In recent times, we have been noticing a growing trend... waiters are not rushing us through to a seat in the dress-circle... restaurant patrons are not standing in their seats as we pass to inquire as to our health... we are not having our photos shown on the picture board of restaurants and coffee houses... in social exchanges, people are not laughing loud enough at our humour. In short, we are not being noticed. Something had to be done... we upped the anti... we went to Capri... with the sole purpose of being noticed.
The experience was not a happy one. We tried all our well-practiced techniques... talking loudly... lingering at the shop window of the most expensive jeweller in town... Joye holding her ring-finger up to compare the size of her trinkets with those on display in the shop window... repeated use of 'darling' and 'my good man' when transacting with merchants... nothing seemed to work. The basic problem was that everyone else on the street was so busy trying to get noticed... they didn't have time to notice us! Even though Capri provided good touring entertainment, we left with a melancholy feeling... somehow Capri rejected our advances... it failed to notice us.
She was as sweet as a rose at the dawning
But somehow fate hadn't meant her for me
And though I sailed with the tide in the morning
Still my heart's on the Isle of Capri.
We took some heart in learning of some previous visitors who came with the intention of not being noticed. Of course, I refer to our favourite Roman emperor, Tiberius. We walked around to Villa Jovis (dedicated to the god, Jupiter) that Tiberius built so he could pursue illicit pleasures away from the prying eyes of the Roman Senate. In fact he had a villa on Capri for each of the prime Roman gods... 12 in all... probably to have a replacement venue when the neighbours complained of terrifying noises in the dead of night. He must have been pleased with the villa... for the last 10 years of his life, he ruled the Roman empire from Villa Jovis... and lived to the remarkable age of 77... twice the usual life expectancy for that time... making up for the short life expectancy of those people working closely with him. We discovered that Villa Jovis was huge... covering close to 6,000 square meters. The architecture was first class... making good use of promenades around the high cliff face.
I wonder if Tiberius indulged his darker side because, on the occasion of his first visit to Capri, he failed to be noticed... I know from personal experience... it's a soul destroying experience.
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