On Restraint

I wrote about the inimitable progress I have been making in my writing and reading while at Italy. But I did not write about the considerable restraint I have been exercising here. For the food is really quite delectable, and the wine is as well, and I find this is an ideal place for my writing holiday, largely because of my incredible powers of self-control.

You see me at sunset last night taking a walk beside the Arno after a day in which I wrote a 1200 word article, ran at near record speed through the hills around Florence, read more of Frank’s superb Dostoevsky, and had a light meal at an enoteca just round the corner from my apartment. What discipline! What restraint!

I have a strict policy concerning gelato, subject to slight modifications at my caprice, of course, but generally restricting myself to one cone per day. And the same goes for digestif. But one thing I cannot resist is my incessant interest in the grasses I find in the sidewalks and byways as I make my afternoon runs.