A fine time for tourism!

I haven’t seen any statistics but I should say that a prodigious amount of rain fell around her yesterday. Until then any rain that fell had been of the drizzly, damp hanging in the air sort of rain, summer rain, in fact. This was serious stuff - la tromba - coming down in stair rods and battering anything that got in its way. So much for August!

Today has been rather better. So far anyway! I woke up to grey skies but at least it was not raining, although rain was forecast for later in the day. But by midday the sun was trying to come out. It’s a good job we are not sun worshippers who want to go to the beach every day. The beaches around here are, however, very fine and worth visiting. That cannot be denied but if guaranteed sunshine is what you are after, maybe this is not the place to spend your holidays.

Note to self: take umbrella AND raincoat in case if further torrential downpours!

The love-hate relationship with tourists continues in some big tourist hot-spots. The latest I read is that in Rome police are moving people on if they sit down on the Spanish Steps. You can be fined for loitering. I can understand the authorise not wanting folk to stop and picnic there, to get out their camping stoves like the pair did in Venice. However, sitting down for a bit of a rest when you have walked around Rome on a hot day and finally reached the Spanish Steps and feel daunted just by the sight of them. And there are always loads of people there; it’s in their nature to be crowded. After all, Joni Mitchell sang about it!

Here’s a list of ways to get in trouble in Italy.

 “As Rome and other Italian cities continue their crackdown on “uncouth” behaviour, you might get in trouble if you do any of the following:

•  “Messy eating” or “camping out” on piazzas or the steps of monuments. 
•  Singing, while drunk, on public transport. 
•  Wrapping your mouth around the nozzle of a drinking fountain. 
•  Walking around bare-chested. Dragging wheeled suitcases and buggies down historic staircases. 
•  Jumping into fountains. 
•  Dipping your toes into a canal in Venice. 
•  Feeding pigeons in Venice. Building sandcastles in Eraclea, a beach town near Venice.
•  Wearing noisy shoes in Capri (wooden clogs have been banned since 1960).” 

I suppose we all want our places of residence to be as perfect as possible. Even in non-tourist places I have read that they are trying to ban swearing in public. Now, that is a hard one! And Salford, not really a top tourist venue, has recently given up on the idea, rescinding the ban, probably because it was just too difficultmtompolice. “Introduced by the city council in 2016, the public spaces protection order (PSPO) outlawed “foul and abusive” language in Salford Quays, the former site of the Manchester Docks that has now been transformed by upscale developments. Offenders faced an on-the-spot fine, which could increase to £1,000. The order immediately alarmed critics and free speech campaigners. What, after all, constituted foul language? Would a “bloody hell” get you into trouble? Could you be fined for a “damn”?”

 There you go!