Palermo
In Palermo we travel dark alleys but this day it is light and Bernadette and I are being chased down by a guy with a mug like Quasimodo. He is shaking his finger at us and ordering us to hault. It is Giovanni and he is reminding us to honor the Saint. I reach into my pocket and take out my Euros and let him pick out what the Saint wants. He takes four or five and drops them into a slot and that is that. We have recently stood by and watched two men break into our rental car, a very nice handling Fiat Punto.
On the way to Agrigento yesterday I am down shiftng into third to get a little torque up so I can speed past those motorists doing the speed limit. Antonio Ramone and Bernadette and I looked at enough ruins to give us a good feel for what a ruin is.
We were recently behind a student driver to get the idea that not all drivers start out with the pure skill necessary to maneuver like a mad person. It is exhilarating but requires a concentration I have not fully used for such extended periods during any time in my life. Bernadette has map skills, without which we would get nowhere.
I have not lost a key in a long time but I was due so this morning I locked the one key in the Fiat. The car rental agency had also lost their spare key so that is why they were breaking into the car. We were on our way to Tapani I think or maybe that is not even a place. Giovanni looks over the lot we park in and treats us like a friend. Giovanni and the lead mechanic breaking into our Fiat with a coat hanger seemed for a minute like they might go to blows but it all worked out. Pretty much you have to let the guy with the coat hanger do his thing. It is another skill which requires a certain amount of concentration. I had not said a thing or gotten too close and may have even dosed off for a moment when the guy, the lead mechanic, who had so far not really shown any sign that he knew I was there, called out to me so that I could be made aware of his success. He and his partner we rewarded with 10 euros a piece and I think seeing this, and knowing that he could have done just as well is perhaps why Giovanni later chased us down and suggested we honor the Saint with a little appreciation as well.
I cannot really go into what we have eaten but some of it has been spectactular, especially anything resembling a little fish. We have had pasta so fresh that it is like born on your plate and speaking of birth I am after ten days in Italy starting to resemble a man who while still skinny as a rail, is about to give birth to a 12 pound baby.
We were in Rome for only enough time to land, eat two meals and be driven the three hours to Pesaro by our friend. We picked enough grapes on our third day in Italy to remind me of that distant distant past when I for about a year worked in the Texas oilfields, 12 hour days, ten day stretches. I should say more about the grape picking and maybe I will later but now I should get back to the house. I have gone swimming in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. I have not been that tempted to be online and I cannot find the apostrophe key on the keyboard so if you have been wondering why no contractions, well there you have it.
I think we are going out to eat in a few minutes. I am not the least bit hungry but that does not seem to be stopping me. We are not going to the opera tomorrow but The Teatro Massimo, around the corner from us, is going with Madame Butterfly for its opening night. Ciao.
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