Grumpy Old Men

  Nothing, but then I am not a grumpy old woman. Actually its an interesting topic you raise Mr Mustard, I have noticed a large amount of grumpy old ex/pat male Brits here who moan all the time, one wonders why they chose to live in Italy if they dislike it so much, or perhaps they would be a bunch of moaning minnies wherever they lived?Anyone else noticed this trait?.......

Post offices!  I can cope with the erratic queuing system.  In fact I like it.  You get to talk to everyone.  But the other day we tried paying in a foreign cheque into our account, which was almost beyond them.  The queue behind us was getting longer and longer.  But what really topped it was when we asked for a couple of 65 cent stamps.  It took them longer to find the stamps then processing the cheque!  In a post office for crying out loud!

  You see I dont think queuing is erratic here ( in my area of Marche), everyone knows their place, be it doctors surgery or supermarket, they are always counting who is next, and our PO doesnt have any problem with stamps, am I living in a time warp here?, and foreign cheques no problem at out bank. Better not say where I live (dont tell Sarah) or will be inundated with moaning minnies, keen to find fault.

  I've noticed there are a few  grumpies who visit the forum but do they actually live in Italy or are they grumpy because they don't?  There's a hell of a lot live here on the south coast too!!!!! My gripe as an English personage is not getting enough vegetables with dinner.

I agree with the veggie shortage problem. We eat out & never see a single veg. We ask if they have any contorni & they say "yes we have chips, green salad or tomato salad". I've been coming here since before I was born & can't remember being deprived of veg as a kid. It was the meat course that was sparse cos meat was expensive. Has Italian food preferences really changed away from veg or is it that menus without contorni are cheaper labourwise to produce? I agree with what Mustard says. You need to have passion to gripe about something you love. People with perfect lives are not to be believed or emulated. Pilch

I've nothing really to whinge or moan about particularly, as we chose to live here and you have to accept things; warts and all, What has caused me to be perplexed however; 1.We live in a small development where the road is wide enough to park cars on both sides. The council came along recently and marked out the nice white lined boxes in which; theoretically; we are expected to park our cars. Before the white lines we and our neighbours (side and front) were able to park successfully without causing hassle regards space etc. In total there's 11 cars when we're all in. Now we have 7 spaces for 11 cars. How does that work then Mr Mayor? Needless to say the footpaths are in such a disasterous state of repair that although the white lines are beautiful, you risk life and limb trying to walk up the footpath, and we are 'able bodied'. (That's if you could do anyway due to the cars and lorries parked actually on the footpath). Heaven help anyone partially sighted, in a wheelchair, or a Mum with a pushchair or pram. 2.Every Tuesday morning the council road sweepers comes around. Generally I've seen these lovely giant sweeper and hoovers clean the gutters etc. Instead however we have a bloke with a giant blower who squeezes between cars blowing the rubbish into the middle of the road for his colleague to then collect with his Mad Max hoover. 3.On the footpaths near our house they have positioned the rubbish bins so that anyone wishing to place their rubbish in the bin has to stand well into the Salaria road. Sunday mornings particularly you're an easy target for the realms of flourescent cyclists who are intent on blocking the roads for motorists whilst pedalling away completely oblivious to cars that may be trying to overtake. And don't let's mention how these brightly coloured weekend athletes behave at (for them non existent) traffic lights. Bah humbug....

Angie & Robert, I said I like the queuing system.  People do know their place but prefer to stand in various places dotted around chatting to their mates. Andrew, that did sound like a whinge to me...

  Sorry Heiko, must have thought erratic=bad, but I know what you mean now. The thread did say "grumpy", nothing makes me grumpy but some things make me angry and upset, I dislike the unmanaged hunting, especially the killing of migrant birds, and I loath the casual cruelty that some Italians have with regard to animal welfare, just to clarify that I am not unaware of deeper and darker issues that this country raises for those who live here.

 OK...these are mine.... (1) The post office. Been covered above..... (2) 'I could have done this/that cheaper'. Conversation goes something like this. 'But your quote was 30% more expensive than anyone else'. ' I could still have done it cheaper though, you only had to ask'. (3) Follows on from (2). 'If only you had taken my advice'.... Not a bad life though......

 Our house purchase took place after about four years of searching, massive and over running building works and costs, banckrupcies and a lot of other stuff besides, three years after owning the property we are nearly there, it has been a charachter building experiance (wouldnt swap it for anything thou). So what do I dislike - Listening to people that tell me they got off the plane, bought the first house they saw and have lived happily ever after!!