11360 Bad Weather - Good Neighbours

We had a very uplifting experience on our last day at the house before we travelled back to the UK.

I woke up to find it was snowing heavily, so got up and moved the car up the hill to the village car park near to the road down to civilisation, that is usually kept clear by 'snowploughs'.

Later in the day - just before we were to set off, we popped into give our neighbour a 'welcome to the world' toy to their 4 day old first child, who had just come home from the maternity hospital. Whilst I was there, I asked if I could borrow a large shovel to clear some of the snow from around the car, and immediately 4 family members [who were also paying their respects to the newborn] insisted on helping me clear the snow. They then insisted that the snow chains that I had with the hire car be fitted - which they did for me [took the 4 of them about 30 minutes to do]. They all agreed, after discussions with a passing snowplough driver, that I should be able to take the chains off when I reached the lower roads around the lake [Lake Orta].

With the chains on, I was able to drive back to the house to load up the luggage, and just as we were leaving one of the 'visitors' dashed out to say that they had phoned a relative who lived near the airport [Malpensa] and the roads were bad there and we would need to keep the chains on all the way. They were right - if I had taken the chains off when the roads did clear a bit by the lake, I would have been in trouble later on - even the motorway needed the chains

The result - a relatively easy and stress free trip back to the airport, and even more friends made at our holiday home. I do love the way the Italian people accept us into the community - even though we are only holidaymakers - something that I am not sure would happen in the UK.

[PS - I hope they enjoyed the bottle of Scotch that I gave them as a 'thank you' - I didn't know what else to do]

.

Category
General chat about Italy

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 06:03

And people ask why you want to live in italy.
Great story, thanks.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 13:22

That's the best (and nicest) post you've ever written Alan. Thanks.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 13:35

Yeah - great story Alan and borne out by many of us all around Italy. Imagine if that had been Liverpool (randon UK city and I certainly have nothing against Scouser benefit fraudy types eh, eh. eh) they would have had you house empied whilst they were helping you with the chains.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 01/08/2009 - 13:38

Don't be silly Ghianda - Scousers would have had the car off you as well as ransacking the house! :bigergrin:

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/09/2009 - 17:37

A really heartwarming story Alan, thanks.

I also think the fact that you make gestures like giving your neighbours baby a present also explains why you are so well received there. If there were more like you, I think the reputation of 'brits abroad' would be markedly better...

This is a lovely story and demonstrates just how welcoming Italians can be to us stranieri.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 04:30

[quote=barrov;107695]I also think the fact that you make gestures like giving your neighbours baby a present also explains why you are so well received there.
This is a lovely story and demonstrates just how welcoming Italians can be to us stranieri.[/quote]

I couldn't agree more. In an effort to be accepted by our neighbours I guess we possibly made more of an effort initially than we would have done back in Britain, I somehow (stupidly perhaps) felt we needed to being foreigners. But it worked and we very quickly felt part of the community. They also pay us so many kindnesses in return: when my OH's away the old Piaggio Boys drop by daily to see if there's anything they can do for me around their house, one even came out in the pouring rain last autumn during a storm when the electricity was down for several hours and insisted I came back and sat with him and his wife by their fire. Our neighbours are not just welcoming, they're genuinely interested in us and our lives as much as we are in theirs.