It's not a day for man nor beast!  It's rained so much, the low areas look like rice paddies.  Good day to stay home and recover from a wee bit of exaggeration last night.  We went to dinner at an old friend's house out in the wine region.   R is a real renaissance man.  He knows a little bit about every topic, he studied Classics, he plays the piano, sings, he's a fantastic cook and dresses like an English country gentleman.  Even as a young guy he wore wool buttoned vests and ties on all occasions.  He has had about 10 careers, from door to door air conditioner salesman to hotel owner.  He's successful at everything for a year or two and then gets bored and moves on to something else.  When we lived here the first time around he had a wonderful restaurant that was our favorite weekend haunt.  We could tell it was coming to the end of a good thing when he spent a Saturday night watching a football match instead of in the restaurant dining-room.  Now he works for a customs office and remarkably has been there for some years.  Anyhow, he cooked us an amazing dinner with stuffed pasta in mushroom sauce, wild boar cooked with pears, carrots and zucchini, and lots and lots of wine.  His uncle shot the boar, many of which live in the wooded areas around the vineyards.  The boars, not uncles.  R entertained us with stories all evening which got progressively hilarious with each bottle of wine.  Fun was had by all.  (Not that I'm encouraging drinking mind you.  Not with all the pickled apples on our family tree!)  This is what really struck me however.  R had an accident last week where he hit a guardrail.  As he is covered only by liability, he'd have to pay a bundle to repair his car.  But being Italy, he asked around and found a friend who "knows a guy".  This person is a mechanic with an auto body shop who sets up fake accidents.  He finds a customer who is willing to take the blame for an "accident", does what needs to be done to the cars for the insurance photos, charges the insurance company 3 times more than he normally would and splits the profit the "guilty" driver.  R gets his car repaired at no cost and everyone is happy.  Serious insurance fraud and the way of the world here.  In Italy it's very important to "know a guy".  Everyone does.  Except me.  GP always asks, "don't you know a guy who...?".  Nope.  In the States, as far as I know, that kind of guy exchange doesn't happen.  At least not in my world.  I felt like I'd been transported to the set of The Sopranos listening to them talk last night.  I said, "Since when do you know GUYS!?"  And lovely poetry quoting, ballad singing R answers, "Oh I know guys alright.  Or at least guys who know guys."   Gadzooks!  xxoo me