GP just came back from a conference in Scotland where he and 149 other attendees were dressed in kilts and marched through the streets of Edinburgh.  Oh to have been there!  I miss all the fun...

This morning we left early to clean out all personal effects from the car as it's headed for demolition.  We then had a look for a new one.  I hate car shopping with GP because he loves to barter and it is painful to watch.  He will haggle with a salesman for hours till the poor guy breaks out in a sweat.  I hide in the waiting room or preferably in another state..... Fortunately we were not yet at the haggling point as we now need to wait for monies from the insurance agency to come through. 

It was actually a lovely morning to be out driving.  The dealership that we went to is in a town called Saluzzo, near the mountains and surrounded by fruit orchards, which is the principle enterprise in that area.  It's funny how close agricultural areas are to urban areas.  We live in the first periphery of Torino.  Around Boston we would be Roxbury or Brookline or Cambridge.  Moncalieri has the same population as Brookline, but with about 3 times the area.  However people live much more densely here so nearly all of the population is packed into the small area along the river nearest Torino.  Much of the rest of the city is farmland.  Close behind our condos are cultivated fields and there are vineyards across the road.  5 minutes away, down by a shopping mall, are the beginnings of huge tracts of land dedicated to corn and wheat.  What would be empty lots in the states are small plots of land, divided into gardens.  Any space not built upon is planted upon.  So what would take a good 45 minutes or more from Boston, to reach any area that would be considered "countryside", we can get to in 10.  But what is particularly funny are Northern Italian's attitudes about rural areas.  With few exceptions, towns more than 10 miles from an urban center is not considered a suburb but the middle of frickin' nowhere.  GP who was raised in a town about 12 miles south of Torino was teased terribly by friends in the city for being a country bumpkin.  Long distance commuting is generally not done and as traffic is so terrible around the city it's not very feasible.  It would take ages to get into the center.  People work and live packed tight, in close proximity to urban centers and have their country homes or seaside homes or mountain homes to get away to, (not more than an hour away as can't be too far from civilization).  I remember the first time GP's parents visited us in Maine.  We picked them up in Boston and drove the 3 hours north to Boothbay Harbor.  They were flabbergasted by how far away and remote it was.  I think they were even a little frightened by the miles and miles of driving, the highway bordered by forests.  They'd have had coronaries had we ever taken them up through the state to The County, (for that matter, I find that area a little chilling myself).

Off to do penance for my misdeeds by cleaning the bathrooms and making a nice dinner.  Screw the diet.  Barbequing steak and having wine tonight.  xxoo me