Di Nota (Of Note)

Home a week now, I should be wrapping up, and I am/will, but I have some notes still in a file I keep for blog fodder. I need to get them out of my system for closure.

1)  Italians have very funky eyeglass frames. The kind you might see on an architect here in the States are worn by the guy who fills your tank at the gas station. Style is a way of life and doesn't necessarily reflect the wearer's level of fashion trend sophistication. They are all on the same page.

2)  They talk with their hands so much I found myself a few times thinking, Oh, look at the deaf people signing.

3)  When there's a sports event on tv in a café, at the bottom right of the screen is a tiny martini glass icon. Like this:

Here's how it looks on the screen:

Fred recognized it to be a martini glass, but I said, No, I think it must be some kind of air waves/antenna symbol. I've never even seen a martini in Italy.

Anyway, this little symbol was all over the Women's Soccer games... then all over Wimbledon. Naturally I went on line to get to the bottom of it. Turns out, a lot of cafés and pubs air sports networks illegally with a personal rather than business account. Business accounts cost more.  The martini glass is like a stamp saying "this is legit," so when the undercover cops from the cable company come in, they can look for it and if they don't see it, bust them. Some people try to cheat the system by putting a decal on the screen itself, but this doesn't work because, apparently, in England, anyway, they vary the amount of liquid in the glass arbitrarily! (In England, by the way, it's a pint glass, not a martini glass.)

Here's how it looks in England (picked up from https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2016/12/13/game-theory-applied-why-is-there-a-pint-glass-in-the-corner-of-tvs-at-pubs/)

4) American profanity doesn't have the same impact in Italy—naturally. So it's jarring to hear song lyrics—the explicit kind—on the car radio or in a café, or to see a sign like this in a store window:

5)  I've blogged about this before. Hardly any of the Wifi passwords have been changed to something more memorable. In the states, we usually have that option. Most are like this:

And yeah, your guess is as good as mine about whether that's a 5 or an S. 

6) They are SUPER AHEAD of us on the recycling front. There are five different categories and receptacles in the house: Glass, plastic, organic, paper, and miscellaneous (like "shoes," one landlord told us.... Shoes???).

What you put out on the street every night for the next morning differs. Here's how to keep track.

7) I'm not sure any Italians let a cat live in their home or even come inside. Ever. But I think their dogs probably have their own rooms. They are as beloved as babies. And everyone knows how Italians feel about babies.

8) If you want a glass of wine or a beer in the late afternoon and don't also want a bag of chips, a bowl of peanuts, some bread with spreads and/or mini pizzas... good luck to you. I specifically said, "No need for food" once, and still got the works...

9) Babies (toddlers and infants alike) and dogs come to restaurants.

10) They didn't seem to get the memo about smoking being bad for your health, so you will find an ashtray at every table.

And on that note, Ciao! Thanks for following! A prossimo ano!