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#125
- February 29, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Social Services" - The social services come to inspect Verdeluna's
home, because of her request to take Roberto into care, while the Pirla appears
with a basket of trouts.
- "Servizi sociali" - I servizi sociali vengono a visionare la casa
di Verdeluna, per la sua richiesta d'affido di Roberto, mentre il Pirla si presenta
con un cesto di trote.
#124 - February 28, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "The Letter" - Verdeluna finds a letter of her father from 6\8\42
from the Russian front in which he writes that he saved a young officer and he
asks for the hand of Verdeluna's mother.
- "La lettera" - Verdeluna ritrova una lettera del padre del 6\8\42
dal fronte russo, in cui racconta di aver salvato un giovane ufficiale e chiede
la mano della madre di Verdeluna.
#123 - February 27, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Vivaldi" - On his return from Australia, Sandokan rattles off some
aphorisms of Yanez. Verdeluna does not find the car any more: has it been stolen?
- "Vivaldi" - Sandokan di rientro dall'Australia snocciola alcuni aforismi
di Yanez Verdeluna non trova più l'automobile:che sia stata rubata?
#122 - February 26, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Melbourne" - Sandokan is in Melbourne, Verdeluna asks Walter to
grant the chorus asylum.
- "Melbourne" - Sandokan è a Melbourne, Verdeluna chiede a Walter
asilo per il coro.
#121 - February 25, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Uluru" - Sandokan, in his walkabout with the aboriginal guide,
arrives at Uluru, Ayers Rock. Verdeluna talks of the evening before with Tarzan
in a
Greek taverna.
- "Uluru" - Sandokan in walkabout con la guida aborigena arriva ad
Uluru, Ayers Rock Verdeluna racconta della serata passata con Tarzan in una taverna
greca.
#120 - February 22, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Kakadu" - Sandokan talks of the "walkabout" along the
Tracks of Dreams, at the Kakadu National Park with the aboriginal guide Arkadi.
Again, Verdeluna has a squabble with her mother-in-law.
- "Kakadu" - Sandokan racconta del "walkabout" lungo le Piste
dei Sogni, al Kakadu National Park con la guida aborigena Arkadi. Verdeluna ha
ancora un battibecco con la suocera.
#119 - February 21, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "To Australia" - Sandokan crosses the Indian Ocean and chats with
Verdeluna sailing towards Australia. Verdeluna talks of the house she just has
acquired, from the appartement which is now practically sold to the General.
- "Verso l'Australia" - Sandokan attraversa l'Oceano Indiano e chatta
con Verdeluna veleggiando verso l'Australia Verdeluna racconta della casa appena
acquistata, dell'appartamento praticamente venduto al Generale.
#118 - February 20, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Pterodattilo" - Verdeluna takes Vittorio's car to "Tarzan",
her car mechanic - who has transformed her 131 in the meantime into a pterodattilo
- and she accepts his invitation to dinner...
- "Pterodattilo" - Verdeluna porta la macchina di Vittorio da "Tarzan",
lo sfasciacarrozze - che nel frattempo aveva trasformato la sua 131 in uno pterodattilo
- e accetta un suo invito a cena...
#117 - February 19, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Abdel" - Sandokan and Verdeluna cite from the "Libro della
Scala/Book of the Scale" and she talks of her passion for the cartography
of Abdel, Walter's sexton.
- "Abdel" - Sandokan e Verdeluna citano il "Libro della scala" e
lei racconta della passione per la cartografia di Abdel, il sagrestano di Walter.
#116 - February 18, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Moby Dick" - Sandokan recalls that his aunt Faustina has a mysterious
phial, dated 6-8-42: their number...
- "Moby Dick" - Sandokan racconta che zia Faustina ha una misteriosa
ampollina datata 6-8-42: il loro numero...
#115 - February 15, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "The Restaurant" - Verdeluna talks about Pedro Miguel's wish to buy
Valerio a restaurant in Mexico City.
- "Il ristorante" - Verdeluna racconta che Pedro Miguel vorrebbe comprare
a Valerio un ristorante a Città del Messico.
#114 - February 14, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Mortadella" - Vedeluna organizes a "Mortadella party" for
Valerio's visit, Sandokan recalls the parable of the lion and the sheep.
- "Mortadella" - Vedeluna organizza un "Mortadella party" per
la visita di Valerio, Sandokan racconta la parabola del leone-pecora.
#113 - February 13, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "Museum of War" - Verdeluna finds the courage to enter the General's
home and to suggest to him to buy her apartment...
- "Museo di guerra" - Verdeluna trova il coraggio di entrare in casa
del Generale e di proporgli di comprare il suo appartamento...
#112 - February 12, 2008
- story coming up -
Rai summary:
- "The Second Encounter" - Sandokan meets orcas, Verdeluna has a thick
and fast exchange of boxing gloves' blows in the ring with the "bulldozer",
again.
-
"L'incontro 2" - Sandokan incontra le orche, Verdeluna nuovamente incrocia
i guantoni sul ring con il "bulldozer".
#111 - February 11, 2008
Verdeluna has spun her spider's web, and is sitting quietly in the middle,
waiting to catch a pirate...
It's a good job that right now, she's not hungry.
She'll just bury her prey in
a safe spot, and keep him for breakfast...
But Sandokan knows a good way out of sticky situations like this: all'assalto!!!
Verdeluna has been caught in a net too, and while Sandokan grips the main mast
of his gallion, she tells her story.
Her nemesis today is General Ceccarone,
the old soldier who lives on the floor above Verdeluna. He has called a residents'
meeting to discuss his latest plan for the building. He's ashamed that the front
looks so shabby, and he's terrified of riding in the lift - even if he can't
avoid it, with a bullet lodged in his knee, courtesy of the last war. But the
real issue is with... the communal roof terrace. He wants to have it all to himself,
in exchange for paying for all the building work that the General considers indispensable.
Verdeluna!
That's as if someone wanted to buy my gallion!
Or Yanez' kiosk!
Or
the Mompracem beach!
Or the palm tree of the Oracle of the Jungle!
I would never
allow it, and I hope you haven't allowed it either!
Nothing's been decided yet, says Verdeluna. All it takes is for one of the residents
to refuse to sign, and the General goes empty-handed.
And of course you didn't
sign!
Well, there's time yet to consider, and nothing's been decided yet. She
could refuse to sign but how would she live with a General waging war on her
above her...
Verdeluna!
When a General declares war on you, you can do either of two things.
You can hoist
the white flag rightaway, or you can go on the offensive yourself,
and win.
But to Verdeluna, there's another way out: not only would she wave the white
flag, she would throw in her own apartment as well. That way the General will
have the fifth floor, the sixth floor and the roof!
Sandokan thinks she's in far too much of a hurry.
And where would she live?
Ah well, Verdeluna does have a little idea? Remember the number 12 bus? The one
that runs past the wonderful ice cream parlour that sells super-exquisite ice
creams? The other day, Verdeluna went to the ice cream place with her friend
Olivia to restore some of the calories they'd lost in the kickboxing ring. And
when they walked along, megasuperexquisite ice creams in hand, they saw a funny
little house. Olivia called it the 'Dutch windmill', on account of
its strange shape and the yellow and red tulips in front. And it was for sale...
AND Verdeluna is madly in love with it...
Aha!!! Ehe!!!
Well, the 'Dutch windmill' will need some work, and will no doubt be much more
expensive than Verdeluna's apartment. But just imagine little Roberto playing
in the garden. And the General is so determined to get the roof terrace, and
be rid of Verdeluna, that she can probably ask whatever price. And maybe, with
a small loan...
Rai summary:
- "The residents' meeting" - At the residents' meeting, General Ceccaroni
says he'll buy the building's terrace, and take on the repair work. Verdeluna
has alarm bells ringing. Is it better to fight a war against the general, or
to
surrender
and let him have the terrace, or...
- "Riunione condominiale" - Durante la riunione condominiale il Generale
Ceccaroni si offre di comprare il terrazzo condominiale accollandosi i lavori
di ristrutturazione. A Verdeluna si accende una lampadina: è meglio far
guerra al Generale, arrendersi lasciandogli il terrazzo, oppure...
#110
- February 8, 2008
It's been a very special day for Verdeluna.
Hold on tight, Sandokan, where shall I begin?
And the pirate, as usual, is clutching the main mast of his gallion.
Verdeluna has joined a choir!
She's taken Sandokan's advice to heart and taken up singing. But instead of taking
lessons, which are boring, she found there is a great choir she can join for
free! She had to audition for an hour with the Sicilian conductor, Francesco
Vulcano. After the audition, she sang with the other choir members an aria from
Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.
And Sandokan, would he descend into the jaws of hell to rescue his Verdeluna?
Just try me, says the pirate.
Simple.
I would morph into a large bluebottle fly, and take you with me.
Zzzzz!
You know how you can conquer the devil?
When he invented flattery, he never thought it could be turned against him as
a weapon. Oh king of sin and destruction! Oh prince absolute of everything that
is evil! Keep that up for a little while, and the devil will be so self-absorbed
that he has no attention for anything else...
Later in the day, Verdeluna had a call from her son Valerio, who is on his way
to see her. He'll be there in a few days. Verdeluna has already bought an entire
mortadella sausage in anticipation of her son's wonderful sandwiches, and has
invited her brothers Vittorio and Walter.
And in another bit of good news, Verdeluna has gone to the local council to find
out how she can be a foster parent for Roberto, the harmonica-playing little
boy from Patrizia's prison nursery. She now has to speak with social workers
and get permission from Roberto's father and his mother, who's in prison. Verdeluna's
full of a new-found energy. Could it have something to do with her knowing Sandokan?
Just pull your sabre, point it to the future, and cry with all your breath, one,
two, three, all'assalto!!!
A day like this deserves a grand finale.
A finale with fireworks, a finale with champagne, and best of all... a finale
with mortadella.
Long live mortadella!!!
Rai summary:
- "The Star of Dreams" - Verdeluna enrolls in a choir and starts to
inquire in earnest how to take Roberto in her care. Valerio informs
them that he will return home in a week for a few days.
- "La stella dei sogni" - Verdeluna si iscrive a un coro ed incomincia
ad informarsi seriamente su come prendere Roberto in affido Valerio le annuncia
che tra una settimana tornerà a casa per qualche giorno.
#109 - February 7, 2008
Verdeluna, in a bout of acute nostalgia, recites a poem about childhood memories.
Hers?
No, it's by Ugo Betti, an Italian judge and author, whom Sandokan, quite surprisingly,
has never heard of.
Remember the game we played the other day? Sandokan and Verdeluna decided that
memory was like a muscle that you have to train to keep it strong and supple.
And Verdeluna took that even further, designing a memory gym with treadmills,
bikes and a kickboxing ring, where she could have mental fights with her friend
Olivia.
Ladies and gentlemen, the fight of the century!
To your right, medium-weight Verdeluna (ultra-lightweight, Sandokan!) and to
your left, lightweight Olivia (medium-weight, Sandokan!).
GONG... and after a brief first round, Olivia is KO in the ropes.
Porrrrzellana !!!
Sandokan has never tried having a memory-fight with Yanez, as he is sure he would
lose anyway. Yanez is like St. Augustine, who was famous for remembering every
little episode from his childhood. But Sandokan has a method of his own: he
lies
down on the beach and counts the clouds, until his head is empty of conscious
thought
and the memories float in. He is climbing some white steps, approaching a white
building, and there's a market in front, where people sell goods they've brought
in baskets carried on their shoulders.
Hmmm... but Sandokan has no idea what it's all about, and nor does he recognise
any of the "memories"...
Has Sandokan ever read "Many Lives, Many Masters", by Brian Weiss,
an American psychiatrist?
Weiss believes he can induce his patients into a state of hypnosis, where they
will even remember events from previous lives they've led...
Sandokan does believe reincarnation is possible, but only for very special spirits.
He shoud really go and ask the Oracle of the Jungle what the qualifications are...
Yanez isn't the right person for a debate on reincarnation.
Whenever they discuss the subject, they both get so upset they end up throwing
cups of exquisite coffee at each other.
Yanez maintains he is the reincarnation of Ludwig van Beethoven, Isaac Newton,
Joan of Arc, Nostradamus, and Vasco da Gama.
Well, maybe that explains his coffee-making skills.
Now, who could Verdeluna have been in a previous existence?
Marie Curie, the scientist? Robespierre? Maria Stuart, who was beheaded for refusing
to give away her secret coffee recipe?
And Sandokan...
Sandokan must have been a poet...
No, Verdeluna, I am only a pirate, who steals from love itself the words for
his love...
Sandokan, the pirate-poet...
Rai summary:
- "Many lives" - Verdeluna recalls a poem from her childhood
days and wonders finally how far back the childhood memories reach. Sandokan
has a
method to remember, but are they indeed memories from his childhood?
- "Molte vite" - Verdeluna ricorda una poesia di quand'era bambina
e si chiede fin dove arriva la memoria infantile. Sandokan ha un metodo per ricordare,
ma sono davvero ricordi di quand'era bambino?
#108 - February 6, 2008
Sandokan is making his debut as a chef today, making up a batch of exquisite
aloo paratha, or Indian potato pancakes.
Mix water, flour and salt until you
get a firm batter. Now add mashed potatoes, think you can handle that? Well,
Verdeluna isn't a professional chef like her son Valerio, but mashed potatoes
should be doable...
You take a bag of dried potato flakes and...
VERDELUNA!!!
Take
a frying pan, and fry onion, ginger, chillies, herbs and lemon juice. Add mashed
potato and salt to taste, and stir for three minutes.
Is that all?
Well,
it smells good, but we've hardly started.
Now, spread a layer of batter, add
a good dollop of potato filling, and put another layer of batter on top.
Now
are we ready?
Well, almost.
Now you heat some oil in a pan, and fry the parathas on both sides.
Done.
Bon
appetit!
Verdeluna is cooking lasagna tonight for Walter and Vittorio.
Hmmm, I love lasagna,
says Sandokan, especially when made by your delicate hands.
Errr, no. Bought
from the caterers' downstairs.
VERDELUNA!!!
SANDOKAN!!!
I can cook them myself,
but it is so time consuming...
Vittorio's in trouble again... He's fallen in love with his Polish model, Caterina,
and discovered she's already married, and has a baby. So in a fit of jealous
rage, he hit the bottle again... Anyway, Verdeluna took Vittorio to stay with
Walter, the priest. And yesterday, they were in the church, rearranging the pews,
when the door opened and a woman appeared, mystically lit up by the morning sun.
The
Madonna, cried Vittorio.
The Madonna with child, sighed Walter.
And there she was, Caterina, the Polish model, presenting her two-year-old son
to Vittorio to make him see the truth. According to Walter, it was all for the
better. Vittorio and Caterina hugged the child together, and wept. And then she
was gone, with her baby, like an apparition dissolved into the wind...
Seeing the child must have done a lot of good for Vittorio, like the sight of
an angel to one who is searching for a long-lost faith...
Sandokan, I am melting
when you get so poetic...
You like the world, but you should keep a little distance from it.
You love the
day, but it's in the night that you shine in all your splendour, my Verdeluna.
But it's you who's my sun, and I'm in orbit around you.
Verdeluna, my beloved satellite!
Sandokan, my sun of the night!
... and that reminds Verdeluna of school, and learning about Galileo, and finding
out the earth isn't stationary, but that it rotates around the sun. And when
she got home, she asked her daddy, who knew everything:
-
"But if the earth
spins around on its own axis, why is it that when I jump, I don't end up in a
different spot?"
And daddy replied: "Because the earth is cleverer
than you are."
Rai summary:
- "Turn, world, turn" - Sandokan teaches the recipe of
paratha [pancakes] stuffed with potatoes. Caterina, the model, goes to find Vittorio
in
the church,
carrying with her her two-year-old son...
- "Gira il mondo gira" - Sandokan insegna la ricetta dei paratha al
ripieno di patate. Caterina, la modella, va a trovare Vittorio in chiesa portando
con sè il figlio di due anni...
#107 - February 5, 2008
Get on board of my gallion, Verdeluna, and quickly.
Today the wind is propitious, and it will carry us as far as we like.
You are the woman that any pirate would like to have at his side!
Show me the ocean as the tempests roar, Sandokan.
Let me see the waves arise like mountains towering over the abyss.
Our will to conquer will conquer everything.
Is Sandokan teaching an old pirate how to suck eggs?
Verdeluna likes to court danger.
She goes to the hospital twice a year to have echos made, of her liver, of her
pancreas...
Everything is fine, and she feels enormous relief. And why doe she have to do
all this? Sandokan is getting worried.
Verdeluna's never told anyone, but she once had a melanoma, a skin cancer whose
name sounds pretty but who will turn into "Hannibal, the cannibal" if
left untreated. Three years ago, she had a mole on her shoulder, and didn't like
the looks of it. Nor did the dermatologist, and he had it removed rightaway.
Fortunately she caught it just in time, while it was still too small to reach
a blood vessel and spread the cancer through her body. But there was an anxious
wait for several months until she had another test done to make sure all was
well.
How Sandokan would have liked to be at her side in that time!
And she didn't tell anyone. What would have been the use of frightening her children?
Or of getting The Twit's crocodile's tears?
When the second test came out negative, she heaved a huge sigh of relief, and
everything seemed well. But then... her lymph nodes started swelling, for no
particular reason, and Verdeluna suffered another two years of anxiety, waiting
to find out what was happening to her body.
Now she's fine, but she has to take the six-monthly echogram tests, just to make
sure, for another ten years...
The tempest is over, Verdeluna.
Let us set sail for quieter waters and enjoy the silence of the night, together.
At your orders, Captain...
Rai summary:
- "Hit" - Verdeluna confides to Sandokan to have had a melanoma three
years before.
- "Trafitti" - Verdeluna confida a Sandokan di aver avuto tre anni prima
un melanoma.
#106 - February 4, 2008
Thanks to Yanez, Mompracem now has wireless internet, and Sandokan can dry himself
on the beach, near a fire, while chatting to Verdeluna.
He's just had a long,
nighttime swim, which makes Verdeluna green with envy.
The island next door is
always greener.
And then he encountered a starry moray. What a sight that was!
The black-and-white eel was zigzagging around the coral like a German slalom
champion...
And then... the eel met its dinner.
A huge crab swam in front of them, and the
moray opened its mouth, with teeth strong enough to chew a tank. Just imagine
the titanic battle that followed!
Verdeluna feels sorry for the crab.
She likes crabs, ever since she went on holiday
to the beach town of Cesenatico as a young girl. She would catch a dozen of them
and then set them free with her father, just a few metres from the shoreline,
and watch them scuttle back to the sea like a platoon of soldiers...
Long live wireless internet!
Sitting on the beach, Sandokan can share young Verdeluna's
maritime memories.
And long live even... globalisation!
And what if Sandokan could have a real, flesh-and-blood Verdeluna, instead of
his computer.
But why "instead of"? Why not have both? All'assalto!!
Verdeluna doesn't like that idea at all.
All she wants is a bit of attention, and, in her experience, most men do a runner
as soon as women start to ask for that.
Reassuringly, all that Sandokan can do
is disconne...
BLING.
Sandokan...?
Sandokan!
SANDOKAN!
BLING!
Sandokan!
You scoundrel!
Why did you do that?
And Sandokan, in love, quotes Pablo Neruda, "Twenty Love Poems, and One Song
of
Despair" (1924), from the little volume that the poet gave to the pirate:
- "I awoke and at times birds fled and migrated
that had been sleeping in your soul."
Hold me tight Sandokan... I wish I could
stay here, in your arms, forever...
Rai summary:
- "Memories" - Sandokan chases a zebra muray (Gymnomuraena zebra) and
assists it in its fight with a crab. Verdeluna recalls the hunt for crabs in
Cesenatico.
Sandokan still recalls the taxi driver from Panama and Neruda's poetry.
- "Ricordi" - Sandokan insegue una murena zebra e assiste al suo combattimento
con un granchio. Verdeluna ricorda la caccia ai granchi di Cesenatico. Sandokan
ricorda ancora il tassista di Panama e le poesie di Neruda.
#105 - February 1, 2008
There is no one who knows everything.
There is no one who knows nothing.
Verdeluna,
you are my resplendent, my wonderful, star. Thus spake Sandokan.
Is he in a poetic
mood tonight?
No, he's just in love.
Back to earth, now.
A vacuum cleaner sales rep has called on Mompracem. And he's
been showing off his knowledge of proverbs. Like: you don't always die because
of a curse. You don't always live because of a blessing. He's a funny little
man, and Mompracemers are even a little afraid of him.
And he does sell some vacuum cleaners, even in mid-monsoon.
The Oracle of the
Jungle, for instance, does like the top of his palm tree to be clean!
All'assalto!!
Sandokan likes to think he can come up with a proverb or two of his own.
Life
is a river. Virtue is its beach, truth is its water, piety its waves. Bathe yourself
in such a river.
The sun is red at dawn and red when it sets. The truly great never change.
Sandokan,
Sandokan!!!
You know what I like about you, Sandokan?
You are very, very often a really modest
man!
No - an honest man, says the pirate.
There you go again!!!
Last night, Verdeluna was thinking about all the wonderful things she could do
to improve her apartment. Lay parquet floors, fit wooden window frames... And
then it started, like a drum of war... Boom! She would never be able to pay for
a new floor... Boomboom!! Nor for the new windows frames... And then, boombamaboombamaboomboomboom,
it became like an obsession, reality destroying her dreams... What a shame the
vacuum rep wasn't there, says Sandokan, he'd have known a proverb or two to help
you...
Patrizia, meanwhile, is as pleased as Punch. The prison governor has officially
started the rebuilding work at the creche, and given an interview to the local
newspaper. He spoke at length about the enthusiasm of the volunteers, and of
Patrizia in particular! And speaking of Patrizia, how is her broken arm. It's
much better, and the cast is coming off in a week's time.
And when Patrizia's cast has been removed, is Verdeluna... coming to Mompracem?
The more the cat wants to steal the bacon, the more she'll lose her paw...
And
no, that's not a Hindu proverb.
Verdeluna had rather wait a little, than make
any more rushed decisions. Sometimes you have to wait a little, and not want
everything at once. You're wonderful, so wonderful that I'd like the magic to
stay for a little. You're too important for me to risk losing you...
Sandokan understands. If Verdeluna is happy this way, he can wait. Forever, if
he has to.
Truth is as hard as a diamond. It's as fragile as a peach flower.
Take that from
an old vacuum cleaner rep.
No one really knows the truth, ever.
Like no one really
knows the truth in chat, says Verdeluna.
Rai summary:
- "The River" - A rep for vacuum cleaners rattles off proverbs at Yanez'
kiosk. Verdeluna confides to Sandokan that right now she'd rather not meet him,
but that she would like to continue to chat with him...
- "Il fiume" - Un rappresentante di aspirapolvere sciorina proverbi
al chiosco di Yanez. Verdeluna confida a Sandokan che al momento preferisce non
incontrarlo, ma continuare a chattare... |