On August 15th this notionally Catholic country celebrates the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It does this by way of a blood-letting ritual, also known as Driving at High Speed along an Autostrada in the direction of a Holiday Resort. It takes the first half of August to prepare for this Road Kill Fest and the second half to recover from it. Effectively Italy is closed for the month.

Laurie Graham Inc. is not closed. Laurie Graham Inc. is very much open for business and would have loved to complete certain negotiations begun back in May but...shrugs shoulders, sighs, rolls eyes heavenwards... it was not to be.

We're putting on a traditional British pantomime here next January, a theatrical extravaganza for which we require a performance space, for which we require a sponsor. We need the sponsor to talk to the theater administrator who in turn must speak to the technicians so that they can talk to the director. That's me. The short, middle-aged woman with steam coming out of her ears. I need the knee bone connected the thigh bone to kick some ass, but the ass has all gone on holiday. It is barreling down the autostrada with its radiator grill up some other driver's rear fender.

I wanted closure. I got it. The whole goddamned country is 'closured'. But not the Emergency Rooms, I pray.