oh la la - 9th May

The effects of the jet lag are yet to have entirely disappeared – arise – 8am – the street is silent – hardly a soul wanders the street – the silence broken only by the clatter of the occasional set of cases being wheeled along by tourists who have completed their Sorrento sojourn – we retire to our comfortable bed!

10 am and the street is alive! – we head off towards the port – we wait at the lift atop the Sorrento cliffs – we feel cold – we are joined by a young Italian courier – he is attired in short sleeves that display his dark skin and toned biceps to maximum effect for this is the start of the tourist season and there are a multitude of young females to be impressed – we chat – we tell him it is cold – where are you from? says he – Australia – then it maybe cold for you!- says he.

We descend to the port – we admire the fortitude of the young girls prepared to expose their skin to the seas breezes in atmospheric conditions would induced their Australian peers to don pullovers and jeans.

We wander past the commercial sunbathing spaces.

We watch the tourists rush to avoid missing their ferry to Capri – we sit in the waterside Cafe - coffee, cake and comedians moonlighting as waiters - all delightful!

We lunch over looking the Bay of Naples – caprese salad - bolognaise a delight!

The jet lag jumps out of nowhere – we retreat to the suite.

We arise conscious that our exercise responsibilities cannot be completely set aside - we wander the Corsa Italia - we reach the end when I have a revelation - I always thought that migrant Italians were just struggling with Australian pronunciation when they talked of hospitals - I now realise thy were just speaking Italian!

We return home to sit on the balcony – we look out over the Trattoria opposite – we command a view of all and sundry as they stroll along below – we listen to the English and the Americans talking about their day – we watch the affluent and the not so affluent stop to study the menu – the not so affluent quickly moving on! – we watch the affluent notice the Michelin sign and move inside!

We turn out attention away from the Trattoria and direct it to the stream of pedestrian traffic that passes below us - we attempt to make sense of the utterances of the speakers of other languages – we listen in awe at the output of this multilingual oral orchestra – love it!

We look down at the people some more – a woman passes by encumbered by a chest portal of extraordinary proportions rendered even more extraordinary by paucity of covering fabric – we feel like we are voyeurers – our concerns dissipate as a young girl and her partner approach from the opposite direction – the girl looks at her partner – slaps her hands on  her breasts and on the top of her voices yells “oh la la” – clearly we were not the only ones who noticed!

Poor old granddad

I laughed at all his words

I thought he was a bitter man

He spoke of woman's ways

They'll trap you, then they use you
Before you even know
For love is blind and you're far too kind
Don't ever let it show

I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now
When I was stronger

Ooh La La lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

Our attention turns to the neighbouring restaurant spruiker – he tries and he tries but has little success in attracting the passing traffic – we hear him complain to his friends “why are people so unkind” – “people have no sense of humour” – we resolve to walk past him one evening and allow him to cajole us into his establishment.

Another glass of prosecco and yet another glass – a delightful day!