Wednesday, January 15, 2020

2020's First Joyful Visit to an Italian Post Office


Wednesday, 15 January, 2020

It was another chilly day but there was no rain or snow thus it was still a good day to head to the library to checkout a couple of DVDs for some upcoming and free home entertainment.

The large park behind the library
was all decked out

I love to use these large arcades
to wander through the city's streets

They are common in northern cities like Milan and Varese, cities that get hot in the Summer and wet and snowy in the Winter.

These arcades provide either the shade or the cover desired to cope with the day-to-day weather conditions. 

One of Varese's two finest panini
restaurants had moved

In case you are interested, Dorigos is the place to partake of the other fine panini dining experience in Varese.

The owners of the Golden Egg are friends of Giorgio and Santa Barbara, my next door neighbors and key members of the Skorpions' Intelligentsia.

The former 30 year site of the Golden Egg was a small, dingy, hole-in-the-wall spot that served up a great panini at a reasonable price.

The new location is only a mere 20 meters to the left of the original spot.

The new Golden Egg is a bright,
cheery place that is about  three
times as big as the old site

You can take it from me, the panini I had today was every bit as good as the ones I enjoyed last year at the old Golden Egg.

As for the finances of the new move, I was told that the owners of the Golden Egg recuperated all of their moving costs in just the first two months that the new location was open.

In the afternoon, Santa Barbara and I boarded the C Line bus into Varese to mutually enjoy/endure a trip to the Italian Post Office.

OH JOY!

To refresh your memories, a trip to the post office in Italy is absolutely nothing like a similar trip to one in California.

In Italy about the last thing that a post office deals with is the mail. Italian post offices are where one goes to do banking and to pay bills, government fines and fees.

The Skorpions had to pay another 100 Euros and file a ream of legal papers today to continue to adhere to the complex laws covering foreigners like me needing to establish legal residency in "Bella Italia" while coaching a sports team.

The laws covering my situation were established in 165 A.D. by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius to deal with Mesopotamian gladiator coaches pouring into Rome haphazardly during the early part of his reign.

This particular post office was quite modern in that it had an electronic device as you entered that actually gave you a numbered ticket to confirm your place in line.

Many of the smaller post offices that I have used over the years have no such device and no lines, just people milling about in the lobby who all intuitively know their spot in an invisible queue.

When you enter this type of post office, you simply look in the eye at each person milling about until one nods back at you. This nod signifies that they were the last person in the queue and that now you are last.

Our post office had about twenty people, including us, waiting to be served. While the post office had a full ten spots for workers to deal with the general public, only four were open.

We only waited about 15 minutes until our number was called.

Once called, things went relatively smoothly except that Santa Barbara had forgotten to fill in one box with a needed code number. Santa Barbara checked her work sheet guide and realized that the missing code number was simply 18.

Our server entered the number into his computer and quickly said an emphatic, "NO!" His computer refused to accept that code number.

Santa Barbara showed him what it said in her work sheet guide. He tried 18 again and again his answer was, "NO!"

This exchange happened twice more before our man's computer finally accepted our code number 18.

It could have been worse.

Up next in my never ending quest for legal status will be an appointment in about three weeks at the Varese Police Station, aka, the Questura.

Pray for me.

GRAZIE SANTA BARBARA!

 Tomorrow there will be a large
festival at this church,
the Chiesa di San Antonio

The statue on the left of the church is of none other than San Antonio himself with his pet pig at his feet.

They will be blessing people's pets during the festival on Thursday.

I plan on attending.

Across from the Chiesa di san Antonio
there are lots of colorful buildings
that shine in the afternoon Sun

A local baker made pet pigs
to consume

They look interesting, I may have
try one tomorrow at the festival

Reading Is FUNdamental!

The late author, Andrea Camilleri,
NEVER disappoints

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