The idiosyncracies of Italy

Here's my list of the weird and wonderful:

Queuing:
You can spot the tourist a mile off because they will be the ones in a nice neat line waiting patiently. The locals just hang around looking innocent somewhere in the vicinity and then merge into the front of the queue when there is some action. And we are all so polite noone complains!

Change:
At every shop, stall, ticket office etc etc the staff never have any chnage! If you present them with a 50 euro note they look horrified (regardless of the price of the object you are purchasing!) Then they  put their hand on their brow and shake their heads and ask if you have smaller money. Then they shrug their shoulders and laugh and say "No change!!!" It's quite a performance. If it looks as if you won't be able to buy the item unless they find some change, magically they can !

Police:
I have never seen such a range of different types of Police, and so many of them as I have seen here. There are local police, financial police ( fraud, taxes, corruption) regional police, city police ( the only ones without guns !), transport police, carabinieri.. ...and who knows what else. They all have very impressive uniforms with lots of badges, gold braid, piping and snappy hats. And they are usually impeccably groomed. At the football match they were equipped with batons, helmets and shields and they were frightening. If you were thinking of being a hooligan you'd take one look and think twice! They drive Alfa Romeo police cars too.

Smoking:
It's no surprise to hear that lung cancer is the most common cancer here, as many of the locals smoke , particularly the younger population. Whilst smoking is banned inside  buildings, you can smoke in outside restaurants, so we became fairly adept at trying to sit near tourists in outside venues, as they were less likely to smoke than the Italians. There are cigarette machines everywhere and tiny Tabacchis ( which sell a huge range of cigarettes).

Interestingly, there are also lots of electronic cigarette shops with enticing names, selling the new alternative to cigarettes. They are a sort of pretend cigarette that use steam and herbs to give you the feel of smoking without the actual tobacco. We saw lots of the stores, but never anyone in them.

Pedestrians:

I have already commented on driving in Sicily and, having driven through more of Italy now, my comments pertain to all of Italy too. Being a pedestrian in Italy is a tricky business. To cross a road takes a certain amount of courage, and some local knowledge about the possibility of the local drivers adhering to, or totally ignoring, the road laws about giving way to pedestrians.

In Como I watched a woman walking a small dog step on to the pedestrian crossing totally oblivious to a 4WD bearing down upon her. She merely held up one hand towards the driver and kept going, whilst the car screeched to a stop. Such bravery! I have been more willing to just go across roads than Ewan, who keeps shaking his head and muttering. Otherwise you can stand there forever and the drivers who do comply have no idea what you are going to do. All very confusing.

Greetings:

Trying to determine the right greeting for the right time of day is fraught with problems . There is the more formal Buongiorno  (good day) which is usually used in the morning, but can be used all day. Then after lunch there is Buonsera which really means good evening but can be used in the afternoon. I was listening to a guy greet two people at about 3pm and to one he said Buonasera and to the other Buongiorno! Good grief. And then there is Ciao which can mean hello or goodbye and is more informal. If you see what I mean it's enough to make you say hello and be done with trying to speak italian!!!

One of  the joys of traveling is experiencing all of the idiosyncrasies out the country you're in, and their peculiar ways!

At any point there is usually someone happy to help you work out what' s going and the Italians are no exception. We've loved it!