Rubbishy Naples

July 11, 2007 · Filed Under Italian news · 2 Comments

The garbage problem in Naples, literally, smoulders on. Piles of waste still line the streets, and this burning issue is still very much alight, despite the appointment of a bigwig to resolve the problem.

In other parts of the Living Museum there are record recyclers. My other half reckons that it would be just about impossible to get the rebellious Neopolitans to clean up their act and start separating the stuff they bin into recyclable little piles.

Naples is quite an unruly city, even Italians joke about it, although I have to say that I know a few from down that way and they are really nice people. I suppose you could compare Naples to Liverpool in the UK - both places are by the sea and both are populated by likeable scallys.

Will the rubbish issue be sorted out? Yes, but don’t hold your breath (unless you are down in Naples at the moment, that is.).

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Tags: Italian

RAI or Sky?

July 11, 2007 · Filed Under Italian TV · Comment

I’ve been thinking about this lately. You can choose who provides with you a phone line, who connects you to the www, and even, increasingly, who supplies your gas and electricity. But can you choose who provides you with TV? The answer is yes and no. Yes, you can choose to add another TV service, such as Sky, but no, you cannot decide not to receive state TV channels, so you still have to pay a TV licence.

This, in today’s liberalized world, is a wee bit mad, if you ask me. Here in Italy where you have to pay a licence fee to enable you to watch what is generally commercials mixed in with mediocrity, I would love to be able to decide whether to pay to see either Sky or RAI. And I would not care one jot if I lost the ability to see RAI. From what I’ve seen of Sky, it’s oodles better, even if it has got quite a few commercials. But at least with Sky there is a wide variety of programming so you can choose between programmes for the brain dead and something a little bit more interesting. With RAI (and Mediaset) you do not have much choice, unless you love mindless quiz shows, cheesy cabarets or cop dramas. OK, so some of the cop dramas are not too bad, and they would be OK, if it weren’t for the fact that they are just about the only thing worth watching. Yes, the choice is a little limited.

Will the ‘unbundling’ of the TV market up ever happen? Probably not in the neat future. Although I bet Sky would jump for joy if it were to happen. I reckon that given a straight choice between RAI and Sky most Italians would go for Sky. And it would be bye bye RAI. In such circumstances Mediaset would not fare much better either. Indeed it was Mediaset that started the so-called ‘popular-programming’ thing.

Pie in the Sky.

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Tags: Italian, Italy

Four Four Two Free Beer

July 11, 2007 · Filed Under 4-4-2 Pub · 1 Comment

Andy and his two mates have reduced the number of ‘two for the price of one’ beer vouchers by 3 to 27. Hope you had a good time Andy and Co. I would have wondered along had not been for the fact that I was down by the seaside.

Never mind, I’m sure there will be other occasions.

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It’s the way I hold my beer glass.

July 11, 2007 · Filed Under Me, Milan · Comment

Last night a New Yorker told me that he had identified me as being English from the way I was holding my pint.

Up to now I had never really thought anyone could have identified me as being of one nationality or another from the way I hold a glass. I didn’t think I held a glass in an English way.

Now, I do know that the Swiss hold wine glasses low down the stem towards the base, and can easily spot a non-Swiss person from this glass holding trait.

But I did not think Britons held glasses in a particular way. Apparently we do.

It’s not just they way that we walk…

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