Valentine

[fpb]

Some nice person has sent me a virtual gift of chocolates. This would be just a pleasant way to underline the day, but what the person concerned cannot possibly have known is that this is the first time anyone has sent anything to me for St.Valentine's day in all my life. So thank you very much, Anonymous, you've made my day.

Comments

Er, whoops...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

...I find that I answered this twice. I found it first on my LJ as I checked it this morning, then it turned up on my e-mail account and I did not realize I had already answered. Ah well.

Incidentally, Terni is famous not only for its patron saint, but also for the most astounding waterfall in Italy, the Marmore - three leaps for a total of 500 feet. The most astonishing thing is that this is not a natural waterfall, but an artificial work - by the Romans, of course.

Re: Er, whoops...

[redcoast.livejournal.com]

It's all right; I like getting email. :)

Why did the Romans build it?

Re: Er, whoops...

[fpb.livejournal.com]

To drain a swampy lake in the up-country area. Oddly enough, that part of Italy had a number of swampy plateaus in mountain districts. The most famous is Lake Fucino which was also drained by the Romans. Unlike the Marmore waterfalls, however, their works there did not last, and the Kingdom of Italy had to do it over again in the late nineteenth century.