Ladies & Their Dogs

Buon Giorno - Let me sneak in two very short dog stories & a bank story before the ragazzi arise.

1) Motorcycle Nonna - We have a car this week and went out to the Italian version of Costco to stock up because it is kind of a pain to do using taxis and buses. (Of course when we got there they were closed because it was Monday morning - haven't quite figured that out, but that is just part of Italian shopping.) It is on a very busy street, like Woodward for you Detroiters, 6 lanes and a turn lane, the main shopping drag of a mall, sports equipment store, Mediaworld (kind of like a Best Buy or Circuit City), etc. We pulled up to the red light and stopped in front of us was a woman, easily in her late 60's on a full size motorcycle. While we are used to seeing all kinds of people on motorbikes, motorcycles and motor scooters, it is not often that they are with their dogs. This lady had her little dog, about the size of a beagle, sitting right at her feet (he must have been in some kind of little basket, but we couldn't see it from our angle). He was just looking around very nonchalantly. The light turned green and off they zoomed. As Nick so aptly put it, "That is sooooo Italian!"

2) Dogs Who Shop - Last night while standing in line at the very crowded Costco (it was finally open), a woman asked me if she could cut in front of me in line because she only had 3 things and I had a big cart, but more important she was also holding her little dog in her arms who was quivering - honestly, it was so crowded and noisy in there I wanted to quiver a little myself. So, of course I let her go ahead of me and we chatted (she had very good English because as she told me, her father was British and her mother was Italian). At this point a security guard approached her and told her she was going to have to leave because dogs were not allowed in a grocery store (can you imagine?). I could only understand about a third of the conversation between her and the security guard but it was something like,

"I'm sorry signora, no dogs allowed you have to leave."
"But I'm next in line and will be done in a minute"
"I'm sorry signora, no dogs allowed you have to leave."
"But aren't dogs are allowed in the main part of the mall."
"I'm sorry signora, no dogs allowed you have to leave."
"I'm going to pay for my 3 things and leave after that."
"I'm sorry signora, no dogs allowed you have to leave."
"I will leave when I'm done."

The security guard finally walked away out of sheer frustration - what could he do? She just rolled her eyes and gave me and the cashier a little triumphant smirk. You can't manhandle a 50 year old woman and her quivering little dog in line at the Costco in front of the hoardes of children who were all smiling and enjoying watching a little dog at the checkout. We all had a good giggle.

And one more fun vignette about life . . .
On Tuesday we were heading out for Aqua Paradise, basically a water park on steriods for the day. Its 90 degrees here again, school starts in a couple of days and we thought it would be a nice way to end the summer. We stopped at the bank to get some cash (almost all places prefer cash, and while some tourist places accept credit cards, it really is best to just have a big wad of cash with you at all times). The ATM was "non-funzione," and we were at the branch where we have an account. I went in to see if the Alessandra who opened our account for us was in and could let me make a withdrawal. She was not at work that day, so a teller stopped me and told me no problem, I could just make a withdrawal. I proceeded to tell her I didn't have my "documenti" and would go get my husband out in the car who did. She said no problem, what is your name? I had nothing other than my ATM card which is really no ID at all and this woman had never seen me before. I gave her my name, she looked up the account and proceeded to let me withdraw my 200 euro (about $240) and sent me on my way. Ah, the congenial nature of Italia . . .