Back in 1986, when they first started talking about a “United Europe”, I (naturally) scoffed. I said to all who would listen, that there would never be a United Europe until all of the appliance plugs are the same in every country. And back then, we weren't even considering Poland or Romania.
This Christmas, my poor house guest spent his time running around to three different hardware stores in order to change all my pseudo-German plugs to ones that would actually fit into Italian holes (I used so many adapters my kitchen looked like the central control panel for O'Hare airport). From the fridge to the frying pans, I was finally cooking. They may be made in Germany, but, they worked without melting, sparks or blowing a fuse. Needless to say, I was pleasantly shocked.
Just in time to hear the British protesting a company’s decision to hire dozens of Italian workers (all of whom, from what I could tell, already worked there -- although that's only because, if they'd been flown in, they never would have made it to their first day on the job flying the New Alitalia).
This week, instead, here they are, protesting the Spanish workers. This would be like waging a protest in New Jersey because Johnson & Johnson decided to bring in an entire factory of workers from Staten Island. It doesn’t happen [although with America’s unemployment rates skyrocketing, we may not be too far behind].
The ultimate irony in the entire matter is that this latest company is actually French.
I stand by my statement. United States of Europe? Socket to me.
2 comments:
Hello! I found your blog through a maze of blog links...I wonder what you meant about the United States of Europe? I'm in Puerto Rico, so this situation is new to me... I mean it's implications. You seem to cover a lot of topics here at Burnt by the Tuscan Sun...Do you have Italian ancestry? I'm interested in the thoughts of people in Italy and the world generally. You have a strong writer's voice. Is the blog a newspaper of some sort? (Now I know I must sound ignorant!) I better read more here...
Glad you arrived! My blog is not an e-zine, or anything like that. Generally, it's a host of my myriad musings sometimes in jest, sometimes just informative, of the Quality of Life the Italians boast about.
If you want to have a more serous look about Life in Italy, try www.lifeinitaly.com or some of the links to my left...
As for the United States of Europe, that's the big idea...still working it's way through the politics. Although Sarkozy recently felt it should be him, the permanent and unelected President of Europe. We're off to a good start.
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