Further thoughts on Roma

Editor: A selection of random comments about Rome and some of the funny things we saw:

No wonder that there aren’t enough Catholic priests out in the parish churches of the world. They are all in Rome, not quite sure what they are doing, but there are crowds of them. So, we wondered, what do you call a group of priests? It can’t be a flock, so maybe a parade of priests, or a cackle of clergy, a concave of clerics?  This amused us on the day of the strike, when everyone was out walking as there was no public transport.

The lack of customer service by public servants, at the metro station, or anywhere really. Unless they were trying to sell you something, like lunch at 10 in the morning, or a sunhat when you were already wearing one, or a tour of the Vatican when you were exiting the Vatican, most were more interested in finishing their chat, or talking on their mobile for 5 minutes, while the queues got longer. Rossana, our host at the B&B, blamed it on centuries of Catholic influence, where you could pile up a list of transgressions, and then confess at any of the many churches, without any one parish priest thinking you were a great sinner. And further to that, we counted a church every 250 metres or so along one cstreet. Rome must surely be the city of a thousand churches.

Then there were the public toilets, or actually lack of them. We found two, the first one with a huge queue of women stretching past the men’s, which was really convenient for girls, who could chat to their male friends while they went about their business with the door open! The second, where the male attendant only let women in while he stood inside. He wouldn’t let the males in to the men’s at all, much to the bemusement of many of the foreign tourists, who queried what they were supposed to do.

And finally, the parking. We actually saw a couple of guys pushing an empty parked car along so it was jammed against the bumper of the car in front, so they could park their own vehicle. We were told that you always leave your car with the handbrake off so that it can be moved for this reason. No wonder people drive such small cars.

And then there is this – what were they thinking?!? (Would you like gravy with your falcon breast, sir? …or just a peck on the cheek?)