Chicken soup for the soul

It is no doubt a sign of invigorated spirits that my capacity to nominate things that I like has improved markedly over the last few years. Time was I could only cobble together compilations of things of which I heartily disapproved (white jeans, spelling errors and missing apostrophes, frozen meals, Dan Brown’s readership, people who wear silver Birkenstocks, chokos, Reece Witherspoon…) or things of which I approved only in ironic mode (Beyoncé, . Happily, things have changed and I can make non-qualified, declarations like this without a glimmer of irony: I like views of rooftops. There, I said it. I’ll say it again. I like views over rooftops and I’ve got hundreds of photos to prove it. Upbeat? Like, totally.

A friendly security guard at the Palazzo Rosso museum escorted me to the roof from whence I beheld the city of Genoa in its shabby splendour.

My, what a view! The mess of scaffolding accurately reflects the construction and renovation work that seems to be underway all over the town. And here am I, beaming and basking, surrounded on all fronts by rooftops, rooftops, rooftops.Unfortunately, my head is blocking out the most advertised of Genoa's attractions, its aquarium, which is, if you believe the hype, the best in Europe. Alas, I have not the mettle to trawl an aquarium without the moral guidance, emotional sustenance, and translation assistance of my short, dear, loud nephew, Bailey, friend of the fishes. The large white spider just to the left of my head is one of the city’s more curious attractions. Called the Bigo, it suspends and elevates what appears to be a large tuna tin full of people, presumably so that they too can have a rooftop experience. Fair enough, I say. More power to the aficionados of rooftops.

Thrice I affirm it: My name is Catriona and I like views over rooftops.