User talk:Ian Spackman

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[edit] sei vivo?

Icsunonove 01:03, 25 March 2007 (UTC)

Forse si, forse no! I’ve just this moment got back from seeing a friend in Milan. We spent the weekend in the Alps and my aging legs are still recovering from the final, murderous descent: 1700 meters (height difference I mean) which to an unfit Englishman is absurd. The only way to do it here would be to go up to Scotland (I have some alleged Scottish ancestry, hence the name), climb Ben Nevis and then walk down to the shores of the Dead Sea. But this descent was a lot steeper, and a lot of it on a stepped muletrack: agony on the knees! But thoroughly worthwhile. At the very top of our walk—a bit over 2100 meters in nearly virgin snow—can you be almost a virgin?!—we saw a gipeto gliding at eyelevel, 40 meters away. Very intimate kind of encounter. I’ll have to check the English and Latin names, but it’s a rather large vulture with a beard and curved beak. Very striking. I believe it’s relatively rare in the Alps and rather prized. But it was one of those sites which is just instantly amazing, even to a non-ornothologist like me.

OK—scrivo; vivo. Great to see you back!

A presto! —Ian Spackman 23:20, 29 March 2007 (UTC)