As much as some mass media suggest honesty and genuine manners, this world keeps getting amusing at times. The recent joke around the sign language interpreter standing right next to world leaders during Mandela’s memorial service last week is both alarming and yet (granted, this may sound…
While most of the ospedali mostly kept their way of running a secret, or at least the figlie (female orphans turned performers) were singing hidden behind metal grilles, my backstage experiences have rather been enjoyable, and logically kept private from the public eyes. The latest event on my list…
It had been talked about for the past years: some other owners and I wanted to get out of that array of green shades around our building. When putting the budget together late last year, we secured some funds for “landscaping”. Big word for our…
Working from a sport event to another is fun: no doubt about that. Then there are the “nitty gritty” and other details that one runs into, whether in the planning or operational phases, which, sometimes, get on the nerves. There is a simple reason for…
Preparing the Olympics, or any other massive event, sometimes feels like being an Olympian myself. I certainly manage to avoid injuries during its planning, yet, as I have been selected and honoured to be part of it, I cannot let down the ones who rely…
In the middle of some stressful planning, I hear turmoil, and sometimes witness relationships being fragmented after some dire personality frictions: it is like adding oil to a fire. Debates around logistics planning lose logic, and strategies face some kind of failure. Why? Mostly because…
My contract has officially started, I put brand new curtains on my windows, I know where the cutlery is when I need it, and an umbrella should be offered to any new London resident (but that is another story). With another dozen of new contractors,…
Tidying up has been part of one of my current contracts lately. Sometimes it is about processes, other times it is about language: as a team, do we actually speak and understand the same one? From any standpoint, it is a pretty essential question to…
Yes, it is that time of the year AGAIN for World Aids Day. A friend of mine works at UNAIDS and he is super busy this week (and other weeks too, mind you). Sex in the city is happening in Paris, Miss HIV is screened in New York, Cape Town celebrates…
While many were playing with fireworks in their funny costumes to celebrate Halloween last night, I was having a delicious 3-course chocolate dessert dinner at a friend’s chocolaterie. After three years in business, she is gearing up in a rather inspiring way, now training her staff…