Another encounter with the traffic police

Do you recall when we first got here and parked in the wrong place in Caltegirone and came back to find the tow truck pulled up to the car? Well, today was a de ja vue day.

Our principal, Nadine, had to fly out to go to a friend's funeral and apparently drove around the airport for an hour and a half to try and find a parking place. None to be had. So, finally, in desperation, she parked in a lot but in a part of the lot that was reserved for specific vehicles. Her plane was scheduled to leave in about a half hour and she had to check in at the counter--no room to spare timewise.

She immediately called our friend and school counselor, Le, to ask her to come get the car. Le grabbed Bob and I and we set off for the airport. The directions we had to the car were, "In the old parking lot, near the rental car place, in front of the terminal."----------5000 cars were parked in the lots that fit that description. (Oh, yeah, she left the doors unlocked and the keys in the car--in a major city airport--and--it's a new Saab convertible

So Le went in one lot and I went into another and Bob drove around and around the airport waiting for us to find the car.................up one aisle, down the other, trying the doors of any silver convertibles with black roofs. Luckily we each found only about five and none of them blared out with a car alarm.

Finally, at the back of one of the lots Le found the car but there were several men gathered around it. She was speaking to them in English and they didn't seem to understand so I tried my (very bad) Italian. I guess one guy got tired of trying to make out what I was trying to say because he finally said, "Speak English." We explained that our boss asked us to pick up her car but the end result was the same.

Yup...tow truck and parking ticket. We had to pay 40 Euro ($53) to get out of the lot and Nadine will be paying another 35 Euro ($47) for the parking ticket when she gets back. What a day--what an adventure living here is.