GOING, GOING, GON-DOLA
Simon Button visits the Italian resort of Venice, where he discovers great food, wonderful sights and luxurious hotels — and even finds time for a bit of maternal bonding…
Simon Button
MAMMA MIA: Simon with his mum, and above, the Grand Canal
Clinking champagne glasses with my mum in the airport lounge before we head to Venice, I can’t help musing that this is a mother-son trip that might never have happened. I used to joke that it was mum who made me gay, given that she introduced me to Streisand albums and the Cabaret soundtrack and the first film she took me to was Thoroughly Modern Millie.
But when I came out to her in the mid-Eighties I feared she might disown me because my sexuality didn’t tally with her born-again Christian beliefs.
Thank goodness, this turned out to be a short-lived disownment (I pointed out that I wasn’t the sexual deviant the tabloids portrayed gays as and her religious fervour cooled over time) and we became the best of friends — something which makes our pre-Venice champagne taste even sweeter.