Just look at these happy folk. Their body language says it all. Here's proof positive, that the Italians THEMSELVES suffer with all these stores keeping all these crazy hours.
It's not just us. When we first became residents of this beautiful country, we thought we were the only ones who arrived at a store only to discover (at 2:30 pm) that the store would re-open at 3 pm. Or we might arrive to find the day of our visit was the seemingly-random day during the week that the shop was closed.
Recently, after running a couple errands, we stopped by the local grocer to purchase some forgotten ingredient we needed for dinner. The sole reason we are not over there with them, exasperated like they are, is that WE EXPECT it everyday. Our expectations of finding anything we need or want at any time are soooo low, that we cannot be disappointed. It really is quite a wonderful mental ploy. When we head out, we say aloud, well, first we are going to try and find our destination. If we find it, that will be awesome. Then we'll check the hours and well, we'll see what happens. It really does work- it has saved our sanity. It's always an awesome surprise when we find the store and it's open AND they have what we need. It's practically cause for champagne -it's definitely cause for Muscato or Prosecco.
On the other hand, if you are in the market for fresh seafood, there is a very convenient purveyor of fish in the neighborhood. The driver makes an unintelligible announcement over a loud speaker and pulls over- right outside our window. Right outside. What more could we ask for? This is the epitome of convenience. Go figure. I ran up the stairs to hang out the window and take this first photo to demonstrate the total convenience of this market on wheels.
The vendor, as seen through the living room window.
Here's a close up of the fishy goods.
There's also a dry cleaner van that rolls through town on Mondays. What a luxury : )
It's not just us. When we first became residents of this beautiful country, we thought we were the only ones who arrived at a store only to discover (at 2:30 pm) that the store would re-open at 3 pm. Or we might arrive to find the day of our visit was the seemingly-random day during the week that the shop was closed.
Recently, after running a couple errands, we stopped by the local grocer to purchase some forgotten ingredient we needed for dinner. The sole reason we are not over there with them, exasperated like they are, is that WE EXPECT it everyday. Our expectations of finding anything we need or want at any time are soooo low, that we cannot be disappointed. It really is quite a wonderful mental ploy. When we head out, we say aloud, well, first we are going to try and find our destination. If we find it, that will be awesome. Then we'll check the hours and well, we'll see what happens. It really does work- it has saved our sanity. It's always an awesome surprise when we find the store and it's open AND they have what we need. It's practically cause for champagne -it's definitely cause for Muscato or Prosecco.
On the other hand, if you are in the market for fresh seafood, there is a very convenient purveyor of fish in the neighborhood. The driver makes an unintelligible announcement over a loud speaker and pulls over- right outside our window. Right outside. What more could we ask for? This is the epitome of convenience. Go figure. I ran up the stairs to hang out the window and take this first photo to demonstrate the total convenience of this market on wheels.
The vendor, as seen through the living room window.
Here's a close up of the fishy goods.There's also a dry cleaner van that rolls through town on Mondays. What a luxury : )
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Love you all and miss you so much.
Huggies, Mimi