Tuesday 17 January 2012

My neighbour Margaret Thatcher


Many odd things happen to foreigners in Italy. People get mugged, fall in love, restore houses, put on weight... Julia Roberts showed us how the blessed among us do it and end up with Javier Bardem on the island of Bali.

But others come to Italy to stay. They set down roots and become part of the local colourful scenery. They are looked upon kindly by neighbours especially with regard to food and fashion and child-rearing (Oh but how can they know? They are foreigners!) Or they are regarded with deep and unfeeling suspicion. I know that when I moved here with my mixed children and mud-splattered car and unruly red hair and, every so often, a wild summer party, my neighbours decided that I was a hippie and a drug addict (WHAAT? HIPPIES DON'T WEAR DIOR). It was even whispered at my kids' school that I had had my four children with four different fathers. Can you imagine dealing with four exes?? Pluh-eeze.

Oddly, this type of judgement sometimes swings the other way. With Meryl Streep portraying the toothy bouffant Iron Lady on international screens and renewed discussion about Britain's now-frail ex-Prime Minister, I feel I must mention that Margaret Thatcher is my neighbour.

On the two hills above where our house lies in a messy valley currently strewn with corn stems and frost, there are two villas. Or, a seventeenth century villa, and a wannabe villa which is a country farmer's pile. In the wannabe villa lives a woman the locals call Margaret Thatcher (Italian pronunciation: Marrgarey Tatchur). True, this signora's red-blond hair is swept up in a now-thinning bouffant, her teeth are dodgy and her smiles are false. Recently bereaved, she drives her boxy sedan like a bat out of hell and will not meet your eyes at the supermarket. Another neighbour at the end of my drive said she has banned her (I don't know under what edict) from hanging her washing on the porch behind her house, because it sullies the ex-PM's view.

The houses are three hundred metres apart.

Sometimes I think of signora Maggie up there on the hill behind the bright blue shutters of the wannabe villa which are always closed and the big sweeping night light to scare away the Moroccans and the Albanians whom she fears, bitterly hunched at the kitchen stove now that her sons are gone, even the one with the problems in his head, and the years have gathered behind her.

24 comments:

  1. Cat,
    Your writing is just so visually beautiful. I read your snippets and can see the scene. I so look forward to your book.

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  2. Grazie mille Lyra! You've just made my day. Hope you are well xxcat

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  3. I love this, Cat. You are a woman after my own heart.

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  4. Thanks MSB. You are wonderful! And I really enjoy reading your take on life. Xxcat

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  5. What a wonderful/terrible character...I'd like to sit and have a coffee with her - but then again, perhaps that would be the most awkward way to spend an afternoon.

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  6. What an image! Wonderfully written.

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  7. I should like to open the shutters of "wannabe villa" and roll the toothy one out like cheese.

    Your writing is beautiful, Cat - even when writing about the only person I hate.

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  8. Only the real Mrs T, you understand - fictionally speaking!

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  9. Hello Schietree,
    I don't see cars up there much. No dogs on chains or staring cats. I'm sure it would make for very excruciating talk!

    Dear Talli,
    Thank you! and thanks for dropping by! Good luck with all. Over to yours now.

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  10. Dear Rae,
    And the funny thing is I'm sure she was given this name not because local people were aware of the extent of Maggie's flaws and cruel will, but just because she looked like her.

    And yet. I swear this old woman and her now deceased husband waited for me to leave one afternoon, then crept up to my back boundary, pegged up their string and told the builder where to put my fence posts (he was in cahoots with them!)

    All for fifty centimetres of over-farmed land.

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  11. Ahh but I believe in good old-fashioned karma. What goes around comes around. What goes on tour stays on tour. Oops! But I love that one.

    I think she will be alone and unloved until the end. A weird choice to make.

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  12. "... the years have gathered behind her."

    I'm so late to the party, my work computer crashes if I even THINK of looking at a Blogger blog. Anyway, I did want to tell you (again) how lovely your writing is, and what a surprise it was to learn of that odd, aged neighbor nearby. Imagine what life must be like behind the blue shutters, and the thinning bouffant, and the shifting eyes. As the years have gathered behind her...

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  13. Thanks Averil. Sorry the blogger site slows you down. I have no idea about the in and outs of blog sites. I keep trying to set aside some time to crank up some know-how and try to expand my blogs. Gawd! All so time-consuming when I'm missing the thrill of the blank page right about now.

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  14. Yay! Comments are back up! Yes, your writing is beautiful as always and humor right on. If you get a chance, please email me at theberrypickers@gmail.com. I will be in Venice this summer!

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  15. Fantastic post! I haven't seen the film yet but I want to. Whatever her politics she is so important in our history.

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  16. Dear Deb,
    Yes, there is something going on here. Must check! Yes we must catch up this summer, am emailing you now. xcat

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  17. Thanks Bobbi. I'd also love to see the film, Streep is brilliant. I wonder if she borrowed some quirks from my neighbour.

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  18. Lovely post! I can see your neighbour clearly, wonder if she'd like to be compared to Maggie T, even if in looks only. I'm going to see the film next week with some trepidation. Meryl Streep sounds excellent, her voice so close to my memory of it and people rave about the film. I didn't really like Mrs T running the 80s though so I wonder if the film might make me a bit cross. But as Bobbi says, whatever her politics, she was there!

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  19. Hi Jaxbee, thanks for commenting. I'm sure the film will be powerful with such a strong actress and such strong subject matter. Let me know what you think - I'll be waiting to see it in English rather than dubbed in Italian! Everything is dubbed here and it drives me nuts.

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  20. What a wild post -- thank you.

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  21. I notice you've updated your blog wrapper. Roll on 16th April! Maybe Mrs T will buy a copy!

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  22. Yes Downith! Will soon be receiving my copies, can't wait. I'd love to see Meryl Streep bringing my wild character to life - she would do an excellent job!

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