Francesca Maggi's...Strange But True!

GARBAGE - The Spillover
A guy in Naples (and he’s not the only one) just got his Garbage Tax bill. 257 euro ($400) for the year. Considering they haven’t picked up the garbage in over 8 months…But of course, if he doesn’t pay up, he'll be charged late fees and compounded interest.

So when will the residents get to levy late fees on the City Govt.??

And, to add insult to injury, this week the Garbage Collectors went on strike across the country.
I’m sure they’re not paid enough, so, I’ll let them have their way…but,talk about playing dirty...

The Riddle of the Mail Delivery
Like a bad Nancy Drew mystery, I could not figure out why all my mail would come on some days, and the box would remain empty on others. Turns out, they’ve reduced mail delivery! In Italy, the Postman only rings every other day.

When you stop and think how once the Sick Man of Europe, England, now delivers sometimes twice in a day, and a letter sent that morning will arrive in your box that afternoon…far from sick, the British Post Office is on Viagra.

EAT MCDONALDS & receive a ‘GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD’!!

A Big Mafioso weighing over 210 kilos (that’s over 460 lbs.), was sent home for house arrest because he was deemed ‘unfit’ for prison life. FAT CAT
So, instead of being forced to do jumping jacks out in the yard, he gets sent home for more delicious pasta alla norma?
Meanwhile, they neglected to notice that errr…he already did a pretty good job conducting his business from home while being immobile…
Coming right out of Central Casting for the Sopranos, no one caught the irony in the fact that he is the head of the ‘Lo Piccolo’ Clan.

You can’t make this stuff up.

Apocalypse Now

Yesterday, I walked out my front door and thought the apocalypse was upon us. Kilometer-long (and wide, after all, we’re in Italy) lines were forming in front of all the gas stations, even the one that sees only four cars in a week. Not having yet read the paper, I debated rushing to the grocery store to stock up on cans of pork&beans, but quickly changed my mind when I realized they don’t sell them here, and I’d probably end up with the Italian version of Spam instead.

So this 1970s end-day scenario was not due to OPEC suddenly turning off the spouts, nor was it that China decided to stock up on reserves ultimately garnering all the oil left on the entire planet. No, this was about a strike – but not of the gas station attendants. As they posted up their signs saying. “Tutto Esaurito”, they seemed to be still on duty. The truckers were on strike, alá francais, but here in the Peninsula, a strike of this caliber can cripple the country literally overnight. [After all, peninsula in Italian is penisola, isola or island providing the most accurate depiction].

But, playing out like a scene from The Sopranos, this strike took a strange twist not even screenwriters (when they’re not on strike) could think up: turns out the truckers were protesting to have more State controls, better safety requirements, and, even places to pull over for a quick pee, (although I doubt the latter is indicated precisely that way on their list of demands). Could this truly be the case? My Italian genes kicking in again, I knew there had to be something more to this—but what?

It would appear that what’s going on here is nothing more than an entirely modern update of an age-old tale, first brought to light by wise Old Aesop himself. It’s a case of sour grapes. The 40% of legitimate truckers are angry that the other 60% are getting away with illegal shipping, no scheduled stops, weigh-ins, and other petty inconveniences and making a few more bucks in undeclared pocket cash to boot.

So, since they can’t beat ‘em, they’re going to try and get the illegal shippers to join ‘em.

It’s true, you can drive from Trieste to Trapani and not come across a single police car. And, I’d be one driver who’d be quite pleased if they’d institute breath tests from the quantities of alcohol consumed along Italian roads, all before 7am…

Now, it remains to be seen if they bring in the Financial Police in droves and the problem gets resolved, or, if those same defenders of the law don’t simply increase their own pocket cash by turning a blind eye along the way.