Here's a slice of life from our time here in Milan: Anytime you walk down the street and see something and your first thought is "wait, that can't be..." you're wrong. It can, and it probably is.
Lots of things happen in day-to-day life in cities that defy logic, but Milan is leading the charge and blowing four years in Chicago out of the water. Allow me to give you some examples.
Wait, is that car parked on the sidewalk? Yes it is. Not only is it parked on the sidewalk, it's actually parked beside another car that's parallel parked a full four feet from the curb.
Wait, is that guy smoking a joint as he walks past an elementary school? Yes he is. This happened in front of me last night on my way home from work. He was in his 40s or 50s and looked relatively put-together, so this wasn't a homeless man who had no respect for anything. Just a dude smokin a joint.
Wait, does that person have a dog-poo bag in their pocket and they're just leaving the poo on the sidewalk anyway? Yes. There's not much more to say about this one.
Wait, is that person smoking on the tarmac at the airport? Yes she is. This happened in front of our eyes after our flight back from somewhere. One of the joys of flying Ryanair is that you don't get to pull up to the terminal, you instead park on the tarmac and are ushered in either by bus or on foot. We took a bus, and in the 50 feet between the bus and the entry to the building, a woman stopped next to the no smoking signs to fire up a cigarette. It was really impressive. The workers were dumbfounded, but this is probably not uncommon in Italy as virtually everyone smokes. Everywhere.
Wait, does the metro train really stop running on Friday afternoons? Yes it does. Supposedly this is a "strike" but it is known to happen every Friday over summer and it happens much less often over winter. I don't think I need to continue spelling out the reasoning at this point.
Wait, is that *another* sushi restaurant? Yes it is. For all the talk about Italian food being the best stuff in the world (and I do love Italian food), Milan is made up almost entirely of sushi restaurants and Turkish kebap places that serve pizza as well. This is not a joke. Most of the pizza places in Milan are not Italian, as a quick search of their version of Grubhub (justeat.it) will show. Sushi places are also on every block, offering all-you-can-eat menus to appeal to fatties like me. Shockingly I've not gone to one.
Wait, is that an entire team of police officers standing still and doing nothing? Of course it is. I've never seen a Milanese police officer by him or herself. I can remember one occasion when I saw a pair of them on the metro and seemed to be patrolling a beat and that was a shock. Normally I see groups of 6-20 of them standing in a circle, looking at their phones, smoking cigarettes, and talking. Sometimes this is in touristy areas, sometimes it's not. The residents are pretty certain that the cops are corrupt anyway, so it doesn't really matter, but it's interesting to see 5 cop cars in an area and 0 cops surveying their surroundings (except to ogle women).
So you see, anything is possible in this old-fashioned country. Laws are nearly impossible to pass, I'm told, because the church carries monumental sway. On the bright side, the laws don't seem to be terribly well-enforced, so that's a nice upside.
Lots of things happen in day-to-day life in cities that defy logic, but Milan is leading the charge and blowing four years in Chicago out of the water. Allow me to give you some examples.
Wait, is that car parked on the sidewalk? Yes it is. Not only is it parked on the sidewalk, it's actually parked beside another car that's parallel parked a full four feet from the curb.
Wait, is that guy smoking a joint as he walks past an elementary school? Yes he is. This happened in front of me last night on my way home from work. He was in his 40s or 50s and looked relatively put-together, so this wasn't a homeless man who had no respect for anything. Just a dude smokin a joint.
Wait, does that person have a dog-poo bag in their pocket and they're just leaving the poo on the sidewalk anyway? Yes. There's not much more to say about this one.
Wait, is that person smoking on the tarmac at the airport? Yes she is. This happened in front of our eyes after our flight back from somewhere. One of the joys of flying Ryanair is that you don't get to pull up to the terminal, you instead park on the tarmac and are ushered in either by bus or on foot. We took a bus, and in the 50 feet between the bus and the entry to the building, a woman stopped next to the no smoking signs to fire up a cigarette. It was really impressive. The workers were dumbfounded, but this is probably not uncommon in Italy as virtually everyone smokes. Everywhere.
Wait, does the metro train really stop running on Friday afternoons? Yes it does. Supposedly this is a "strike" but it is known to happen every Friday over summer and it happens much less often over winter. I don't think I need to continue spelling out the reasoning at this point.
Wait, is that *another* sushi restaurant? Yes it is. For all the talk about Italian food being the best stuff in the world (and I do love Italian food), Milan is made up almost entirely of sushi restaurants and Turkish kebap places that serve pizza as well. This is not a joke. Most of the pizza places in Milan are not Italian, as a quick search of their version of Grubhub (justeat.it) will show. Sushi places are also on every block, offering all-you-can-eat menus to appeal to fatties like me. Shockingly I've not gone to one.
Wait, is that an entire team of police officers standing still and doing nothing? Of course it is. I've never seen a Milanese police officer by him or herself. I can remember one occasion when I saw a pair of them on the metro and seemed to be patrolling a beat and that was a shock. Normally I see groups of 6-20 of them standing in a circle, looking at their phones, smoking cigarettes, and talking. Sometimes this is in touristy areas, sometimes it's not. The residents are pretty certain that the cops are corrupt anyway, so it doesn't really matter, but it's interesting to see 5 cop cars in an area and 0 cops surveying their surroundings (except to ogle women).
So you see, anything is possible in this old-fashioned country. Laws are nearly impossible to pass, I'm told, because the church carries monumental sway. On the bright side, the laws don't seem to be terribly well-enforced, so that's a nice upside.
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