Well, holy Toledo! I'm flying out on June 3 to London, arriving about 7 a.m. in Heathrow. Then I have to get myself to London Stansted airport in time to meet Peggy, who is flying in from Glasgow on ezJet, arriving about 11 a.m. It's easier said than done, I'll say that. There's no direct train, and the bus....well, they warn you that the traffic is very heavy and to plan for about 3-4 hours to make the trip. Heh.
After Peggy and I convene, we can hang out in Stansted (not much to hang out in--it looks like the Dubuque, IA, airport--or, more charitably, the one in Cedar Rapids) until she goes back to Glasgow, and I board ezJet to fly over the freakin' Alps to Naples.
My plane arrives in Naples, please goddess, about 8:15 p.m. Because of the relatively late hour, Cathy (who is already IN Italy) has suggested we stay in Naples for a couple of nights while I rest up. (I'm very old, you know....) We made reservations in Naples at what seems like a decent hotel, and Bob's your uncle!
Problem is, we have subsequently found out that Naples is beset by a humongous GARBAGE problem. The trash has not been picked up in Naples since DECEMBER!!!! There are rats and roaches and that ilk swarming all around, and the place stinks to high heaven. Some angry Neapolitans have been setting fire to the mounds of trash on the streets and blaming the mafia, especially, for the situation. Seems the mafia have been "handling" the trash for years and taken the opportunity to import tons of trash from up north and deposit it in Naples. This is why the Naples landfills are overflowing. The president of Italy has ordered the Italian soldiers to guard the landfills and has assigned other places to deposit the garbage once they haul it out of the streets of Naples.
Wouldn't you know, the citizenry are complaining about putting any new landfills or incinerators for the garbage in THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS. Plus, some cardinal of the R.C. church has intoned that it's not right to put garbage right where people live, etc. (Are you wondering whose pockets the mafia are lining?) (I am.)
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I am flying into Naples, no way around that, and Cathy is meeting me there with a driver who will take us to Ravello. Ravello is home to the famous festival (later this year) and sporadic concerts now. It is an hour and a half from the airport. I'm wondering when I'll wake up! Maybe with the first cock crow in Ravello, which happens every morning, I'm told. Chickens! Swell.
You're thinking of Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout aren't you? Don't worry about the garbage and have a good time. Please try the limoncello. It's very yum!
ReplyDeleteSarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout? um, gee...never heard of her. will have to look her up on the google....heh
ReplyDeleteoh, how cud i be so dum....sarah cynthia sylvia stout WOULD NOT TAKE THE GARBAGE OUT!!! from shel silverstein. wot a wonderful poem. and so very descriptive of the whole meshugaas in naples.
ReplyDeletexo, ma
It's all Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout's fault.... let's blame her!
ReplyDeleteHeheheh so the time is counting down now... I'll be taking to the skies on Saturday night arriving in London on Sunday morning. Wot a shame we couldn't co-ordinate things better! As I already said, I've changed my bus trip to the 5th but now I find out it's change buses at Heathrow after all... oh well, a day late!
The airline cancelled my 18th return flight (couldn't afford the jet fuel I think) so now I am coming back on the 20th. Not sure where I'll be for the extra days, amybe sleeping in a bar(n) somewhere. hehehe
i'm all for sleeping in bars, especially on this trip, where the hotel rooms (some of them) in capri are going for, like, 1500 to 2,000 euros per night! our dear old american peso ain't gonna go far enough for something like THAT!
ReplyDeleteand yes, it's way too bad we couldn't arrange things so as to convene somewhere. next time....
have a swell trip!!
Have a super trip! The garbage isn't there if you refuse (no pun intended) to see it!!!
ReplyDeleteronnie
When I was young and optimistic I used to go to the Glastonbury Festival (West-Country England; fields; hippies; tents; Portaloos; none but the brave deserves the Fair, etc).
ReplyDeleteThe Portaloos had a distinctive musk that could knock you flat from eighty paces away. I took a little neckscarf bandana thing that I'd dipped in essential oil: it was a wonderful barrier against the terrible, terrible smell in those plastic loo cabins. Maybe something similar would be good for Naples. Naples won't be as bad as Glastonbury loos, though. Nothing is. Brrr.
Bon voyage!
ronnie: thanks for stopping by. enjoyed your post on Toronto's chinatown. had a most memorable lunch there once, which we got by pointing at what was on the plates of the two college guys at a neighboring table and saying THAT (and that and that and that) i was fascinated by how they shoveled the food in: they'd pile it on those Chinese spoons with their chopsticks, and then pop the whole wad in their mouths. they washed it all down with Coke.
ReplyDeleteantonia...when i was ten years old, my parents bought a lake cottage near Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and none of the cottages, ours or our neighbors', had indoor plumbing. you get USED TO the smell of outhouses, but lemme tell ya, i NEVER got used to those fookin HUGE SPIDERS that lived in them!!!!
Bon voyage!!!!! I can't wait to hear your adventures in Italy!!!
ReplyDelete