny Benedetta, along with a glass of ice cold lemonade. And Sandokan has fond memories of an Italian Renaissance painting by Piero Della Francesca, of the Madonna with her child, little Jesus is wearing a coral necklace [note: probably Piero della Francesca's Madonna di Senigallia, about 1474]. How does Sandokan know about Italian art? From a calendar brought along by Yanez, of course!
Which brings us back to the Ikea bookshelf.
Yanez once proposed selling his flat-pack, do-it-yourself galleons to Ikea, but they couldn't find a store big enough for them. Now Verdeluna is desperate to find the instructions that came with her furniture...
Sandokan, heeeeelp me...!
There's only one thing to be done in such cases: all'assalto!!!
So, after another romantic excursion among the stars, Sandokan raises the big question: just what is Verdeluna going to do with her new bookshelf? She is turning the whole house upside down, redecorating all the rooms. Wasn't getting rid of The Twit stressful enough? They say that after divorce, restruc.. restrutu... restructuring the house is the most stressful thing that a person can do.
Verdeluna loaded some old sticks of furniture onto the Fiat 131 and drove to the local dump to get rid of them, but before she could even enter the site, five youths surrounded the car, opened the doors and dragged all the rubbish out. With Verdeluna screaming in terror, they drove away in their old van with her discarded belongings loaded on top...!
Sandokan is furious. Amateur pirates! It's people like that who give the profession a bad name. That's the problem with your cities, you pretend the problems aren't there instead of confronting them. So what would be Sandokan's solution? Giving away Granny Benedetta's lemonade to everybody!
Rai summary:
- "The Coral" - Sandokan snorkels along the coral reef, Verdeluna talks about a coral necklace which her grandmother Benedetta had given to her as a present. Verdeluna wants to redecorate her apartment and she is struggling with a flat-pack bookcase which is extremely complicated to assemble.
- "Il corallo" - Sandokan fa snorkeling lungo la barriera corallina, Verdeluna ricorda di una collana di corallo che le aveva regalato nonna Benedetta. Verdeluna vorrebbe ristrutturare la casa e sta litigando con una libreria componibile complicatissima da montare.


#48 - November 14, 2007
Verdeluna is struggling with a leaking tap, but of course there isn't a plumber in sight. Sandokan says Yanez is an expert plumber. He even fixed the island's only tap on Mompracem, which was dripping with such a loud thud every minute that it kept everyone awake.
Enter the Portuguese Plumber, who fought with the delinquent tap for a week, but to no avail. Then one day, there was a loud crash from the well, the earth shook, and Yanez was heard to swear loudly. And then: silence. The Mompracemers started to count... 50 seconds... 58.. 59.. 60... 61... 62... nothing. Only that within minutes the whole island, utterly exhausted, fell blisfully asleep!
So how did he do it? After a week's struggling with spanners, screwdrivers, fists and boots, he finally plugged the leak with... a coffee bean.
But seriously, does Sandokan think the world is running short of water? The Americans seems especially alarmist, but then they always are...
As a little girl, Verdeluna used to go to a nearby cave with her family to fetch water from the well there. It used the be called the Cave of Spirits because the local shepherds would spend the night there with their flock, and the next morning they'd always notice a couple of lambs were missing. So the story went that the spirits of the cave didn't live by water alone...
Don't be afraid of the spirits, says Sandokan. They're present, but we need them for the equilibrium of our cosmos. The pirate also has a ghost aboard his galleon, who plays silly tricks like turning the ship around when it is heading straight for the enemy, just as Sandokan shouts all'assalto!!! But on another occasion, the ghost cooked Sandokan the most amazing breakfast, with coffee even more exquisite than Yanez'.
Verdeluna is convinced the spirit is a girl-ghost. Turning pirates away from battle, and making them coffee, are feminine things to do. So what would Verdeluna do in her place? Make Sandokan stay in bed of course, and get the coffee from Yanez!
But wait... Verdeluna feels a sudden sense of peace, quiet and relief... And even the bathroom tap has stopped dripping... Could it be that...?
Rai summary:
- "Drop by drop" - Sandokan recalls how Yanez has repaired the public drinking fountain of Mompracem which lost a drop of water per minute, Verdeluna's tap looses water, too. They also tell each other some ghost stories.
- "Goccia dopo goccia" - Sandokan racconta di come Yanez ha aggiustato la fontanella pubblica di Mompracem, che perdeva una goccia al minuto, anche il rubinetto di Verdeluna perde. Si raccontano storie di fantasmi.


#47 - November 13, 2007
Sandokan has been taking the children of Mompracem on a canoeing trip, to teach them to be independent and self-reliant. So who was the leader of the group, the captain of the little flotilla? Sandokan says it's much too early for the children to be competitive, and that they should learn to have some fun first.
But we live in a competitive world, says Verdeluna. Just look at how people behave in traffic! No matter where they're going, they want to be the first to get there. And to think that my finish line for the morning rush hour is Sir Hugo's shop...
Verdeluna tells the story of Debbie, a Californian woman of Italian origin, who married the love of her life at age 55, having nearly given up on the whole idea. Her partner's name is Pattie, a schoolteacher she met in a pastry class. Must have been a sweet meeting, comments Sandokan. It's so boring to always be politically correct! But despite playing the clown, Sandokan is full of respect for two people who follow the voice of their heart without caring about social convention or discrimination.
Mompracem weddings, though, are strictly between men and women. And they are truly wonderful to behold. The bride's hands and feet are painted with henna, the groom arrives on horseback, and the couple's wedding night is spent among a thousand perfumes of the orient.
Night of the orient, night of love - how I adore being surrounded by the night... Let's be each other's love pastry, you'll be my profiterolles, and I'll be your baba au rhum...
Rai summary:
- "What do I say..." - Verdeluna recalls the love story of Debbie, a woman of Italian origins and Pattie, a school teacher, and of their wedding; Sandokan recalls how wedding ceremonies are carried out on Mompracem.
- "Dico che ?" - Verdeluna racconta la storia d'amore di Debbie, donna di origini italiane e Pattie, maestra e del loro matrimonio; Sandokan racconta come si svolgono i matrimoni a Mompracem.


#46 - November 12, 2007
Sandokan nearly missed tonight's chat with Verdeluna, after going diving offshore Mompracem with Yanez, and nearly getting sucked out into the ocean by the current. Verdeluna is worried sick about the danger to which he is exposing himself - much to Sandokan's delight. He too would worry about Verdeluna!
Verdeluna's brother Walter, the priest, has started a new thing in his parish: one evening he went to the tree in front of his church, and tied a message to one of its branches, expressing his deepest feelings. That same night, several other messages appeared, and the idea caught on. Now Walter's asked Verdeluna for a contribution to the message tree, but she is convinced the only thing she'd be capable of writing is: "Down With the Twit!!!"
Walter's message was that a soul cannot live well in one area of life when it misbehaves in another. Life is single, whole, and indivisible. That idea's from Gandhi, Sandokan says approvingly.
Verdeluna is desperate! What is she going to write that is profound enough to impress her brother Walter? Look around you, Verdeluna, the world is full of messages, and nothing happens without a reason. Our job is to understand that reason.
Verdeluna found a tortoise in the garden of her apartment building. Is that a sign too? Certainly! Older than time itself, the tortoise is a creature of mystery. Its top is round like the heavens, and its bottom is flat like the earth. Man is imperfect, and nature is his complement.
How Verdeluna misses her son Valerio, the modern-day pirate sailing the seven seas, wherever his fancy takes him! Recently he was at Port Royal, Jamaica, a notorious pirates' haunt through the ages. None of the passengers on his cruise ship could sleep that night... All'assalto!!!
Why can't Sandokan come up with a profound thought for Walter's message tree? Well alright then: the ocean's nature isn't always calm; the same is true of the ocean of life...
Rai summary:
- "The Signs" - Verdeluna intents to write a message and to tie it on a branch of her brother Walter's tree of messages. Together with Sandokan she reflects upon the many signs and messages of the nature which she must learn to decipher.
- "I segni" - Verdeluna è intenta a scrivere un messaggio da legare su un ramo dell'albero dei messaggi di suo fratello Walter. Insieme a Sandokan riflette sui tanti segni e messaggi delle natura, che bisogna imparare a decifrare.


#45 - November 9, 2007
Sandokan has been watching wave upon wave of migrating birds flying over Mompracem. They seemed like so many angels, against the backdrop of the moonlight! Not even a pirate would have their courage and determination to reach the promised land, to stay alive no matter what. Not even Sandokan? Well now, that's different.
All'assalto!!
Aunty Assunta, the sister of Verdeluna's grandmother, emigrated to Argentina at age 15. In mid-Atlantic, her ship hit such a storm that even the biggest, sturdiest men were on their knees, praying, and kissing their wives' rosaries. When she arrived in Buenos Aires, her father was there to greet her, and such was her joy at being reunited that she fainted, and had to be carried to a nearby bar, where she came round in the middle of a crowd of men, to her profound embarrassment. They had a huge farm on the outskirts of the city. The Argentinian government gave away large plots of land to immigrants, and the Italians those days had excellent farming skills. Too bad they all had to leave Italy - A curse on gob.. gleb... globalisation!
Another plan the immigrants had was to rebuild the village square they remembered from San Lorenzo, the town they left behind in Italy - church, cafe, pharmacy, tobacconist and all! It took them seven years. And after those seven years they had a huge party to celebrate! (The true history of mankind is made up by common people heroes pursuing their dreams, just like this, Sandokan knows...)
And then... that's where Assunta met her future husband, Uncle Dante. They fell in love instantly, and after a short while, he decided he would ask her to marry him while they were dancing the tango! The only problem was that Dante was a terrible dancer and he didn't want to make a fool of himself in the country that invented the tango... So he took lessons in secret, resolving that if Assunta were ever to find out and get jealous, he'd tell her he danced only with partners in masque...
Then one evening... a dance floor, a band, the moon, the sea - and after a long night's dancing the tango, Dante finally popped the question! They were the happiest couple in sight... When they returned to the original San Lorenzo in Italy after many years, they bought a little house surrounded by chestnut trees. And on many an evening, they would put a tango record on the gramophone and dance the night away, holding each other tight like it was that first dance all over again.
What if I asked you to dance the tango with me? Round and round we would swirl...
More's the pity that it's all made up, in the chatter's mind... But not everything Verdeluna, not quite everything...
Rai summary:
-
"Buenos Aires" - Verdeluna talks about the time when her aunt Assunta emigrated to Buenos Aires and she got to know uncle Dante, and then the churches, when he married her, dancing the tango. Will Sandokan and Verdeluna launch into a tango, too?
- "Buenos Aires" - Verdeluna racconta di quando zia Assunta emigrò a Buenos Aires e conobbe zio Dante, che le chiese di sposarla ballando il tango. Anche Sandokan e Verdeluna si lanciano in un tango?


#44 - November 8, 2007
Are you there, my buccaneer of celestial marvels? As always. Last night I found another message in a bottle on the beaches on Mompracem. I want to plant a majestic tree in the middle of my room, it said, and make my house into a great galleon. Signed: Verdeluna!
Verdeluna, too has found a kind of message in a bottle. She walked singer Martina to the stop of the No. 59 bus she always takes home, in the pouring rain, and while they turned around to avoid being soaked by a passing driver going through a puddle, Verdeluna saw it... an ancient book lying on the bus stop bench. So she waited for the No 59 to take away Martina, and picked it up. The book contained a note: "Read me, and leave me where you think someone else may find me." (Sandokan once discussed a similar idea with Mr Feltrinelli, as the publisher visited Mompracem, but somehow the idea never took off...)
The book was "The Secret Sharer," by Joseph Conrad - almost a colleague of mine, says Sandokan. He knows the story well, of the anonymous captain who rescues the drowning Legatt, only to find out that the man to whom he bears such great resemblance has in fact killed a sailor. He hides the fugitive and helps him to safety.
Would you hide me in your heart, Sandokan, if I were a fugitive? We are two kindred souls destined to sail the seas together, the fugitives of love, the captains of our passion. So where are you going to leave the book when you have read it? In the supermarket, maybe, or in the cinema, or I might put it back at the bus stop.
Verdeluna, too, has been a stowaway. Not on a ship, but in a hotel on Sardinia, in 1982, when Italy had just won the world football championships. Verdeluna and her friend Francesca had been camping on the Costa Smeralda, near the gorgeous Hotel Bristol, and they got curious. Still on a high after the football victory, they talked their way past reception and... WOW!!! Those beds!!! Those rooms!!! They spent a week moving from free room to free room, knowing all the service entrances and fire escapes... Verdeluna never had such fun in her life, even if today she would deny all knowledge of the event to Patrizia...
Didn't they ever find you out? You were real pirates!!!
Rai summary:
- "The Book" - Verdeluna finds Conrad's book The Secret Sharer at the bus stop, and discusses with Sandokan the role of the secret agent and the captain. Verdeluna recalls the time when she lived secretly at the hotel Bristol in Sardinia for a week.
- "Il libro" - Verdeluna trova il libro Il Compagno segreto di Conrad alla fermata dell'autobus, parla con Sandokan del ruolo del clandestino e del comandante. Verdeluna racconta di quando visse da clandestina all'Hotel Bristol in Sardegna per una settimana.


#43 - November 7, 2007
Verdeluna? Would you like to come and play with me tonight? That all depends on the kind of game, Sandokan. Tell me about your wishes, and tonight I will make them come true!
Well, you could start by making my ex's shiny new car disappear... You should see how he races it around the street to impress young Vanessa - no. Better still give it a brand new scratch, all along one side, every morning. Okay - and when I've defaced the Twitmobile, what else do you want? You get two wishes, so just one more. Those are always the rules in games of this kind. Hurry up, it's nearly dawn...
Oh of course I know. I want you - or is that too much? Is it too much of a desire? Verdeluna, it's my very own wish, my very own desire. Why not make it come true? Yanez and I are in Italy!
Sandokan! Where are you?!? I'm on the beach of Positano, near Naples, where Yanez has been asked to officially open a beach kiosk tomorrow...
Oh Sandokan tellmeit'snottruetellmeyou'rejustjokingtellmeit'sallasillygame....
And if you do tell me that, I'll be as mad as hell, I'll be like a child when you take away his ice cream, no his birthday cake!
There's an intense perfume of espresso tonight... Yanez and the kiosk owner are fine-tuning their coffee machine so that everything will be perfect for the grand opening tomorrow. When I look out of the window, I can see the church of San Pancrazio, halfway between Positano and Amalfi. I told you Verdeluna, I am here, I am close to where you are...
Oh Sandokan, if you're joking I will really kill you... No, I've been waiting all my life for this day... I'm getting into the car right now, I'm on my way... I'm waiting for you Verdeluna! The Tiger of Malaysia is waiting for you, pacing up and down Mount Vesuvius...
Oh Sandokan, Sandokan, where are you.........
Oh Sandokan, I fell asleep over the computer keyboard, waiting for you. Wait, wait, connecting, connecting, wait, waiting.... Pleasepleaseplease just be there!!!
Verdeluna?
Sandokan?
Where are you?
On Mompracem, as always!
And if I said Positano, Sandokan?
You mean the church of San Pancrazio, Mount Vesuvius?
How do you know about those?
Ahhh some years ago an Italian fisherman came by on Mompracem and we talked for a long time about the beauty of the Amalfi coast...
And I dreamt we were going to meet there, in the Green Grotto...
Every night before we go to sleep, the maker of dreams sits down next to us, and reads our deepest emotions. And he builds a bridge that crosses between dreams and reality, between the last glimmer of the moon and the first rays of the sun.
Give me your hand, Sandokan, and let's cross that bridge together... Too bad that chatters make it all up... Just like in your dreams, Verdeluna, not everything, not quite everything...
Rai summary:
- "Morpheus" - Verdeluna is in Positano in order to meet Sandokan there, then she wakes up and realizes that it was only a dream.
- "Morfeo" - Verdeluna sta per incontrare Sandokan a Positano, poi si sveglia e si accorge che si trattava solo di un sogno.


#42 - November 6, 2007
A world without chat would be a world of long telephone calls, of stacks of letters stuffed into shoeboxes... To chat, you don't need envelopes and stamps. Just send your message into the universe and see what comes back. Like a message in a bottle... Connecting... Connecting... Waiting....
Sandokan, another victim of Net Nostalgia, is a fan of bottled messages. There's quite a few of them on the beaches of Mompracem. One day, in search of mussels, the pirate digs up a bottle. Not just any bottle: a bottle of 1910 vintage Dom Perignon, no less... Inside it, there was a message in Portuguese, which Yanez translated. A musician describes how he has continued to play almost unto death, how he found the bottle of champagne and drank it, affirming life moments before it was about to end, how he entrusted his final thoughts to paper and then to the bottle...
Wait a minute, 1910... couldn't that be the Titanic? [note: the Titanic went down in 1912] Verdeluna isn't happy at the thought, with her own son sailing the seven seas... She recalls how crazy he was about playing the trumpet as a child, never ever wanting to put it down even for one minute. So how come he became a chef, not a musician?
He took to making pies for the family, never eating one himself, so he got thinner and they all got fatter. They were excellent pies...
So is Verdeluna now taking singing lessons? Errr, no. She's too intimidated by the presence of Martina, the talented singer and shop assistant. Take it as a game, and enjoy using your own talents, says Sandokan. It's a shame not to!
Verdeluna bought a beautiful old globe on the flea market the other day, and the first thing she did was to look for Mompracem. I can't find it, she cried to the salesman! Well, Mompracem is a funny old island, he replied. If you want to find it, it's there, and if you don't, it isn't. Anyway, say hello to the Tiger for me!
Wouldn't it be nice if you could rearrange the world to suit yourself? Verdeluna would swap Mompracem with the island of Elba. That would bring Sandokan a lot closer! But would the Italians like it? The sea would be full of pirates... All'assalto!!
Then we could swap the United States and Africa, or England and Sri Lanka, or, perish the thought, Naples and Milan!
Rai summary:
- "Dom Perignon" - Sandokan recalls how he has rediscovered a message in a bottle (a Dom Perignon of 1910): it turns out to be a message of a cast away of the Titanic. Verdeluna recalls Valerio when he started to play the trumpet as a child.
- "Dom Perignon" - Sandokan racconta di aver ritrovato un messaggio in bottiglia (un Dom Perignon del 1910): si tratta del messaggio di un naufrago del Titanic. Verdeluna ricorda Valerio quando cominciò a suonare la tromba da piccolo.


#41 - November 5, 2007
Sandokan reminisces about his trip to Vienna with Yanez, where they went to the New Year's Concert at the invitation of Riccardo Muti. The Maestro had been on Mompracem, where Yanez' coffee granita with cream so beguiled him that he simply had to do something equally delightful in return. Ahhh Vienna, that concert... it was as if time itself had been suspended, and all the women were dressed like the Empress Sissi...
Let us dance... One, two, three, our heads are spinning... Hold me tight... We are in a room full of mirrors that reflect the light from the chandeliers above... But above all, they reflect the light of your smile, Verdeluna, which makes my heart spin....Ooooh Sandokan, hold me so tight I can't breathe... All'assalto!!
And so on to Yanez' Aunt Faustina, the last in a long line of air collectors. SANDOKAN!!! No I'm not joking! She captures the air of important events in little glass bottles to lock in the memories, the atmosphere. She has travelled the world, sniffing and bottling the real mementos of mankind... Pink Floyd plays in Pompeii? She's there! The Berlin Wall comes down? Aunty has already bottled some Berliner Luft. A meteorite hits Alaska? She's riding on top, even before it hits the ground. Grace Kelly's investiture as Princess of Monaco is among her personal archive, and even - no one knows how she pulled that one off - the first moon landing!
When you open one of her little containers, you are instantly taken back to the instant where it was harvested, in all its intensity, in all its sensuous splendour. But of course you can only do it once. The bottle, once opened, will loose its air instantly and the experience can't be repeated.
Sandokan opens a bottle just for Verdeluna, and she is instantly transported to the time she took a boat trip to Lisbon with her son Valerio. By the way, he's very seriously in love with his Mexican astrophysicist, Pedro Miguel.
Verdeluna recalls another event. Valerio had been hit by a car and was in a coma for a couple of weeks. She was constantly at his bedside, refusing to budge until finally he came round. Oh how she loved life that moment! Sandokan opens another bottle and yes! yes! that's exactly how it was!!!
Three years ago, Patrizia ran away from home after Verdeluna had a particularly bad row with The Twit. She looked for her daughter all night, but - nothing. Finally she found the 14-year-old girl at a train station looking at the timetables. So they just bought tickets for Paris, on impulse. Does Sandokan have that bottle? Does he ever....
Ahhh Sandokan, you must get Faustina to bottle all our memories too!
Rai summary:
- "Faustina" - Sandokan recalls the story of aunt Faustina, the ninety-year-old aunt of Yanez who collects air of the most significant events of history in special phials. Verdeluna lets herself "uncork" the air of two of her important memories of Valerio and Patrizia.
- "Faustina" - Sandokan racconta la storia di zia Faustina, la novantenne zia di Yanez che raccoglie l'aria degli avvenimenti più significativi della storia in apposite ampolline. Verdeluna si fa "stappare" l'aria di due suoi importanti ricordi con Valerio e Patrizia.


#40 - November 2, 2007
This time, Verdeluna is so fed up with waiting that she nearly turns off her computer. Sandokan wants to say a prayer for a long-departed friend, who once came to Mompracem: Pier Paolo Pasolini. He was an excellent footballer, and Sandokan remembers how once he scored a near-impossible header against the monkey Darwin, on an assist by Yanez.
And if that wasn't enough, he once rid the island of a pelican plague by luring the birds, just like the Pied Piper, to a meeting outside Yanez' kiosk with the Mompracem fishermen, to settle their differences. He worked out that pelicans communicate with their feet, and simply learned their language. And to this day, pelicans and fishermen each stick to their part of the island, and peace reigns among all. Is that really true? Well, no, it's a little fable that Mompracemers like to tell each other over a cup of exquisite coffee. But all the same, Pasolini had such an eye for life that he was loved and revered by all.
Sandokan remembers how they staged a production of Shakespeare's Othello, with home-made Sicilian puppets, for which Pier Paolo had a passion. Sandokan spoke the role of Othello, and Pasolini that of Iago, his nemesis. Yanez was Desdemona, Othello's wife, whom he kills in a fit of jealous rage, having been manipulated into thinking that she was unfaithful. The story didn't go down at all well on Mompracem, where betrayal is regarded as the worst possible offence against mankind. The actors had to stop the play amid a hail of coconuts, chairs, mangos, and ostrich eggs!
Later, as the three of them were sitting on the beach, Pasolini said the citizens of Mompracem were right to rebel against insincerity and betrayal. And he sighed deeply. A day or so later, he left silently, and that was the last they ever saw or heard of the great artist... He died on the second of November, many years ago...
Rai summary:
- "Pasolini" - Sandokan remembers Pasolini who, during a stay at Mompracem, played football and walked around barefoot for many hours. He also recalls how he staged an "Othello" with Sicilian puppets, and the reactions of the inhabitants of Mompracem.
- "Pasolini" - Sandokan ricorda Pasolini che, in visita a Mompracem, giocava a pallone e camminava a piedi scalzi per ore. Racconta anche come mise in scena un "Otello" coi pupi siciliani e le reazioni degli abitanti di Mompracem.


#39 - November 1, 2007
Verdeluna's words have been flying through the air over Mompracem, and Sandokan has caught them im his little net before they fell to the ground. They speak of her lips, like ripe apricots, and of his eyes, full of life, and his proud forehead. Oooff... That's hot stuff, Sandokan!
Verdeluna complains her apartment is overheated, and she has to pay for the privilege. Yanez has opened a coin-op laundrymat next to his kiosk, and Verdeluna has woken up to find out her washing machine is broken, out of order, kaputt. And there's a lake of soapy water all over the apartment. Maybe Yanez could open a branch of his laundry business, "Clean on the inside" in Verdeluna's neighbourhood? It comes with a lush library, internet point, and a bar that sells Yanez' exquisite coffee. Or she could set one up herself, called "Beautiful on the inside, Clean on the outside".
Coin-op laundries are places of great mystery, Sandokan declares. Even the other day he was washing some sails of his galleon, staring into the machine as it exploded into its spin-drying cycle. Then he was accosted by a painter, who wanted to launder hundreds of his canvasses because, he said, they were the works of a madman. So Sandokan sat and watched him fill all the machines with deranged works of art and bursting into the wildest of colours as the artist turned them on. What was the painter's name? Something like "Van Gogh," although it was probably just a namesake...
Which reminds Verdeluna of her brother Vittorio, who has taken up painting to help himself heal from alcoholism. His works aren't just paintings, they're full of strange bits of paper and plastic, nails, even toothpaste. But Vittorio has poured out all his anger, frustration and angst. And he looks a lot better than he used to!
Verdeluna recalls how when she was a little girl, she shared a room with Vittorio. Her brother's idea of fun was to doodle on the wallpaper. One day, when nearly the whole room was covered, she complained. Vittorio got out a bucket of white paint and painted the whole room white, along with everything in it, even Verdeluna's favourite doll... How she begged him to restore everything to normal, even the defaced wallpaper...
And does Sandokan have any childhood memories?
He lives by the day, our pirate does, without looking too far ahead or behind. He's not afraid of death, and his funeral will be one giant party! All' assalto!!!
Rai summary:
- "Beautiful on the inside, clean on the outside" - Yanez opens a coin-operated laundry "clean on the inside" on Mompracem. Vittorio, Verdeluna's brother, takes a painting class to be treated for his alcoholism.
- "Belli dentro, puliti fuori" - Yanez apre una lavanderia a gettoni "Puliti dentro" a Mompracem. Vittorio, fratello di Verdeluna, segue un corso di pittura per disintossicarsi dall'alcool.
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