Instead of postcards, these days you get occasional calls on "the mobile" and sometimes even faxes. Anyway, a few of the circle were in Italy, and here is what one of them had to say on aspects of Venice. "Smell is the most evocative of the senses. For many, Venice, along with its extraordinary beauty, is associated with the antique odour of its canals. But the impression of a recent visit, on arriving by boat at Piazza San Marco, was of the overwhelming number of pigeons and their malodorous droppings.
"In the height of summer, Venice is almost overwhelmed by tourists, and it seems that most of these are bent on feeding the pigeon. For every tourist there must be a dozen pigeons fluttering in the face of the visitor and obscuring the view of the Duomo and the Doge's palace. If Venice is slowly sinking into the lagoon, then the weight of the pigeon droppings can only be hastening the process!"
But he goes on: "What is it about pigeons? Not only in St Mark's Square, but also in Trafalgar Square, London, they are regarded as an attraction by tourists and others. But they are not only smelly and dirty, they also harbour infection. One of the most common of birds throughout Europe, yet foolish people will pay exorbitant amounts for seed to feed them. Small children, crying with fright when the birds land on their heads and shoulders, probably have the right idea."
But tourists - and hence pigeons - congregate in Piazza San Marco and a few streets and canals around it. Go farther afield, and one is in still, quiet, backwaters where silence reigns and little has probably changed in hundreds of years. Of course, each generation of visitor adds something to Venice, so one can admire the best of Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance architecture.
"On another note," writes our correspondent, "no visit is complete without calling into Harry's Bar. Hackneyed it might be to say so, but we were met with the same gravity and style that the staff might have meted out to Hemingway himself. Venice still has supreme style, despite the pigeons." Y