Change of plans and anarchy

A lunch time trip to a restaurant is cancelled because of snow in the mountains. We planned to make a 40 minute drive to a small village called Orsara di Puglia where Pia and Dino know a bright new restauranteur. The restaurant call us early morning to say that it had been snowing all night and that the roads are bad. I still wanted to go but the aged relatives disagreed. The upside however is that we will have to suffer homemade pasta al vongole - pasta with clams - and sepia ripiena - stuffed squid. Yummy.

No comment on Italy would be complete without mentioning their driving. It hovers somewhere between brilliant and appalling. It is sometimes frustrating, always exciting and often amusing. Imagine that you are fourth in line queuing at traffic lights. A car overtakes the line on the wrong side of the road using an opposing bus only lane. This car goes to the front of the queue , stops momentarily, and then turns right, all against a red light. It would not be unusual to see this several times in a day. Your natural reaction is anger and frustration at the myriad laws that have been broken. Rigid Anglo Saxon attitudes don't always work here. To a lot of Italian drivers a red light is advisory rather than obligatory, and frankly a slight change in attitude is all that is necessary to see their point of view. I remember clearly when I first drove in California and became aware that it was legal to make a right turn on a red light if the road to your left was clear. Many Italians feel that even if the light is red and all the other roads are clear then you can go. Once you get into this frame of mind it really does seem to work. Late in the day I drive my mother to visit the house where she grew up. The area is pedestrianised and there are no parking spaces. The only available space is directly outside the Prefectura, with police going in and out all the time, in what I subsequently realise is a bus bay. I have to park at an angle to the curb with the back of the car sticking out into the road. Nobody seems to mind because frankly I am only doing what everybody else does. I ask a man who is parked there if what I am doing is reasonable. He nods in a 'what a stupid question' kind of way. I have stupidly asked a man, who is himself illegally parked, for permission to stop. I then worry about the car for the next 40 minutes while we make our visit. So back to being English - why can't I just let the Italian take over? Double parking - don't get me going - they do it all over the place. It is not uncommon for one side of the road to be blocked by a double or treble parked car. What do the police do - nothing - they drive around the blockage and go on about their business. This laissez faire attitude by the police to minor transgressions of the law appals the Anglo Saxon in me but amuses and cheers the Latin. The stories are endless but the system seems to work and frankly I find it amusing - I love it.