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Back in the family fold

2nd December 2009 by Helena 7 Comments  

We are in Rome, which I have decided is my favourite city. “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Rupert told the children as we landed. “It took two days.”

“That long?” said Leo. He’s obviously got too used to Abu Dhabi.

The day before yesterday the unimaginable happened. My aunt, who has not spoken to me since Ciao Bella came out, asked to meet us at Piazza di Spagna at midday. When I spoke to her it was like nothing had happened. Like she had never been upset by the memoir and we had been in constant touch over the past four years and not totally silent with any necessary messages passing through my long-suffering mother.

I slept badly the night before we met. I was nervous. I planned all our outfits (well maybe not Rupert’s). The morning of the meeting we spent in Trastevere discovering some hidden museums with real gems like frescoes by Raphael. Then we went to the botanical gardens. As we were leaving Leo spotted a fountain. “Take a picture of me,” he demanded. I did as he asked and watched in horror as he fell in.

romeleobotgard
So now we had half an hour to get him a new outfit (including new shoes) and get to Piazza di Spanga for the important reunion.
We raced to find a taxi and asked to be dropped off on Via del Corso where there is a Zara. Fifty euros later we were rushing towards the piazza when I suddenly remembered I was wearing trainers.

My aunt would probably not speak to me for another four years if she saw me wearing trainers away from a tennis court. Happily Rome is stuffed full of shoe shops. It took me about three minutes from spotting a fetching pair of suede boots in a window to running onwards to our meeting wearing them.

I got to Piazza di Spagna at 12.10, 10 minutes late. You can always rely on my aunt to be even later, so thankfully she was none the wiser.

I am happy to report that it all went even better than I expected. Maybe there is a lecture she is storing up for me but so far all I have had is praise for the wonderful children and affection. My uncle Bertrand is as lovely as he always was and the children are mad about them both. We had the most glorious time going to an exhibition of Roman paintings and today she took the children to the Roman Forum.

It is lovely to be back and I think I finally know where we will move to once our Arabian adventure is over. But I will keep Leo away from the fountains.

Leo and Bea today on the Spanish Steps waiting for Piera

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Children, Family, Italy, blog --> Tagged With: family

7 thoughts on Back in the family fold

  • Sharyn says:
    3rd December 2009 at 3:42 am

    Helena,

    My family also has its share of crazies who refuse to talk to you for any number of reasons (known or unknown) and then one day call you as though nothing happened. It’s very disconcerting! One was my Nanny who raised me until I was four years old. She was very high maintenance and once refused to talk to anyone on my Dad’s side for four years. We still don’t know why. When she was talking to us she was not talking to my Uncle Jack’s side. She died last year at the ripe old age of 101. At the time she was talking to me. The other was my Mother-in-law who solved the problem by dropping over at the nursing home about five years ago. She was not talking to me at the time. The there was my Aunt Jane …. well you get the drift. Go figure!

  • Antonia says:
    4th December 2009 at 11:35 am

    Helena, I dont believe you wore trainers in Rome!

  • Cate Jumeirah says:
    5th December 2009 at 5:19 am

    In defence of Helena’s trainers, visitors to Rome (or any Italian city) invariably do a heck of a lot of walking, often on cobble stones, frequently uphill so trainers make a lot of sense so far as comfort is concerned. If you check out any of the travel Forums (such as Trip Advisor) you’ll discover that the subject of tourists wearing trainers in Italy is one of the most contentious topics and divides readers like no other.
    As a sometimes resident of an Italian hilltown and being a tad on the short side, I only wish I could get away with wearing them whilst not looking too much like Minnie Mouse!

  • jose says:
    5th December 2009 at 11:57 am

    What a laugh! You must have been exhausted after that. And what a fabulous excuse to buy some boots! Pity you didn’t post a picture after Leo’s untimely dip. Bless. Altogether an Italian
    adventure.

  • Rosemary says:
    7th December 2009 at 11:09 am

    Hi H,
    How happy I was to read the Rome saga ! Great news about your Aunt – families eh there is always something isn’t there ! So happy for you though..
    Did you hear my sharp intake of breath as I read about the up close and personal fountain experience of Leo’s ? Isn’t that just typical. Still you couldn’t have been in a better area to recloth him, I stayed on the Via del Corso when I visited – Ideal for wet boys !! Pity no photo – but of course no time and just horror at what he had done – bet that was cold!
    Trainers H !!!! You have lived in France long enough to know about that !! Of course they wouldn’t be smart enough for Italy. Have to say the ones I bought in Venice are stunning and I wear them a great deal……there are always some that can be the exception to the rule…..and as for “having” to buy a new pair of shoes/boots !!1 SSSSSSOOOOOOO tiresome for you – but wonderful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Looking forward to hearing more about the trip…… How are you adjusting to the weather ?
    Love LA XX

  • Rosemary says:
    7th December 2009 at 11:51 am

    Oh I forgot on the previos posting ! A gt restaurant in Trastevere is Romolo nel Giardino della Fornarina, Via di Porta Settimiana 8, 00153. 39 – 06 – 581 – 8284
    It has a Raphael motif in the Restaurant with a lovely courtyard garden. If you like Raphael its worth a visit.

    This restaurant, which features a lovely courtyard setting, is housed in a 16th century building and is named after a love-affair that took place there. It is said that the artist Raphael met Margherita Luti here, a woman who became his model and with whom he fell in love. Margherita was nicknamed “la Fornarina,” being the daughter of a baker. The cooking is typically Roman with lots of fried food, pastas, vegetables, cheeses and herbs. The wines are, of course, mostly Roman. Eating under the trees in this romantic setting is a delight

    Love LA X

  • mimi says:
    11th December 2009 at 11:51 pm

    Hi Helena, I’m only catching up on you now!
    Delighted about your reunion with your aunt.
    And I’m well familiar with that “fouund myself wearing trainers” excuse to buy new shoes!

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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