Living on Lido
When people say Why live on Lido when you can live in Venice, does not your heart ache when you look across the lagoon, I have to say No! It is imperative that I live on Lido. How else could I go to Venice? If I lived in Venice I could not go to Venice. I would already be there and it would be hard for me to get a good look at it let alone arrive. Living on Lido allows me to approach Venice every day and also to take my leave. And again how could I arrive in Venice every day if I did not take my leave? Taking my leave is such exquisite pain, alleviated only by the short distance and short time-frame before I arrive again. And truthfully, the goodbye is long-drawn. Almost to the point of arriving at my front door I can keep Venice in view. I could live in Rome, you know, and arrive by train in Venice every day and be shocked on coming out of the station to find that there is water where there should be streets. To have my entire concept of what a city is upended every day. But somehow there is contrivance in that. How can I truly recreate that first unforgettable shock? The element of surprise is an indispensable component. It has a kind of sincerity. The vaporetto provides that. It is never totally suave. Coming to Venice from Lido every day preserves sincerity. What is it but a totally normal thing? Living on Lido. Coming to Venice. It is both surreal and mundane. An irresistible cocktail that I will sip daily for the rest of my life.
