terence dillon - aurora me and sardinia

8/20/2019 Terence Dillon - Aurora Me and Sardinia

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About the Author

Terry Dillon has led a successful life in education as a

headmaster, one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools,and as an international educational consultant, advising

national governments in omania, Montenegro, the

!aribbean and South Africa" He #as born in a mining

village in the $est iding of %or&shire, #here he started to

play the cornet" His military service #as spent as a

musician #ith the 'and of Her Majesty’s $elsh (uards"

He began his teaching career in S&ipton and no# lives in

the !ots#olds, #here he is a member of !reative !ampdenand a governor of the local primary school, St !atharine’s"

His other boo&s include )*ight Me a !andle,’ )The +ing’s

'eacon,’ )uarry *ane,’ )A *ong $ay Home,’ and

)-ustice’"


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To my #ife, Aurora


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erence Dillon

AURORA, ME AND

SARDINIA


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!opyright © Terence Dillon ./0123

The right of Terence Dillon to be identified as author of this

#or& has been asserted by him in accordance #ith section 44

and 45 of the !opyright, Designs and 6atents Act 1755"

All rights reserved" 8o part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording, or other#ise, #ithout the prior permission of the

publishers"

Any person #ho commits any unauthori9ed act in relation to

this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil

claims for damages"

A !I6 catalogue record for this title is available from the

'ritish *ibrary"

IS'8 74514522:2/;7 .6aperbac&3

IS'8 74514522:2/4; .Hardbac&3

###"austinmacauley"com


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Ac&no#ledgments

My than&s go to my #ife Aurora for all the help she gave mein #riting this boo& and to the people of Sardinia, #hose

friendship made this boo& possible"


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Chapter 1

Sardinia, sitting as it does in the Mediterranean Sea, is a beautiful island" 'lessed #ith long sandy beaches, the #arm

#aters #hich surround it, a central core of mountains and

building restrictions #hich have succeeded in resisting the

introduction of beach?side multi?storey hotels, Sardinia retains

the charm of centuries" Aurora and I sa# it as providing the

ideal location in #hich to set up a second home" $e have

lived partly in >ngland and partly in Sardinia ever since"$hen #e bought the house in /002 I could not spea& Italian

and almost ten years later, to my shame, I still cannot spea&

Italian" Despite doing e@ercises regularly from a course

promising fluency in Italian in three months, a series of video

tapes on #hich the only spo&en language is Italian, attendance

for a fe# months at an evening class in >ngland, and regularly

#atching television programmes in Italian #hen in Sardinia, I

remain confused and mostly speechless #hen among a groupof Sardinians" I &no# ho# to say )'uongiorno’ .though, as I

#rite, it has ta&en me three goes to spell it and confirmation

from my #ife Aurora, a fluent Italian spea&er, before I spelled

it correctly3, say )Arriverderci’, as& for a coffee .un caf, per

favour, oops should be )favore’3, a beer .una birra3, directions

to the supermar&et, ho# to find a castle and )Dov’e la fermata

per l’autobusB’ .I’ll leave the reader to translate the phrase3">verything seems stac&ed against me" The Sardinians I

meet spea& at a great rate, one #ord seeming to slide into

another, leaving me confused as to #hen one #ord started and

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the other finished, .this is particularly true, I find, #hen they

sing hymns or say prayers in church" I have an aid to the Mass

in Italian, but I’m usually about half#ay through the !redo

#hen they are finished, as I try to pronounce the #ords as

#ritten #ith a beginning and ending3 or they spea& in a dialect

not taught through the traditional courses, so as I try to

understand the meaning of one #ord, several others re=uiring

translation have flooded into my mind, untranslated, and the

#hole conversation, therefore, becomes, for me, totally

impenetrable"


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need" Indeed, my confusion #ith Italian is best e@plained

#hen, having rehearsed mentally the =uestion I #anted to as&

several times as I crossed the road, I approached a lady

carrying a #ell?filled shopping bag and stuttered, )Scusa,

dov’e il supermercato, s’il vous plaitB’ She #as not the only

one #ho burst out laughing as I stood bemused, not realising

#hat I had said" It too& me until I had gone bac& across the

street to re?join Aurora to realise I had merged Italian and


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ho# the eyes of those #ith #hom #e #ere dealing #ould fi@

themselves in the first place on my eyes, #rongly assuming I

#as understanding and #ould be the one in charge, the

decision?ma&er, the one #ho needed to &no# all the facts,

then on Aurora’s, then bac& to mine, before realising that the

blan&ness #hich had by that time s#ept a#ay my earlier

&no#ledgeable e@pression indicated all #as lost on me and it

#as safer to return more permanently to Aurora" Their

discovery is usually confirmed #hen I =uietly as& Aurora in

>nglish #hat is happening, or she turns to me and tries to &eep

me abreast of the conversation" That’s ho# it is" Fne minute

loo&ing in charge, the ne@t loo&ing li&e a speechless #imp" 8eedless to say, Aurora’s e@perience as a teacher of

Italian in omania and more recently in >ngland, #here she

taught in a high class private school, evening classes, as #ell

as mar&ing Italian advanced 'accalaureate e@aminations,

served us #ell" She understood #hat #e had to do, but I don’t

thin& even she &ne# ho# circuitous our journey to house

o#nership #as going to be" At a pace designed, it seemed, for tortoises #ho didn’t &no# #here their ne@t step #as li&ely to

ta&e them, #e follo#ed instructions and started on #hat

reminded me of my attempts to find my #ay out of the

Hampton !ourt ma9e many years previously" Having got lost

some#here in the ma9e I had to rely on the help of a &eeper to

get me bac& to safety" In Sardinia I relied on Aurora, #ho has

almost become my personal &eeper, to help me through #hat

became a Sardinian ma9e" 'efore #e could even consider #ithany seriousness the purchase of a house, #e discovered, .#ell,

Aurora did3, #e needed to report to the police so that #e could

officially establish our identity, ac=uire the appropriate papers

confirming us as residents and giving us the e=uivalence of a

'ritish national insurance number" All this had to be done

before #e could enter the housing mar&et" !an you imagine

ho# I #ould have fared #ithout AuroraB The Italian I &ne##ould have allo#ed me to as& for )un tabachi’, )la poli9ia’, )la

banca’, and #hen meeting up #ith an official, not much more

than, )'uongiorno" !ome staB Sono Inglese" 6arlo solo un po

Italiano"’ And there the conversation #ould probably have

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ended, because it #ould be unli&ely I #ould understand his

response, and #hat I’ve learned about the Sardinians #hom I

have met is they don’t al#ays do much to help you understand

nor do they spea& much >nglish"

'ut I had Aurora and so #e #ere able, li&e the amateurs

#e #ere, to follo# through the process &no#ing #e could

al#ays as& again for advice if #e needed it" $e #ere staying

in an agriturissmo, in >ngland #e #ould call it a bed and

brea&fast, though #ith the Italian approach to brea&fast it #as

more bed than brea&fast, just outside Sassari, #hich #as a

good base to do #hat #e had to do" Fur first destination #as

to a special type of police station, a uestura, identified as)Ministero Dell’Interno’, to obtain a foreigner’s permit of

stay" After navigating the long =ueue, a regular ha9ard in

Sardinia, #e eventually reached the officer" $e handed over

the form #ith the range of =uestions ans#ered as accurately as

#e could, and then #atched as the ans#ers #ere entered onto

the computer #ith one?fingered care" Duly recorded, the form,

complete #ith photographs, #as ready for filing" $e hadvisited a photographer’s that morning to have our photographs

ta&en" I hesitate to say ho# long it too& the photographer to

get a smile on my face" He #as as stubborn as I #as as I &ept

reminding him, through Aurora, that on a 'ritish passport

photo I needed to loo& as miserable as possible" He didn’t see

this as an issue as he #as determined to ta&e a photograph

#hich pleased him rather than an anonymous official and did

all he could, #aving his hands, smiling, #in&ing, anything toget a crease in my face" !redit to him, he eventually

succeeded and too& a photograph #hich sho#ed me enjoying

the e@perience and #hich, to my surprise, #as accepted by the

police and the )Ministero Dell’Interno’" ntrate’,

#hich I rightly too& to mean the agency for ne# entrants intoSardinia" Having travelled across the regional city of Sassari,

#hich is an old #alled city located in the 8orth $est of

Sardinia, #e arrived to find the large room of the )Agen9ia’

cro#ded" The jabbering of different languages and mi@ture of

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colours as people from different nations sought permission to

stay in Sardinia #as fascinating" It #as my first real sense of

the range of nationalities #hich can be found in #hat is, in

reality, an off?shore island" Fn an earlier visit to the island,

one #hich gave us the opportunity to behave as tourists, #e

had been struc& by the number of Africans, #ith Italian no

better than mine, displaying a #hole range of #ares as they

moved along the Stintino and 6latamona beaches and through

the to#ns of Sassari and 6orto Torres in search of a sale" It

#as obvious that the room in #hich #e #ere standing

provided them #ith the possibility of access and some

permanence on the island, along #ith the !hinese, Indians and>astern >uropeans, #ho #ere also patiently =ueuing for all?

important signatures" $hat I found surprising #as the story

being depicted through the Italian ne#s agencies that many

from 8orth Africa #ere crossing by boat to Southern Italy and

using the country as a jumping off point in their search for

access into other countries in $estern >urope" There is no

doubt mainland Italy offers such an opportunity but it #as

difficult to see ho# easy it #as going to be for those #ho had

reached the island of Sardinia to jump off for any#here" Had

they been misled by some money?grabbing 8orth?African,

had the Italian government simply dumped them on the island,

or had it been their intention to find a ne# life in SardiniaB

$ho &no#sB

I sighed as I loo&ed around, muttering to Aurora, )$e could

be here for hours"’

)-ust #ait and see,’ she ans#ered" )%ou never &no#"’

And she #as right"


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#here the process of becoming a resident #as finally

completed" It had ta&en a #hole day to go through the

different procedures, but I suspect it #ould have ta&en longer

#ithout Aurora’s s&ill in Italian"

Fn the follo#ing day, #ith all the papers intact and

signed, it #as a journey across to#n again to do the obvious

open a ban& account" $e &ne# #e needed a ban& account if

#e #ere to carry out any financial transactions and so #e

#ent along to the 'an& of Sardinia to open an account" $e

came across a situation #hich #e #ere to gro# used to #e

found a =ueue in #hich #e sa# lots of despondent faces,

patient and bored, a#aiting their call" $e follo#ed the practice of ta&ing a tic&et from the dispenser #hich gave us

our number in the =ueue and sat in one of the ro#s, our faces

no doubt soon reflecting those around us" The movement of

people #as slo#, a characteristic of ban&s and post offices in

Sardinia #hich #e have no# come to accept as being the

norm" It seemed as though the ban& tellers &ne# everybody

and #ere more interested in hearing as much as they couldabout them and their families as they #ere in attending to their

business" They could have been at the corner shop,

e@changing their ne#s li&e sparro#s in a tree rather than

attending to the serious matter of ban&ing" The tic&et #e had

collected from the dispensing machine at the entrance to the

ban& had given us a number of 1:/, #hich didn’t mean much

to us until #e sa# number ;1 flash up on the board #hich

signified #hich customer #as ne@t" And so #e had to #ait,our mood varying from patience, through impatience all the

#ay to damned annoyance" 'ut it #as no use getting annoyed

because in these early days #e #ere simply learning

something about the pace of life in Sardinia, a pace #e have

no#, after ten years or so, gro#n used to" Time does not seem

to matter, #hether you’re standing in a post office, a =ueue at

the supermar&et or simply #anting to pay the #ater bill" $hatma&es things #orse and slo#s do#n movement even more is

the infatuation #ith the desire to find the e@act amount of

money #hen paying for anything, especially in supermar&ets"

It’s not enough to put do#n a ten >uro note for something

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#hich is costing seven >uro and forty three cents the shop

assistant #ill #ait for the customer to produce as close to the

actual price as she can, #hich means going through all the

change in the customer’s purse and counting it out cent by

cent" Then the situation is reversed as the assistant counts out

any small change and places it on the counter rather than in

the customer’s hand, slo#ing the process do#n even further as

the customer needs to pic& up the change coin by coin" I

suspect #e have all stood in an >nglish supermar&et =ueue

behind some elderly person and had our patience stretched"

$ell, add to that the same person trying to find the four >uros

and fifty four cents she re=uires in the tiniest of purses, her hands sha&ing li&e leaves in a bree9e, and not leaving her

position at the end of the counter until she has pic&ed up the

change, put it in her purse, 9ipped it tight shut, and then put

the purse bac& into her handbag #hich is hanging from her

shoulder" Add to that the time the customer is going to ta&e to

put #hat she has bought in her bag and you get the message"

In Sardinia it seems everything concerned #ithofficialdom is done manually and by =ueuing" Gnli&e in the

G+, nothing #or&s through Internet" In those early days, #e

learned about the need to pay bills over the counter, go to the

appropriate office for insurance and pay at the tabachi for a

ta@ disc for the car" The reason, #e have deduced, for such a

laborious system is the lac& of confidence the Sardinians have

in the Internet and the general fear that their private details

#ould be available to hac&ers"

>ventually, the number 1:/ lit up over a rather pretty, fair

haired, youngish lady teller" Although she didn’t &no# us, she

began by sho#ing an interest in #hom #e #ere and even

greater interest #hen she learned #e #ere from >ngland" As

she #ent through the process of creating an account for us the

=uestions and ans#ers flo#ed bet#een her and Aurora" I

guessed she #as as&ing about #here #e lived and #hat #ehoped for in Sardinia, and then, to my surprise, she loo&ed at

me and in bro&en >nglish as&ed )$hyB $hy are you #anting

to live in SardiniaB’ The #ay she loo&ed at me, her eyes #ide

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and see&ing an ans#er, indicated an element of surprise in an

>nglishman #anting to live in Sardinia" I could only ans#er

#ith a =uestion, )Ho# many >nglish have been here to open

an accountB’

)$ell, none,’ she replied, a confused loo& on her face"

I couldn’t resist" )That’s the ans#er, then" I left around si@ty

million bac& in >ngland"’ I didn’t need to say anymore, as she

too& on board the humour and #e all had a =uiet chuc&le"

$hat the customer #ith number 1:E #as thin&ing as he sat

#aiting his turn and #atching us chatter I am never li&ely to

&no#, but I am #ell a#are of ho# I’d felt #hen #e had beenin the same position, a#aiting the disappearance of number

1:1" 8ot surprisingly, #e e@changed, or should I say Aurora

did, stories #ith the same teller on subse=uent visits to the

ban& and very occasionally she #ould bring us for#ard in the

=ueue as though there #as something important she had to

attend to, just to have the chance to tal& to us" She #anted to

&no# #here #e lived, #hat sort of house #e had and ho#

often #e came to Sardinia" Aurora ans#ered these =uestions, Iassume, my Italian limiting me to understanding the

occasional #ord such as F@ford, machina, casa, villagio" The

teller’s response to an invitation to visit us in >ngland led to

the ans#er and the pretence to shiver, )


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left to Aurora" I didn’t understand the estate agent and the

ne#spaper presented me #ith #ords #hich made me feel li&e

a child of four"

The language continues to leave me at a loss" I &eep tryingto learn it, but still #ith little success" Aurora, the former

teacher, insists on my learning the grammar, and I see the

point" 'ut to my small aging mind, #hat I ta&e to be Italian

grammar al#ays seems to be changing" I suspect it is not as

difficult as the grammar you need to learn >nglish, but for me

it is a problem I have yet to overcome" So, in my confusion, I

use )di’ instead of )del’, )a’ instead of )in’ and never &no#

#hether to use )il’ or )la’ #ith )chiave’ because it doesn’t end#ith either the feminine )a’, as for instance )tavola’, or the

masculine )o’, as for e@ample )giorno’, and is the #ord for

only one &ey rather than the several suggested by the ending

)e’, as in )machine’, the plural of machina, the #ord for cars"

My confusion reminds me of an occasion #hen I #as

lecturing in South Africa and during a brea& in the

proceedings one of the participants too& to the stage and usingmy overhead projector proceeded to ma&e fun of the >nglish

language" He simply tested out his colleagues #ith #ords li&e

)bo#’ and )bough’, )flo#er’ and )flour’, leaving us all in

stitches by the time he had finished" 8o #onder our children

are among the slo#est in the #orld #hen it comes to learning

to read" 'ac& to my Italian, totally confused, I use )il’ or )la’

or simply omit them #illy?nilly and to the amusement of the

Sardinians" 'ut I have to stic& at it, even ten years on, because#ithout the language I am speechless of course, there are

those among my friends #ho #ould say that is a good thing"

There is no dodging the truth" I have to learn ho# to spea&

Italian" To be able to converse #ith government officials,

builders, bus drivers, shop assistants, #aiters, police,

parishioners #aiting to go into church, it is important to have

at least a smattering of the language" These are all people,#hether #e e@pected it or not, #e have had to deal #ith at one

time or other and be in a position on occasions to e@plain both

simple and comple@ issues" The truth is, no matter ho# I’ve

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tried to prepare, if Aurora is not by my side I’ve invariably

been at a loss #hen coming face to face #ith people #ho

ripple off their tongues a language I do not understand"

Although, #ait a minute" 'eing a non?Italian spea&er hasoccasionally #or&ed to my advantage" Ta&e the occasion

#hen the police stopped me #hen driving the car through the

outs&irts of Sassari, .and non?Italian spea&ers need to ta&e

care #ith the pronunciation of Sassari" 8ote the double )S’" It

has implications for ho# it is pronounced, as do all double

letters if you’re not going to offend your Sardinian friends"""""

I remember my sister being insistent on emphasising the

middle )sa’ instead of the first )Sa’ and so putting theemphasis on the end of the #ord, pronouncing Sassari as

Sassari giving the city a completely different sounding name3"

$e had absolutely no idea #hy #e #ere being stopped, but I

responded to the small red circled indicator #hich the

)carabiniere’ held out as I thought I should" I dre# up beside

him and lo#ered the #indo#, unfortunately on the opposite

side to the one the officer e@pected"His first action #as to ta&e out his noteboo& and prepare

to #rite as he stood by the #indo# on the left of the car" To

ma&e things easier for him, I lo#ered that #indo# also"

Trying to loo& in charge of the situation he said something

#hich, from the inflection, I too& to be a =uestion" I learned

later he #as about to charge Aurora for using the telephone

#hilst driving, #hich I too& to be unusual as the practice

seems a very common one among Sardinian drivers, even

though it is illegal" I only &ne# #hat he #as concerned about

because she told me after#ards, although I thought I had

heard the policeman say )telefono’, or something li&e that, and

I &ne# Aurora had been tal&ing to her daughter of course,

&no#ing me, I could have imagined the #ord )telefono’" I

suspect it #as the e@pression on her face and the #ay she

loo&ed at me #hich led to his ta&ing off his cap and scratchinghis head" He had suddenly realised #e #ere in a right?hand?

drive" Seemingly undaunted, and no doubt thin&ing #hat he

could no# say to justify his stopping us, he came round to my

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side" 6anic" $e had just left a party #here #e had enjoyed the

best !annonau di Sardegna .note I used )di’ and not )del’

hope I got it right3 and a Sardinian lunch #ith si@ starters,

follo#ed by pasta #ith lobster and a main course of stea& #ith

fennel" The thing about eating in Sardinia is to be prepared to

eat a lot" The starters &eep on coming and #hen you are full

and thin& you’ve finished they bring the main course" 'ut

that’s Sardinia"

The policeman said, #ith a stern voice, something #hich

included the #ords )documenti signore’, #hich I guessed to

mean driving licence" +eeping my mouth shut and loo&ing

straight ahead rather than at the officer in the hope that he#ould not get a chance to smell my breath, I felt for my

#allet" As soon as I opened it I &ne# I #as in more trouble" I

had had to submit my driving license to the licensing authority

in >ngland as it #as due for rene#al" I had used the internet to

submit my details but they #anted the licence, presumably to

ta&e off my photograph and attach it to the ne# one" All this

had been done a fe# days before #e left home for this house?hunting trip" Aurora, follo#ing my instructions not to spea&

Italian if challenged by the police so as to continue the prete@t

that #e #ere simply >nglish tourists in Sardinia for no more

than a fe# days, stayed shtum" uic& thin&ing led me to

handing him an old identification card related to my #or& as a

schools’ inspector #hich I carried in my #allet at all times,

mumbling the #ords )sono Inglese’" The card bore a photo,

not too outdated, and a good deal of small print describing the job and giving me permission to enter a school" He loo&ed

mystified, turned it over a couple of times and then #ent to

consult #ith his partner, #ho #as obviously no #iser as to

#hat had been handed over" >ventually, overcome by his

difficulty in understanding the language on the card, #hich,

for once, I understood better than a Sardinian, common sense

prevailed the officer handed bac& the card, said )gra9ie’, a#ord I understood, and signalled us to drive off" elief all

round, and the recognition that, occasionally, being unable to

spea& the language can #or& in one’s favour"

terence dillon - aurora me and sardinia

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