#30: Lower Your Voices!
Buongiorno Nonni!
This week has flown by, although I can't actually think why. I guess we've been busy?
We're mentally preparing ourselves to move house in a few weeks, now that the administrative tasks of signing a new rental agreement are complete. No small feat!
I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that we actually do have quite a lot of things we'll need to haul across to the new apartment. At first, I was cheered by the fact that we don't have to move furniture, as our apartment is furnished. We only arrived here a few months ago with five bags, so how bad could it be? As I look around the house though, I see just how much we've managed to accumulate.
We're very excited about the new place though, despite the impending doom of moving. It is going to be a different perspective of life in Lucca. This time we will be just outside the walls, in a far more local area. A lot of our neighbours on Via del Fosso are foreigners.
This new apartment is in a small building with four flats, and the whole thing is owned by the bisnonna who lives on the ground floor. She is lovely, and very excited to have our two bambini just upstairs. Already I am sure that the whole experience will give me plenty to write about, à la Tim Parks' Italian Neighbours.
I had a great day out on the weekend with a small group of friends I've made here in Lucca. We went to a nearby thermal spa to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls. The spa consisted mostly of indoor and outdoor pools, all heated to a delightful temperature. The main outdoor pool had a swim-up bar, which was packed from the moment the place opened at 10am!
The combination of the bar, the large size of the venue, and the fact that it was full of Italians, meant that it was not quiet. Everyone was chatting away and having a generally lovely time. Unfortunately this was very much against the rules of the spa, which called for the space to be kept quiet so that people could relax. Based on my experience so far, Italians don't relax by being quiet!
In Australia, when you're being too noisy, you will generally find yourself quietly approached by a staff member and asked (in a very passive aggressive whisper) to please keep your voices down. Unless you are highly obnoxious, this generally brings you back to a quieter volume. In fact, it is the same advice parents are given to deal with screaming children. If you yell, you will only escalate the situation further. The best response to a tantrum is a very low voice.
Anyway, clearly the staff at the spa are not up to date on the latest parenting advice. Whenever they deemed that the patrons were getting too rowdy, they would stand on the edge of the pool and yell at length at the top of their lungs for everyone to shut up. If they'd had a wooden spoon and a pan, you know they would have been clanging them together to make the point. It was quite hilarious, and totally ineffective. And yet, it continued to happen at fairly regular intervals throughout the day.
It was perfect.
All my love!
