FINALLY PORTOFINO

DAY 40…..Greece the First Time

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Key West Lou

Today is special.

It is my birthday.

Seventy seven years.

A long time. Who would have thought. I still remember my young years like yesterday.

My father recently passed on at 98. His father at 94. It appears the genes may be good. I hope.

The weather. I have not spoken of it in ages. Here in mid Italy, it is reported in the following fashion. There is a heat wave coming up from Africa. When the heat wave hits the Mediterranean, the humidity will increase. Rain is also expected coming down from the Alps.

I share the weather report so you can compare it with those in the U.S. Generally the same description wise. Only the names are different.

Yesterday, I finally made Portofino. It is as good as they say, if not better. Magnificent. Beautiful.

You can feel the wealth. Huge yachts. Smart people. High end clothing shops. Everything perfect. The buildings, boats and cafes neat and orderly.

Portofino appeared to me as if it were a finely mowed lawn. Perfection!

The private homes on the hillside equally magnificent. Obviously equally expensive. Terrific shrubbery. All neatly manicured.

The negative with Portofino is that it is too expensive. Outrageous price wise. I had a gin and tonic. Seventeen euros. Roughly $20 American money.

An ordinary millionaire could not afford to live in Portofino. It is only for the very very rich.

I took a cab to Portofino. Decided to treat myself well. The thought of a train and bus really did not excite me.

The cab cost 40 euro. Not bad for a 15-20 minute drive from one town to another. We had to go up one side of Mount Portofino and down the other.

The return trip was not as easy.

I figured I would take a cab back to Camogli. I went to the cab stand. Four cabs. All beautiful. BMWs and Mercedes.

I asked the fare back to Camogli. One hundred euros. I explained I had only paid 40 euros to get there. They did not care. The cab drivers were polite, but adamant. One hundred euros or stay in Portofino.

I sat down on a bench beneath a nearby tree. What to do? I really would have been pissed off if I had to go 100 euros.

Then I saw a sign. Bus stop. At that instance, the bus came. I got on and made sure it would take me to the metro railway station in St. Margery. I probably spelled the name wrong.

I was assured it would. The cost: 1.5 euros. A deal!

I enjoyed the ride. A large comfortable air conditioned bus. Many lovelies in the their bikinis.

The bus dropped me off in front of the metro station. I went in to the counter. A ticket to Camogli, please. Three euro. I bought it. So far I had spent a measly 4.5 euros to return to Camogli.

The person behind the counter told me to hurry. The train was just arriving. I ran out and got on. One stop later I was in Camogli.

The train dropped me off at the internet store I have been using each morning to do the blog. The streets beyond are blocked off. Only pedestrian traffic permitted. A shot walk and I was at my apartment.

On rising this morning, I watched a little TV. No English speaking channels. I came upon the Wizard of Oz. In Italian. However, the songs/singing were in English with Italian sub titles. The movie was easy to follow. I must have seen it a 100 times already.

I have been enjoying breakfast at a little cafe by the sea. Tiny inside. Three small tables outside. Rosalie, sometimes Rosalia, has been taking care of me. A short thin woman in her mid 50s.

I told her today was my birthday. I was 77 years old. She started pulling on my left ear lobe. Seventy seven times. For good luck. She said that was the Italian way.

I explained how we spank in the U.S. She thought that was strange. I did not tell her that pulling on my ear lobe 77 times was strange to me.

How will I spend the rest of my birthday? Anything special? I do not know. I will take today like every day. As it comes.

An observation. Middle aged and older women dress well in this area. Nice dresses, suits and hats. Looking at them is like viewing a fashion show. This is the Italian Riviera.

Enjoy your day!

The veneer is wearing off. With the Democrats in control, new faces are coming to the forefront. One obviously Joe Manchin.

I called it right! The man is on a power trip. Well aware how valuable one vote is to Senate Democrats.

He beat up his party and Biden. Finally got what he wanted. Which was minuscule in comparison to what he had been talking about and everyone anticipated him holding out for.

Then having succeeded in his power grab, he wasted another 10 hours of everyone’s time. No one, Democrat or Republican, understood what he was looking for. Even his cohort in the power game Arizona Senator Sinema.

Whatever, the game should be over today or tomorrow. The Senate will vote today. The Democrats will win what will be a party line vote. Then to Biden’s desk for signing.

Biden did well in this battle. He succeeded with what will be one of the most important new laws over the next 4 years. Imagine, a stimulus bill roughly $1.9 trillion. Worth it. Needed. It will take every dollar to help the unemployed and put this country back on its feet economically.

I view Biden’s success with the stimulus bill as significant as with Obama’s passage of Obama Care.

If you live in Key West. what I am about to relate will interest you. Elsewhere, I am not sure.

Termites and cockroaches are a Key West problem. We try to live in harmony with them.

Termites are expensive. A house tenting to get rid of them costs $4,000 to $5,000. For many homes, required every 10 years. Cockroaches handled by a person’s monthly bug control company.

I learned today that termites evolved from cockroaches 150 million years ago.

Difficult to believe, though I accept it as truth. The size of a termite compared to a cockroach is a thousands times different. Termites so tony in comparison to the 1-2 inch cockroach.

When it rains, it pours! Boeing can’t seem to get out of trouble.

Thursday, a 737 Boeing made an emergency landing after an engine shut down. The flight was Miami-Newark when the pilot shut down one engine over a possible mechanical issue.

The flight landed safely in Newark.

Enjoy your day!

21 comments on “FINALLY PORTOFINO

  1. How com nobody is talking about Joe Manchin’s daughter, who is president of the EpiPen company and the one who raised it’s price over 600%

  2. It seems that if you make $150k a year and still need the stimulus money, you must have a lot bigger problems than covid.

      • We were still $21 trillion in debt, but, it would have been to have avoided the pandemic. For that though, blame the chinese. Their response was criminal.

        • No, your hatred for the Chinese and willingness to believe ANY lie told to you by Trump’s handlers to avoid his incompetence, is pathetic.

          You need to work more on your comprehension issues and seek help for you hate disorder and a little less time covering for a failed president with lies and political spinning on other peoples blogs.

          You should also work what is criminal and what is not criminal.

        • Venezuela’s problem is not socialism, it’s authoritarianism – a strict and corrupt dictator.

          And yes, we WERE going down that dangerous path with Trump in power. But we’ve made some changes, endured a violent reaction and are NOW heading back into a better place.

          You should adjust your “Chicken Little” trolling with respect to the truth and reality if you want to be respected, or place your inaccurate posts on one of the Qanon blogs

      • Well, it wasn’t just Democrats. There were a lot of unhappy Republicans and broad thinking Libertarians how crossed over from voting republican, which is what made for such a large victory for change AWAY from a dictator government here in America. Now it’s time to rebuild our country back to the greatness it once was.

  3. Just who has comprehension issues ? Anyone not believing the virus started in china and was allowed to spread worldwide is simply clueless.

    • Well, its not Sandy. But, tell us, just where and how did this virus come about and spread ? Regale us with your wisdom.

  4. ” Give it up! on March 7, 2021 at 3:20 am said:
    Oh Sandy, you insufferable troll, still at it with all the lies and China hate bate? ”

    Crickets. I thought so. Blather on with nothing to back up statements because you can’t.

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