So we’re done with 2008.  As expected, this has been a tough year that brought us a worldwide economic downturn and many people who lost their job will remember it as one of the worst in their life.  On the other hand we also had good news and lately I can feel a general sense of hope springing, at least in this part of the world.  Who knows, are we in the middle of the avalanche effect and the real crisis has yet to come or have we reached the bottom already?  We’ll see.  Meanwhile I wish a wonderful 2009 everybody!

The title is a tentative translation from an Italian song by Elio e le storie tese, one of my favorite when I was a teen-ager. We’re two days from Christmas and I should be busy wishing happiness and merriness to all of my friends, but this year there’s a different feeling. It’s that kind of tension and uncertainty you get when you go to the beach and there are heavy clouds, announcing some possible storm. You get busy thinking to B plans and even if the clouds end up disappearing your leisure time has been ruined. It’s not me. Lately several prominent newspapers wrote about the unhappy Italian mood and I’m surprised by how precisely they painted it. Apparently, even friends that moved abroad feel the same.