Sunday

Hey all,
Day of rest. Found some maps this morning so things looking up there
– but have to figure them out – having trouble correlating the Lonely
Planet routes with the maps – also have to go to the supermarket, get
some more supplies, which was closed, so have booked another night
here so I can do all my organisy stuff tomorrow, then head off Tuesday
morning.
Some kind of motorbike get together on here this morning – the main
street closed off, people doing burnouts while the cops looked on
indulgently – in Australia they would be charged, their bikes
impounded under the hoon laws, there would be a finger-wagging
editorial about it in The Age which strongly implied the need to grant
even more legislative power to the Nanny Overlords, A Current Affair
would get in on the act: the host and the reporter would shake their
heads and look grim.
Here, in Italy, a boy of about four or five got in on the action,
zooming up and down the street on a little motorbike for about an
hour, dodging through legs and exotic Ducatis, his little face a
picture of concentration through the helmet. Bikers, even a few
patched outlaws, looked on with "Aw, how cute" expressions on their
faces and the police did much the same.
It is now seven PM and, after returning to the B and B and sleeping
for a couple of hours, I can still hear the screams of motorbike
engines being made to do nuts things – the old couple who run the B
and B potter around contentedly without the slightest hint of any
shocked, scandalised, censorious, moral-majority type attitude towards
the cheerful enthusiastic hoons tearing up the streets. Got to love
the Italians.
Photos: 1. Smoke from burnouts is visible up the top end of the
street. 2. The little boy at the tail end of one of his runs through
the crowd. He will stop in a metre or so, turn around, charge back up
the hill again. 3. If you click on the photo and zoom in you will
see an arrow at about the centre of the shot pointing to one of the
rock climbers on the cliff.
Cheers, B.