thisweekinitaly.com

Italy Newsletter number 35

ABOUT SWEDEN

Post Office and Train Stations

We think of Sweden as a very socialist country, but privatization or
lessening of government services is rampant. The post offices here do not
do mail services, only banking. To get mail services you go to a store in
town that has become the post office (just like the old days in USA when
office was often in the town general store). The train stations do not have
ticket windows open often; you buy the ticket from a machine at the station
or on board the train. I had a problem because I bought a train ticket at
the machine, but did not realize (nor did my Swedish hosts notice at first)
that the first leg of the trip was by bus, not by train. My hosts ended up
driving me to the end of the first leg of trip, where I caught a train for
the second leg.

Swedish trains may be the best I have ridden in Europe for a mixture of
punctuality, cleanliness, and price. They are almost as good as German
trains and much less expensive.

In fairness, it should be noted that a train trip in Italy can be flawless.
When I got off the plane in Milan my baggage arrived quickly, and there was
a bus just leaving for the train station. At the station, I got on a train
within 15 minutes that was a fast train to Florence where I soon was on
another
train to Pistoia. Everything went very smoothly. The difference in Italy
is that one can never depend
upon events to go smoothly.

A Pet Peeve

One of my pet peeves is the metal sink stoppers in bathroom sinks that often
don’t work because the stopper does not seal the hole (metal to metal is
not a great combination to seal a hole –that’s why engines have gaskets)or
the mechanism does not lower the stopper fully into the hole. In the old
days the rubber plug worked much better although it was not esthetically
as attractive. It was also easily replaced.

In Sweden they have a metal stopper that is rubber on the bottom (good
seal)and
which you lower and raise directly by hand (no mechanism to malfunction).
It looks nice and it works every time. A better solution.

Other examples of Swedish ingenuity. There are signs that direct you to
large municipal parking lots. These signs have an electronic counter on
them that tell you how many open spaces are currently available at the lot.
Escalators that run only when you step on them. Toilets that offer the
option
of a half-flush or a full flush to save water. When you enter the airport,
the TV monitor shows you not only the gate of your flight but also the
number
of the window where you check in for the flight (So you don’t have to figure
out where is the counter for X airline.). The wake-up call at the hotel
is not a jarring
telephone ring, but the TV comes on.

One final nice point. I left my Swedish hotel at 5 am to catch a train to
the airport for an early flight. The hotel has a free breakfast buffet, but
it was not open at 5 am. When I told the receptionist that I was leaving
at 5 am, she arranged to have two sandwiches, two drinks, and an orange
packed
and ready to go for me at 5.

Museums

I like to visit museums in small towns because they are often a little
“hokey.”

In Alvdalen I visited the Porphyry–Hagstrom Museum. Porphyry is a very
hard rock that looks like marble. It was mined in this area and made into
items such as vases. The business was not successful, probably because it
is so hard to cut and shape this stone that the labor costs were excessive.

The pieces in the museum were quite nice. After you viewed them, you went
through a door to the “Hagstrom” part of the museum — a museum dedicated
to accordions and guitars made by the Hagstrom Company. Displays of the
instruments
and pictures of many famous accordionists in Sweden with their models and
also guitarists, including Elvis.

Cleanliness

In Sweden there are far fewer trash receptacles on the streets than in
Italy. But the streets and sidewalks are much cleaner. The Italians won’t
bother to throw trash in a receptacle 10 feet away. The Swedes will hold
onto the trash until they come across a receptacle. Another example from
Italy is this. The businesses hire security firms that check on the premises
when the store is closed. The employee of the private security firm leaves
a business card for the firm in the door jamb to verify that the premise
was visited. In the morning an employee opens the door of the business, and
the security company card falls to the ground. Very often it stays there;
the employee does not bend down to pick it up even though this now becomes
waste paper in front of the business itself.

The public bathrooms in Sweden are about 5 times cleaner than in Italy.
When I got to airport in Milan, the first bathroom I went into in Italy
had 3 of the 6 urinals out of order.

Finally in Sweden there are no beggars on the street or semi-beggars (many
people hawking the same goods that almost nobody needs).

But lest one think things are perfect in Sweden and everything is done in
the most environmentally conscious fashion, I should note that the Swedes
drive much bigger (and thus less gas efficient)cars than the Italians do.

Cell Phones

Sweden is supposed to have a very high concentration of cell phones. But
the number of people talking on cell phones on the street, in restuarants,
on buses, etc. is less than one-half of that number in Italy. On the
Eurostar
trains in Italy (which– unlike other Italian trains–both have an intercom
system and use it to announce stops), an announcement is made asking
passengers
not to talk too loudly on their cell phones and to turn down the volume on
their cell phone ringers. This announcement is not needed in Sweden. You
can give the Swedes a phone, but you can’t make them loquacious.

Gospel Choirs

I saw a concert of a Swedish Gospel Choir. Now I’ve seen this music sung
by German, Italians, and Swedes. Maybe I can get a CD contract for “Gospel
Choirs of Europe.” I don’t think it would sell big in USA. But it is clear
that the groups enjoy singing this type of music, and that is great.

Sweden vs. Italy

Since I am half Swedish, I could have decided to move to Sweden instead of
Italy. It would have been difficult to study the Swedish language before
moving there. Despite all the advantages Sweden has over Italy, Italy still
has two big things going for it as compared to Sweden — the weather and
the food. The Swedish winters are a taste I could never acquire. The
people
in Sweden are very nice, but there is a liveliness to life in Italy that is
also very attractive to me.

BACK TO ITALY

Tax Burdens

An item was on the news showing the Italians to be one of the most highly
taxed peoples in the world. I would bet that this rating was based upon tax
rates charged, not on tax revenues actually received per citizen. In Italy
people don’t pay taxes willingly, to get the needed revenues the government
raises the rates; then the people cite the exorbitant rates as a reason for
not paying their taxes fully. The vicious circle goes on and on. Every so
often there is a tax amnesty. Unlike the USA where a tax amnesty allows
you to pay the taxes owed (probably plus interest) without a fine, in Italy
you pay the fine without paying the taxes themselves.

The STRONG dollar

In an earlier newsletter, I suggested that all Americans could unite around
the goal of a strong dollar. I was wrong. Although in the past a STRONG
DOLLAR
was on par with motherhood, apple pie, and the flag, the Bush administration
has suddenly discovered the charms of a weak dollar. Amazingly the
Republicans
in Congress simultaneously made the same discovery. Meanwhile the Democrats
(also all at once) discovered that a strong dollar is in fact MORE IMPORTANT
than mom, apple pie, and the flag.

I can’t say how important a strong dollar is right now for the American
economy. I can say that any economic argument on this point made by a
Republican
or by a Democrat will have as its impetus the gaining of a political
advantage
for the party — not sound economics or what is best for the country. I can
say also that the current WEAK dollar is terrible for Americans traveling
or living abroad. So I urge you to move beyond specious arguments by
politicians
of “what is best for the country” and ask yourself instead a question that
has a clear answer “what is best for Bob Nordvall” Demand that the
administration work to reestablish a strong dollar now.

The Crowded Church

I went to a service at the Cathedral at which two new priests (one of them a
friend of mine) were ordained.  The church was crowded to
capacity–something I had never seen before. One of the two news priests was
a local boy from Pistoia which may explain the crowd.  You could see that
his friends (for whom the last thing in the world they want to be is a nun
or priest) were nevertheless very proud of him.  In the service the people
recite, among other things,  the long Nicene Creed from memory.  In
Protestant churches, where this creed is used, it is read by the
congregation.  One might be fooled into thinking the Italians are truly
religious.  But when I watch my favorite quiz show on TV, I find that I can
answer questions about Catholic Church history that stump the contestants. 
The Italians seem to know what they have memorized as part of the mass–and
little more.

The Half-Crowded Parking Lot

When I went to the supermarket late Sunday afternoon,  I was happy to note
that the parking lot was about half full. I thought the store would not be
crowded.  Actually the store was closed.  Now parking in the lot is for
Customers Only.  Apparently half the spots are taken by neighborhood
residents who use the lot as their private driveway.  Nobody gets towed
away.

City Rivalries

Rivalries between nearby cities are much more intense in Italy than in the
USA.  Graffiti often contain scatological references to citizens of the next
city.  Where I lived in Pennsylvania you did not see graffiti in York, PA
saying nasty things about the people in Harrisburg and vice versa.  Soccer
matches between Italian cities fuel this rivalry, but of course for hundreds
of years these cities in the past were also fighting each other.

SWEDEN

I am in the middle of my trip to Sweden.

First the people are not all blond.  There are immigrants from abroad, but
even among the native Swedes, not everyone is fair skinned and blond.

In Sweden there are fewer signs in English than in Italy, but it is no
problem because almost every Swede under 50 speaks English.  This English is
spoken without any accent.

Many more cars here than in USA have a trailer ch on back, probably used
for boats for the most part.  Sweden reminds one of Minnesota which may
explain why the Swedes migrated to that state.  Many cars also have two
(sometimes three) extra large headlights mounted on the front grill.  These 
are used to give better lighting during the dark months.  The problem in the
middle of Sweden is not so much ting a deer with your car as it is
ting a moose. You can imagine what happens to a car that s a moose
head on.

Speaking of moose, I ate some moose meat at a fine restaurant. It was
delicious.

The School Trip to Stockholm
I rode the train on a car filled with 12 year old students  from Mora,
Sweden  returning from a school trip to Stockholm.  In Stockholm they had
stayed overnight in an elementary school in a working class part of the
city.  The students at the school in Stockholm were almost all “blacks”
which in Sweden means darker people from southern Europe, Eastern Europe, 
the Middle East, or Africa.  The Mora students and the chaperones watched a
soccer match among the students of the school.  Those from Mora were shocked
at the foul language of the players and fans.  As everywhere, the first
words immigrants learn in their new tongue are the bad ones.   When the kids
from Mora entered the school lunchroom, the room went quiet.  The Stockholm
students began asking the ones form Mora where they were from, why they were
there, etc.  It was a great (and not pleasant) shock for the Mora students
to suddenly be “the other” “the minority.”  This may have been a better
educational experience for them than were the museums they visited.

The Royal Ship Vasa

There is a wonderful museum in Stockholm where a 17th Century ship has been
dredged up from the bottom of the harbor and put on display.

In the 1620s the Swedish King ordered a great battleship to be built with
two gun decks.  In the middle of the project the master shipbuilder died,
but his assistant finished the project.  The project was behind schedule,
and the King wrote from Poland (where he was at war) that he wanted the ship
launched by that summer.  As the ship was completed and waiting for a formal
launching, the captain noticed that it was unsteady.  He called the Chief
Admiral of the Navy to come on board.  The captain then had 30 men run from
one side of the ship to the other, back and forth.  He soon had to stop
because the ship was about to keel over.  The Admiral was distressed, but
all he could say was “if only the King were here.”

So the ship was launched as requested by the King.  It immediately keeled
over and sunk in the second gust of wind.  An inquiry was held.  Nobody was
held responsible (probably because they did not want to sack the Chief
Admiral).  In fact, the boat simply was too narrow with too little ballast
for the weight of two gun decks.

We can hear this story and shake our heads at the stupidity of Chief Admiral
and maybe some others.  Fast forward to the time of the Challenger
explosion.  Before the launch there are indications that the O rings will
become too inflexible at low temperatures.  But the launch has been delayed
at least twice and NASA headquarters in Washington is growing impatient. 
The potential problems are disregarded.  The rocket ship is sent up on a
cold day.

There is an inquiry.  But the head of it, William Rogers, has orders from
those above him to try to find out what happened but not to cripple NASA
politically which may happen if it appears that NASA was grossly negligent. 
Scientist Richard Feynman, a member of the inquiry board, demonstrates what
went wrong and why the rocket never should have been launched.  But Feynman
is left to file a minority report. The board of inquiry, under Rogers
leadership, makes sure that NASA is not fatally implicated.

In 450 years, some things in the world haven’t changed at all.

Morality — Swedish Style

I may have mentioned when the Italian actor Alberto Sordi died recently that
he made a very funny film I saw in the 1960s.  It was about an Italian
businessman taking a trip to Sweden.  He has heard about “sexual liberation”
in Sweden and is as excited as a kid in the candy store.  The scenes I
remember best are his running after a naked Swedish woman through the snow
after a Sauna and then his being in a hospital bed with what looked like a
terminal case of pneumonia.

Well morality in Sweden and northern Europe still is a bit different. In
Italy people tend to marry and stay married.  They may live apart. They may
have extra-marital affairs.  For example the opera singer Pavoratti is about
to marry his girlfriend who just had their baby so the child can have “a
family.”  In Sweden people are less likely to get married.  They are more
likely to get divorced.  They are more likely to go from live-in
relationship # 1 to live-in relationship # 2 which may or may not involve
marriage.

————————————————————————

Newsletter number 33

The “Competitive” Italian Economy

Talk to an Italian and he will sing the blues about how high labor costs,
high taxes, and restrictive labor rules in Italy all add up to making Italy
non competitive in the European economy.

Talk to a foreigner (as I did last week to a Dutchman who had lived in
Italy)
and he will tell you that Italy is very competitive in the European economy
because Italian businesses use a very high percentage of illegal immigrant
labor at low cost.

One thing probably is true. If Italians used the energy they expend in
“beating
the system” to improve the system instead, Italy might well be the most
prosperous country in Europe.

Moron Jokes

When I was a child, we told jokes like “Why did the moron throw the clock
out of the window? He wanted to see time fly.” Later these type of jokes
became Polish jokes or Blond jokes. I have a friend who knew someone who
told
these jokes as tite jokes (an extinct people from the Middle East) so
nobody could accuse him of being racist, sexist, or prejudiced.

These jokes seem to exist everywhere. I asked an Italian friend how these
jokes are told in Italy. I would have guessed that they are Albanian jokes
given the low regard for Albanians in Italy. But instead they are
Carabiniere
jokes, told about the Carabiniere, the top level (and I assume most elite)
of Italy’s many police forces. The very next day I heard an Italian tell
one of these jokes and sure enough, it was about a carabiniere.

I’ve written in past about the distaste Italians have for government. This
is just another small example — the group they treat as most stupid in
these
jokes are the employees of a large government agency.

How to Stop a Long Winded Speaker (Method Number 2)

I wrote a while back about how I attended an event where the speaker talked
on and on; soon the audience simply began to ignore the speaker and talk
to each other. He got the hint and stopped.

Last Sunday I saw another Italian technique. I went on a train excursion
to the rural mountain town of Pracchia. This trip was sponsored by the
railroad
company and some local businesses. At Pracchia one of the local officials
welcoming the crowd went into a long speech about the problems of the
mountain
areas of Pistoia. After he went on too long, the crowd suddenly applauded
him as he finished a sentence. But he wasn’t done, so they applauded again
as he finished the next sentence. After three rounds of applause, he got
the hint.

Pracchia

Pracchia is a very attractive mountain town. It once was more important
when it was a major railroad junction. Now most of the people who live there
work elsewhere. This reminded me of my many visits to small towns in Iowa
on my bike trips across that state. The small towns that were doing best
in Iowa had become suburbs to cities nearby. Basically with modern
transportation systems and the decline of a primary agricultural economy
there is no need
for a small town every five miles in Iowa or in Italy.

Pracchia does have one “large” industry — a mineral water bottling plant.
It is fully automated and has only 28 employees.

Paperwork in Italy

It continues to amaze me. At the library one can reserve computer time for
one hour. You go to front desk and present your library card (which must
have your photo on it). The person there (not just any person but a clerk
authorized to make computer reservations) writes your name and card number
on a schedule and gives you a reservation slip, which has to be stamped by
that person. If the reservation is immediate, you then walk 20 feet to the
desk in the computer room and give the clerk the reservation slip. That
person again writes your name and number and a reservation sheet which you
then sign. There are 8 computers in the
computer room. Rarely are more than -3 in use. The reservations for computer
time are in one hour segments beginning at 9, 10, 11, etc. If you arrive at
9:50, you will have to sign up for the last 10 minutes of the 9-10 slot
(even though there is nobody who has reserved the 10:00 slot
for that computer), and at 10 o’clock you have to go to front desk to sign
up again for 10-11 hour.

At the post office a lady arrived to get a registered letter. First, she
presented the slip that she had received in her mail box telling her there
was a registered letter for her. Next she had to present her national
identity
card to prove she was the person named on the slip. Next the clerk wrote
the number from that card and her name onto a list of persons who had picked
up registered
letters. Then he gave her a card to sign. She signed it. Then he gave her
the letter with a second card to sign on it. She signed the second card.
Then she left with her letter.

Nobody Will Mistake Me for An Italian Now

Sometimes Italians do ask me questions in Italian. But now it is summer.
I wear short pants and sometimes sandals. These mark a man as a foreigner.
Italian men don’t wear shorts. I asked why and was told Italian men want
to look only at the legs of women. Well maybe I will give a thrill to a
couple of guys in the Pistoia Gay Alliance.

Roots

My mother’s parents came from the town of Calvello in the Basilicata region
of Italy. This is the smallest and some say the poorest region in Italy.
From my grandparents’ death certificates I have the names of all four of my
maternal
great grandparents. Only one of these names still appears in the Calvello
phone directory (Although obviously there may be relatives of mine who no
longer have any of these names.). I’ve written to the three persons in
Calvello
with the same last name as one of my great grandparents. I’d like to visit
there in the summer. Stay tuned for further developments.

I go to Sweden on Tuesday for a 10 day visit, and while there I will visit
a cousin whom I have never met.

Referendum

There will be a national referendum in June to decide if the law that
requires
an employer to show cause for firing an employee shall be extended to
employers
with less than 15 employees. I don’t know what the effect is of a referendum
vote –if it is only advisory, actually implements the change, or perhaps
in some way restricts the national legislature.

Anyway I read a poster from a group seeking a “yes” vote. Their first
argument
was that not to be fired except for cause was a “right” that all employees
should have and this “right” was more important than any possible negative
economic effects from the change. Some people believe in Italy small
businesses
do not get larger because they want to retain the right to fire employees
without showing cause. Of course whether it is a “right” not to be fired
except for cause is really a political/philosophic question, not an economic
one.

But the poster went onto argue that there would not be negative economic
effects from the expansion of the law. For example, one of the “causes”
for which employees could be laid off would be economic problems of the
business. But most Italians realize that this change would not be a minor
one.In the USA, I think almosT all people agree that some government
regulation of business is necessary and that too much regulation can stifle
business in ways that are economically bad. So in USA there are political
arguments too about what is the right amount of regulation of business. From
my limited view of Italy, it appears that Italy probably errs on the side of
“too much” rather than “too little” regulation, and this is one of reasons
that businesses use a lot of illegal labor. So I would vote “no”
on this issue, but what I think doesn’t matter because I don’t vote.

Big Mac Attack

I found myself near the Pistoia McDonalds, so I stopped in to see if a Big
Mac is different (I hope better) in Italy. As I have noted before, I can’t
understand why any Italian would eat at an American fast food restaurant.
The Italian Big Mac differed in two ways from one in the USA:
1. It took twice as long to get to the counter from the kitchen
2. It cost twice as much ($5.50 USA)

The mystery of why Italians eat at McDonalds remains unsolved.

Soccer Fans and Politics — A Strange Blend

Because the distances are not great, it is common in Italy for fans of a
local soccer team to attend away matches. This, of course, leads to more
inter-fan violence. Recently the following notice was plastered all over
Pistoia. This is aimed at a young and rough crowd.

“Everybody to Arrezzo. For the Honor of our City and Our Colors. Against
Making our City More and More Middle Class. Against Repression of Every
Kind with Our Heads Held High. He Who Rebels is Not Able to Change.”

Now you have to admit that this has a rather philosophical and political
bent for a simple announcement to meet at the train station to go to the
match in Arezzo. A good example of how even simple things become very
flowery or political (and often both) in Italy.

Another example. Rome and Lazio are soccer rivals. When they play the
Lazio fans (hooligans?) have banners with a right wing symbol formerly used
by the Fascists. The Rome fans have banners of the left with Che Guevara’s
picture on them. It is very unlikely that, if they bother to vote, the
Lazio fans all vote for right wing candidates and the Rome fans all vote for
left wing candidates. But somehow political symbols invade the world of
soccer.

The Fragile Package

Recently I mailed to the USA a package with fragile contents. The mailing
slip from Post Office had a place where one could check that the contents
are fragile. I asked the postal clerk if he could stamp “Fragile” on the
box itself. He said no because if you wrote “Fragile” on the box, the
postal system would not accept the package for mailing. Maybe this rule is
limited to international packages, but strange nevertheless.

Safe Bicycle Riding

Although we all loved to ride “no hands” when younger, it is safest to keep
both hands on the handlebars when riding a bike. This is a problem while
talking on your cell phone riding a bike. I saw another similar problem
recently. A lady took one hand off the bars and crossed herself as she
passed a church. Now with the large number of churches in Pistoia, she
could be crossing herself many times during her journey. But we would all
like to
think that God will protect her during these brief moments of piety.

Addendum to Last Week’s Newsletter

I wrote last week about the distrust that Italians have toward the
government. I pointed out that in USA too some people see government as “the
enemy”, but in the USA this sentiment is associated almost exclusively with
the political right (and far right). In Italy this sentiment is pervasive
across the political spectrum.

Stylish Dress

Old people dress much more stylishly in Italy than in the USA. My
stereotype of a senior citizen in the USA is someone in sweat clothes
arriving early at the Mall for the Mall Walk prior to Mall opening. In
general in the USA older folks dress casually; they don’t use the clothes
that they wore to work when they dressed more formally. Not so in Italy.
Here many older people dress in stylish up to date clothes. It can be a
little “over the line” when you see a 65 year old woman on a bike with
bright red hair and leather jeans.

Muscatel Grapes

I bought some at Supermarket. They look like red grapes in the USA. Maybe
red grapes in the USA are also muscatel. But they don’t taste like red
grapes in the USA — they are about twice as tasty.

My Favorite Quiz Show

This week there was a contestant who was American by birth but married to an
Italian. She looked American — attractive with much more of a fresh
scrubbed look than you see in Italy. She was also a bit overweight. She
answered a question about the Italian phrase “buona forchetta” (a good fork)
which means that a person likes to eat a lot. Then the host asked her if she
had “una buona forchetta” — a surprisingly indelicate question looking at
her stature. But everyone was in a good mood, and she said “unfortunately
yes” and that this was probably because she was American.

Pinocchio Park

The author of “Pinocchio” was from nearby Collodi and wrote under the
pseudonym of Collodi. Collodi is a very picturesque village. While there I
visited the Pinocchio Park which is advertised quite widely in Tuscany. It
definitely was “low tech” by American standards. Lots of statues of
characters from the book that you reached through winding paths. The
Italian children and adults seemed to be enjoying it. You really don’t need
all the bells and whistles of videogames and elaborate rides to amuse
children.

Collodi is built on a hill so that to go from the bottom of town to the top
of town is a difficult hike. The church is at the top of town. Going to
church on Sunday must be a taxing excursion. Once any of the infirmities of
old age set in, it would be impossible to attend this church.

Turin

Last week I went to Turin for a day with my friends Mirella and Franco to
see two Egyptian exhibits. Mirella and Franco had recently visited Egypt.
The Italians were active in early excavations in Egypt, and therefore the
Egyptian Museum in Turin has a very fine collection of artifacts.

We drove to Viareggio and took the train from there to Turin. We also could
have taken a direct train from Pistoia to Viareggio, but we drove to save
time on this leg of the trip. With Franco driving on Autostrade at 100 mph,
we did save time.

It was much cleaner than Pistoia. In general as you go north in Europe,
the cities become cleaner.