10 Reasons

Monarchy

It might be a sign of my age or something else but I have to say that I really enjoyed the royal wedding yesterday.
It was an excellent feel good affair and I never thought that I'd say that.
Jan, who has ancient republican sympathies, also enjoyed it.
Whilst I'm not an avowed monarchist and it's a system that is difficult to defend the argument about an elected president is easily shot down with one word.

Trump.

Dumb kids

So I'm driving through Ripon and get to a rather nasty pelican crossing which is set just round a corner. I think it's very dangerous. I've seen cars wizz round the corner and if there was anyone on the crossing they would have been wiped out.
On approaching said crossing I saw two teenage schoolgirls who looked like they were going to cross so I stopped. During the whole process both girls stared intently at their phones and cared not a jot what was going on around them. How stupid!

Polizia

One evening we were wandering back to the hotel a tad worse for wear when I decided, against Jan's better advice, that I would ask a couple of Carabinieri a question.
"I'm English and I know nothing," I said, "in England I never ever see police on the street. I'm here two days in Naples and I've seen at least five different police. What do they all do?"

I'd seen Polizia Municipali, Polizia di Stato, Polizia Stradale, Carabinieri, and the best of all Guardia di Finanza. All with guns and cars. I'd even seen a couple of soldiers with automatic weapons.

The taller Carabinieri was not happy and no doubt thought that I was taking the piss (he guessed right). The shorter sergeant who I suspected was his boss smiled and indulged me with some platitudes. If he hadn't been there I suspect that I'd have spent the night in the cells. Tall cop was not happy.

There's a bit of explanation here.

Anarchy that Works

After three lovely days and nights in Naples it's back to normality. It was a delightful and thoughtful birthday present from Jan.

We stayed at the Royal Continental on the seafront overlooking the bay of Naples and the Castel dell'Ovo. The picture above is the view from our bedroom. What had been overlooked was, like other European nations, it was the Mayday Weekend so the place was very, very lively. No problem. You don't go to Naples and expect it to be quiet or particularly relaxing.

I like driving but the drive from the airport to the hotel was uncomfortable and very frightening. Large sections of roads were cobbled and travelling at 70 mph 6 inches from the car in front and weaving between lanes is not my idea of fun. But we arrived safely. As Jan said 'he obviously knows what he's doing so leave it up to him'. Easier said than done.

The hotel was very good with great staff and good food. I speak Italian using the type of slang that they are used to in that part of the world so that helped and made the staff just a tad more helpful. I said I wanted to eat pizza, no problem said a waiter, turn right out of the hotel and go to Antonio Antonio but go to the second such named restaurant not the first. He obviously knew what he was talking about. The food was excellent and we ate there three times.

The hotel breakfast layout was huge and offered fresh ricotta a favourite with Jan, so she was very happy.
We taxied up to the centro storico (the old part of town) to see the duomo. What a magnificent high altar. So much art at every turn. Fabulous.
Then we wandered down a street that sells christmas nativity stuff all year round. Weird. I remember going there with my uncle Nino about 50 years ago. It brought back nice memories.

The taxi ride back to the hotel was just as fraught, the mixture of cars and bikes is horrendous but it just seems to work. Lots of cars do however have dents and scratches. Ignoring red lights is obligatory!

The next day was interesting. I want to do two things said the boss. There's a Sephora in town (a shop that sells makeup) which Jan happens to like. So we set off to find it but not before we crossed the Piazza Plebescito and thousands of union demonstrators. Remember it's May Day. Jan particularly like being frisked by the police at the barricades before we could move forward.

Having spent 20 euros on makeup we then battled against thousands of people travelling in the opposite direction to find the funicular up to Vomero. A posher and slightly quieter part of town.

Now forgive me but my idea of a funicular is a steep railway that gives you spectacular views not something that travels underground. But so be it.

It was definitely quieter up there and we wandered slowly looking for somewhere to eat. By chance we found it, Acunzo, but the gaggle of folks outside did not bode well. Have you booked he said (we didn't know the place existed) OK come back at 2 so we did. Have you booked he said, no you said come back at 2. Oh yes I remember wait there. 30 minutes later we were seated to a wonderful round of applause by the still waiting throng outside. My pasta was excellent and Jan said that her pizza was even better than Antonio Antonio. Success.

The taxi back to the airport the next day was eventful. The driver's phone rang and needless to say he answered it. The caller asked if he was OK and he said everything was fine. He then started to explain that it was his daughter checking up on him and he showed us her picture. He told us that his wife had just died and that she was checking that he was OK. He was very old so it was definitely possible but if it was a scam to get a bigger tip it was a brilliant ruse. He got a big tip.

The airport is way too small for the number of travellers. However where else would you see leather arm chairs and sofas? A first for me. If you ever pass through this airport you must shop at Garafolo which sells the freshest buffalo mozzarella and other similar excellent products.

A great few days. Thank you Jan.

Stormy for President

Do I believe Stormy or Trump?
After reading quite a bit about what Stormy said I have to believe her. Why would anyone pay her $130k to keep quiet if nothing happened?
Stormy for president.