When living in a foreign country, you get used to a lot of really weird things. Menus aren’t in English, you wear a size 42 when you used to wear a size 8, driving is a contact sport, nothing is open on Monday, and you probably can’t go to dinner before 6:30 PM because the restaurants have closed after lunch and won’t open again until...whenever. That’s just the way it is in Italy. You roll with it. And then, after six years, some things can still surprise you.
The other day we were on our way to post and needed to stop and get gas. This almost always requires a specially planned trip because of the insane hours that the gas stations are open, usually 0600-1230, and 1530-1800, and not on weekends or Italian holidays. We pulled into our favorite gas station, and it was closed.
Why? It wasn’t an Italian holiday (we checked), it wasn’t riposo (Italian nap time, 1230-1530 when almost everything closes--and yes, we checked the time before leaving the house). It wasn’t even a weekend. I got out and read the hand-lettered sign on the door. “Chiusa per feria” (closed for vacation).
Of course. The family who runs this gas station has gone on holiday and has closed their gas station while they are gone. For two weeks. Fortunately there is another gas station across the street where we fill up our car and go on our merry way.
I love this country. Bella Italia!
