Gettin’ There

Given my medical history, I set a 2021 ‘steps’ goal.

Which I achieved, largely thanks to the fact we didn’t have a car then. I (naturally) upped the ante this year, and was (somewhat) on track to reach said goal. However, this last couple of months have seen this target slipping.
Laziness or circumstance you may ask?
I’m claiming ‘circumstance’! And it’s down to my poor wife. Not Alice’s fault: Rather blame our NZ drivers’ licences.

Got the car at least!

Y’see, when we moved back to the UK, we (again) swapped our NZ licences for local ones. Something we could do, as both countries have a reciprocal agreement in place allowing this. So, armed with those, we happily tootled about the place.
However, when we arrived here, we couldn’t ‘re-swap’ our UK ones for Italian ones.
Something any ‘true Brit’ could, prior to that December Brexit deadline, because ours were seen by the Italian authorities as simply ‘re-skinned’ NZ ones! And NZ and Italy have yet to sign any reciprocal agreement.
Thus, poor Alice must study for, and sit, the Italian licence. Leaving little time for much else.
It must be her because my Italian is years away from being good enough, mainly ‘cause the language used in the theory test is ‘tricksy’! They’re trying to trip people up by using old and/or unusual expressions in the questions, so it’s damned hard to figure out whether it’s “vero o falso”.
While struggling, Alice will do it.
I have absolute faith in her!

Honestly

There’s an underlying sense of ‘honesty’ here.

Pre-opening

You see it in the way that that day’s fruit and vege is left sitting (often unwrapped) outside that yet-to-open fruit shop or supermarket. And no one helps themselves!
That’s astounding to me. Now I ain’t sayin’ that the citizens of those countries I’ve lived in prior were dishonest, it’s just I couldn’t imagine it being done there.
Then there are the cafe owners.
Many of whom seem entirely happy to leave tables and chairs out overnight. Or even when they’re closing for some time. Seemingly oblivious to the fact someone could (quite easily) walk off with said pieces of furniture!
It’s also on show in more ... subtle ... ways.
Like at beaches, where no damns are given about what you look like in that bikini or those budgie smugglers.
And then, when your life comes to its inevitable end, death is accepted openly and honestly, being seen as a part of a life lived. Hence the funeral posters and mourning notices plastered all about the place.
Now f’sure there are ‘rip-off artists’: Witness that fruit shop where they weighed up the six bananas we bought, before sneakily snapping one off without us noticing, and bagging it up! Needless to say, we’ve never been back since. Of course.
Then there are those Sunday Market traders who, as soon as they hear our ‘touristy’ accents, bump up the prices on all their items!
Exceptions that prove the rule, I’m happy to say!

Acqua

It’s said water is the source of life.
You’ll get no argument here! It’s as essential to living as the air we breathe, and the bread we eat. Although I’m well prepared to argue the strong case for wine here!
I bring this up because in Modica water is strictly rationed by the comune (council). Well ... sort of! I’ll explain later.
Y’see, we only get mains water for around three hours a day: That’s anytime between around 06:30 to about 10:00.

Public water faucet.

Alice and I share the joke that there’s a wee man employed to turn it on daily. Maybe not a joke though: There’s no rhyme nor reason to when it happens! It’s started as early as 06:20 … and as late as 07:30. Go figure…
Anyways, to ensure your supply during the rest of the day, you must have water tanks in your home. Or ‘on it,’ as most have theirs on the roof. Now we’re lucky ‘cause ours (3x300 litre tanks) are inside our home. So the plastic tanks are not subject to hot or cold weather fluctuations. A key factor when we were looking to buy.
However, sometimes it doesn’t flow due to the poor infrastructure here, post-heavy rain. You gotta learn to live with that.
When I wrote ‘sort of’ earlier, I meant that there are public water faucets dotted all about the place. Here, the water is free, and flows all day. There’s one about 100m down the road from us.
Don’t ask!

More Soon...