After a month of mucking about in the snow, like a couple of migrating birds we headed south to warmer climes. Our flight path included a short stop in London (to fulfil a visa requirement for something we might want to do later in the year). Suddenly, for the first time in almost eighteen months, we were in an English-speaking country. The experience was happily familiar, yet slightly strange.

It began almost from the moment of touchdown at Heathrow; a small mob of flying kangaroos had gathered on the tarmac outside Terminal 3. They were lined up like our own personal welcoming committee and our delight in seeing them surprised us. Then on the train into the city, a man was reading a newspaper we ourselves could read – even the upside-down bit below the fold. Outside the carriage, cars drove on the left and school kids played rugby. Welcome back to the well-known world.

But some familiar English habits begged comparison with our more recent Italian experience. Take the London Underground, for example, where any form of interaction with fellow travellers is simply not the done thing. Generally speaking, if it weren’t for the constant rattle and grind of metal on metal, you could hear a pin drop in a London Underground carriage. And, of course, any unnecessary movement might be deemed attention-seeking behaviour so reading or dozing – preferably with headphones in – are the preferred time-killing options.

By contrast, on an Italian train, often you’ll scarcely be able to hear yourself think over the general hubbub of activity. Invariably there’ll be someone shouting into a phone (when it’s a simple conversation about the weather); a person standing in the aisle will likely be stuffing overflowing plastic bags into the luggage rack; noisy high school kids will be jostling to impress the girls behind; the woman digging around in her backpack will pull out a half-eaten panino; and the young guy playing air piano will have a musical score open on his lap.

On an Italian train you’ll find yourself surrounded by the noise and colour of life (and the odd bit of rubbish and graffiti too – though that’s something both cultures have in common). It’s not always easy, and sometimes it can all become downright annoying, but take a trip on an Italian train and you’ll never doubt you’re alive.

But the thing we’ve missed most since we’ve been away from Italy is the kissing. The kissing and the hugging. How lovely it is to see men and women greet friends with the warmth of a double kiss and a genuine embrace. In other countries people may engage in the polite mutual touching of cheeks, but in Italy a greeting is no perfunctory gesture – it’s given and received with meaning.

Many aspects of Italian culture have found their way to England, maybe the double baci will be next? Then again, maybe not. I mean, if one started doing that sort of thing it could end in conversation! Much better to just keep calm and pop the headphones back in.