This Weekend

So much to write about this weekend, but the weekend itself wasn’t that exciting. You know how I always complain about the wind here well now I have some proof it’s bad. Two fishermen were killed this weekend in Taranto when they were blown overboard. It wasn’t a thunderstorm or hurricane, just wind and waves and these were professional fishermen that battle the seas almost everyday. Locally there is a new store in town. Something finally moved into the empty McDonalds that was right on Corso Garibaldi near the sea front. It’s the last thing I would have expected. It’s a 99 cent store. Next door there are stores with watches for 2,000 euro and suits but in the new store everything is 1 euro or less. I wonder how long it will last. I give it 5 months maybe 6 because by summer it’s gone because there are too many street vendors selling the same sort of crap. By the way the dollar is coming back slowly on the euro. It’s now at 1.17 euro to a dollar. It was up to 1.33 euro to a dollar a few months ago. 1:1 would be so nice. There is a big mystery in town for me. Daniele, owner of the Big Ben Pub, is “missing”. Thursday night I went there for a great band and was surprised to find Ottavio working there along with Manuela and Floriana. Now this is whole cast from Ottavio’s new pub “Alla Corte Di Bacco”. I thought the two had ended their business arrangement at the Big Ben. All I could find out was that Daniele had to go to Spain and it’s not a planned trip. I’m sure they know the whole story and they’re just not telling me. So right now Ottavio is running both bars. I must find the answer to this mystery. When Daniele gets back I’m sure he’ll have a great story but I don’t think he’ll tell me the truth. Another strange point is that I smelled fresh cut grass today at work. We don’t have grass in the summer because it’s too dry. Now between Thanksgiving and Christmas I smell fresh cut grass.