Personal meme swunked from ilzhilzha

[fpb]

The problem with LJ: We all think we are so close, but really we know nothing about one another. So I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about. Ask away.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Comments

[deansteinlage.livejournal.com]

Any pets?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

No. I grew up in a succession of flats, and my parents did not think that our conditions, and our frequent house moves, would have made keeping pets possible. There is also a kind of family tradition - neither of my grandparents' families kept pets (even though my mother's were landowners). And my mother was terrified by a dog when she was six and has never quite got over it. Finally, there is my in-born resistance to taking any responsibility I don't have to.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

I know you've visited the US, but have you ever lived here (US) for any length of time?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

No, only that three-week visit. But because of my lifelong interest in American comics, I know more American popular culture and have more American friends than most. I don't know many other Italians who would know what Oreos and pbj's are!

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Heh, the first time I went to Europe, back in the 70's, everyone in our tour group was having peanut butter deprivation by the end of the trip!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't now - peanut butter is everywhere, even in Italy, and so are cereals. I remember the first time I ever tried those - I was 14 or so, so it must have been about 1976.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Nutella's the same way over here--I got hooked on it back in Europe and brought a couple jars home with me but now I can get it at the local Meijer's.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

Have you studied (formally or informally) any musical instruments?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

When I was 15. I started the piano on my own decision, but shortly afterwards I had to leave that school for financial reasons, so that never went anywhere. Sooner or later I am going to start again - it was one of the greate disappointments of my life.

[sanscouronne.livejournal.com]

Do you have any sisters and/or brothers? Where do they live? Besides the UK and Italy, have you lived in any other countries?

[fpb.livejournal.com]

My sister is one year and a few months younger than me. She is married to a British (North Irish) theatre designer, and teaches stage design in a London college. We live in the same part of London, and she has an absolutely wonderful little boy of seven, Gianluca, who is the darling of the whole family.

My brother is five years younger than me. After a swimming accident, he is paralyzed from his shoulders down, with only partial use of his arms. He is a man of remarkable charm and diplomacy - most unlike me and my sister - and has become the leader of the Italian disabled movement. (Google "Pietro Vittorio Barbieri".) He is married to a very nice, but inwardly steely high school classics teacher. So far, they haven't managed to have any children, but I am not sure they are going to give up.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I have never actually lived in any other country than Britain and Italy, but I do have a certain familiarity with Germany, specifically the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg or Swabia. When my brother first suffered his accident, he was taken to the university clinic of the famous University of Heidelberg, and spent a considerable amount of time being treated there. As a result, our family forged a certain amount of links with local people; my brother, typically, even had an affair with one of the nurses! I also have a certain familiarity with Switzerland, just because it is so close to Milan where I grew up.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention that I have a half-sister. I rarely think of her, because I have only ever seen her twice in my life. She is the daughter of a Czech dancer who fled to Italy during the cold war, and at least ten years younger than me. My father tried to make me believe that he had only legally recognized her so that her mother could stay in Italy, but, please - the first time we met, there was her mother, handsome, red-haired, brown-eyed and with sharp angular features; and there was this girl with my father's dark hair, blue eyes and rounded features. Who do you take me for, Daddy?

More prying ;)

[sanscouronne.livejournal.com]

What was your childhood like? Did you grow up in a city or a rural area? What were you like in school? Did you get along with your family?

Re: More prying ;)

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I missed that. I moved around a lot, because my father changed jobs every few years. As a result, I did not have many permanent friends. In school I tended to be pretty good but undisciplined, and teachers either loved or hated me - a pattern that has lasted. As for my family - my parents are separated, and I would rather not say more.