Torino in August=Ghost Town

Did I win the lottery? Has Christmas come early? Why are they available parking spaces in front of our building? No I’m not in the Twilight Zone; I’m in Torino in August. Everyone is gone, 60-70% of the shops in my neighborhood have closed for vacation. Just as I wrote before about the sales that only happen two times a year, the vacation here in Italy must be taken in August. Offices shut down, stores close, people migrate away from the city and to the seaside. It’s just the way it is here, accept it since you can do nothing about it.

Why on earth would I want to travel at the same time as 60% percent of all the people in the country? Two holidays ago, Liberation Day in Italy we made the awful mistake of leaving the day of the long weekend to Rome. It took us 4.5 hours to get to Geneva, a 1.5 hour drive. One and all were out in full force on the roadways. Deme wanted to leave the night before at 9:30 pm which puts us in Rome at 4:30 am, I said “no” it was too late and I’m still kicking myself. I would have rather sleep a few hours at a rest stop that endure the 10 hours, instead of 6-7 hours with an irate husband behind the wheel. He says that driving helps to calm him down but by the way he was white knuckling the steering wheel and cursing at the other drivers, I tend not to believe him.

We were hoping to take a vacation to sunny Guam this winter but if we do then it won’t be a real vacation but leave from work, maybe unpaid. I feel cloistered by this “rule”. What do you do when you know there is nothing you can do? I guess write about it, complain a bit then sit back, let go and accept it? I’m still not there yet. Now that we're in town we've just been seeing the sights and he's been working on his on-line poker hand, things we don't get to do much when Deme is working during the week.