Hello from sunny Italy. You can go out and feel the warm sun for most of the day here. Rain predicted later this evening.
There are a lot of Italians out with a stop at their local bar. (coffee, mostly.) You see my espresso, which consists of a bit more than 2 large tablespoons of strong coffee.
Here is a snapshot of my local coffee bar, you can see it is clean and it is time for most people to begin to leave and continue their day. 10:40. I remain and write in Italian, working on my vocabulary list. You can also see few jackets, Spring has arrived!
The barista is busy cleaning tables and her working area. Today she was busy and my request was met with a short comment. This makes me miss the bar in Due Carrare where I went almost everyday for ten years, Covid closed it. I miss seeing my friends there.
It is difficult to make friends in Italy. People who visit coffee bars are usually in a hurry. Order, two swigs of java and leave. It is much like a stop for medicine.
Some of the perks of visiting a bar are free newspapers, usually at least two made by different companies.
Another perk for those needing entertainment are the three slot machines behind where I am sitting.
There is an old man at a machine and I hear a lot of coins dropping into the slots, but few pay offs. The sound is heavy metal hitting a bucket, which I don't hear much. I believe that the mafia owns these machines. There is a man who comes about once a week to clean them out. Normally he is dressed, like a work person, and not wearing a long black leather coat, sunglasses and a beard. Hollywood has effected me. There is no musical sounds, and sound effects one finds in Vegas. Just a quiet KLUNK.
Gambling has changed a lot since 1968, when I snuck into the lowest floor of Harrah's Casino in Lake Tahoe. Two fellow musicians and I "escaped" the high school band camp cabins and drove to the border line town of Lake Tahoe. I remember hearing the noisy sound of many slot machines singing away as people hit small jackpots. They had lights attached to the top of the machines that circled like a light house in yellows and reds when someone hit big. My 17 year old mind filed away the promise to go back someday and "cash in". 17 year olds don't see reality, but I did go back in the 80's and there were very few sounds and no lights in that slot area, No one was hitting big, only the casino. By the way, Las Vegas is not so popular anymore, hotels are not being refurbished and kept up, sometimes found dirty, and the casinos have raised prices to play, and fewer gaming tables.
Back to my new coffee bar, let's take a walk around the area. When you look at shopping areas, you will see lots of mom and pop shops and very few corporate stores. There is a man and his wife that do clothing repair and adjustments, in the window you see piles of clothes they will work on. Next to them is a shop that buys and sells gold, further down is a shop that sells donner kabobs, a type of burrito of meat, usually lamb, with hot sauce, and lettuce. They specialise in take out, but not for eating on the street. Italians do not make a habit of walking and eating at the same time. Further down is a glass window shop and across from that is a clothing store called Carlos, and then a hardware store. We don't have lumber yards here, I miss the huge stores in America where you can buy just about anything to fix or make your home better. These also sell plants and machines like snow blowers. Not here.
My friends in America sometimes mention news stories that are important there. Tornados, Fires, Protests, Kidnapping, are shared with me. They wonder why I did not know anything about these major USA stories.
Today I took a few snapshots of the newspaper here, which shows you what Italians see if they bother to read. I can assure you that they are interested because what is happening worldwide is effecting them and their way of life too. Gas is up, food is up, and we are only a few small countries away from Ukraine. Take a look.
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| The blockade works, and ship was taken is the translation. |
That is the Vice President, who is supposedly negotiating with Iran officials, but the article is about his disagreement with the Pope.
So you can see the Italians see a lot of news about America even though newspapers are not delivered to homes. It is all tv news. However you can buy newspapers in shops that specialise in reading material.
I will stop now and post one last photo of a coffee bar 50 steps from my supermarket. I find this one more pleasant and peaceful. They have better pastries, too.
Google has made it nearly impossible to comment, so I will just wish you a happy day. Ciao!
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