Michael Dibdin - 1990

In February of 2019, almost a year before my Rosemary died we went to Venice and Florence. When we got to Venice, on one evening we went to a bar. The man behind the bar (I could see it in his face) looked at me and must have thought, “Another ignorant American”. We sat down and I said, “Un café corretto”. I then pointed at Grappa Nacionale and told him I wanted it with it. The man smiled and I was not able to pay for the coffee as as it was free!

Why?

I had the luck to read all the books by British author Michael Dibdin, whom I photographed at least three times. His police procedurals, set in modern Italy, featured a melancholic Venetian called Aurelio Zen who solved crimes that were mostly about corruption and few involved blood. Aurelio Zen’s favourite drink was the café corretto. When he would wake up with a hangover he would go to a bar and ask for a café corretto with no coffee.

Dibdin and P.D. James were contemporaries, one as good as the other. Knowing both served me well.

It was at the Holiday Inn on Hastings called Harbouside where I had the luck to take portraits of James. She asked me to go to a window and asked me, “What’s that?” Because writer Sean Rossiter and I were friends (he was alive then) I told her, "That is a de Havilland Beaver, a made in Canada float plane that opened up the interior of this province." I then added, "Flying in one is as fabulous as going on a Venetian gondola."

I did not tell her that Rossiter and I one afternoon were sitting watching strippers at a local joint called the Marble Arch. I told Rossiter, “Beavers!” He laughed so I had to correct him, “I mean de Havilland Beavers”. The idea caught on. We collaborated on a story for the Georgia Straight (a cover it was) and then Rossiter wrote a book on the Beaver.

Last minute addendum: 

One of my fave Vancouver restaurants is La Piazza Dario in the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan. Why? The food is good, the music is not loud, the staff is excellent AND they  make a fabulous café correto. Important is that they keep a bottle of grappa warm.When it is poured into the strong coffee, the coffee remains hot. Taking the cue from evangelist St. Luke, I drink my caffé corretto in remembrance of Michael Dibdin. Crossing the Firsts Narrows bridge if I hear a Beaver I think of PD James.