http://www.isnare.com/?s=author&a=Damaris+West Travel Damaris West Sat, 22 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=45388&ca=Travel When we arrived in Umbria to live, we groped our way right down from Turin through a dense yellow fog and from that day on were forced to revise our expectations about the weather. This area of Italy, possessing no coastline at all, has a continental climate of extremes. Winter is winter. Summer is... Short Stories Damaris West Sat, 11 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=39252&ca=Short+Stories Gemma slipped slim fingers into black leather gloves, passed a pin through her designer hat into her hair and gathered the skirts of her expensive camel coat around her. It was always as well to be prepared for getting off the bus at this time of night: that way, if anyone was planning to follow her... Education Damaris West Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=37409&ca=Education In our many years as an agency, we have met very few tutors who weren't what they purported to be. The probablility of this happening to you is very small but it is not zero. Of those few we know, multiple names, multiple social security numbers, and phoney referees and qualifications are not unhear... Education Damaris West Sat, 04 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=37410&ca=Education Many people sadly don't bother with this side of the tuition. Unfortunately, in doing so, they are leaving themselves open to potential problems both with the tutor over what is and isn't included and with organisations like the Inland Revenue. Whether the tuition is for an hour a week or 6 hours a... Short Stories Damaris West Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=36619&ca=Short+Stories Yesterday I went into the village Pharmacy to enquire if our doctor had delivered a prescription. He hadn’t, but for the mere showing of the ‘tessera’ or medical card, and without any prescription charge because there isn’t one, I was allowed to take the tablets away. On my say-so. Just like that. W... Short Stories Damaris West Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=37403&ca=Short+Stories It probably seems strange, even sad, that the high point of my day is the journey to work. What’s more we’re only talking about ten minutes because, although it’s a half-hour’s drive from our village of Gualdo Cattaneo to the city of Foligno where we rent an office, the best part, the secret, unsign... Culture Damaris West Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=37406&ca=Culture They flip open and light up jewel blue. They close with a snap and stow away in the smallest of pockets. They play Handel’s ‘Water Music’ as loud as an orchestra from the depths of a coat. They cause frenzied fumblings and arrested conversations. They are the commonest diversion on trains and park b... Travel Damaris West Thu, 02 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=37407&ca=Travel There is one thing in particular which Italy does extremely well. Not pizza, not tiramisu even, but the small shop. Our village is a medieval hill-top village surrounded by vineyards and olive groves, and yet it has two banks. (I'm using the word 'shop' here in the widest sense.) The bank which I us... Gardening Damaris West Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=36614&ca=Gardening We have about fifty and a half olive trees in the grove below our house. I’m not sure about the fifty – it could be anywhere between forty and sixty – but I am absolutely sure about the half. You see, there is an olive tree that was unwittingly planted bang on the border between our olive grove and... Travel Damaris West Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.isnare.com/?aid=36612&ca=Travel In my purse bulging with tiresome copper or gold-coloured cent coins, I carry one attractive coin which has no value at all. It is a 500 lire piece consisting of a bright silver ring round a gold centre. I was given it outside a supermarket by a kind passer-by who asked for nothing in return when I...