For the final 10 days of work and play there was an element of  'deja vue'.( Don't you just love how the French always seem to sneak in with a killer punch.)
With the newcomers to lntermediate ll the grammer was covered for the first time, but for Mr Old Hand it was a repeat, although it wasn't a bad thing in itself, it had lost the shine of its earlier curtain call when l started at the school. Tabu came and went but there was no fizz this time...perhaps this was because Daniel (Berne Switzerland) and l were surrounded by serious female students who didn't have an anarchistic gene between them...if only girls could see that if they could be boys some of the time too, classes could be a lot more fun. About this l have done a complete 'volte face' ( l know, and  l am truely ashamed of myself ) about learning styles. When l was a medical student l would always show my displeasure when  colleagues joked during seminars or group discussions. Yes, l was a really self important git ( something that comes within the trade description for most of my medical breatheren, especially those living in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs)....but now see that fun makes learning a real joy, something that 5 year old have taught me to appreciate. Anyway with the boo part missing from the Tabu, and no more stories to make up out of  strange sounds life became just a little too tame.
The meals at number 3 started at between 7 and 7.30 pm rather than 8, but with Giuseppe gone and Daniel , Pat (Halifax Nova Scotia) and l (all in lntermediate ll and with much less ltalian to do battle with ) meal times were different. They were tame too.Without those hollow legs of Giuseppe to fill to bursting with platters of food, and  wine fountains  to fill in the spaces left, Danilo looked crestfall. His head would shake gently as he intoned to the Madonna about the eating habits of  his last student cohort of the year. Inside his cardigan you could tell that a nuclear war of terrible proportions was taking place, and that there was no room for prisoners. 'C'est la vie'.
For me too there was a feeling of loss. Il Sasso had become a home of sorts and l felt it a privilege to be a student again. As always the teaching was well planned and professionally executed to the very last minute....there were no reprieves...and l knew l would miss the discipline that was integral to being a student. Still the days were passing and home was pulling me back...weakly at first like the pull of Earth's gravity on a distant object, but now my mind too was shifting backwards and forewards....l was inbetween and keen to be back home.
For 23 days from 5th October l had been a student . Now  my student days were over and there were a lot of ideas competing for space within my 'cardigan' . In my next post before l say '' a presto" l will share them with you.