Here, most people live in apartments and these apartments usually have at least one balcony, even if it the size of a postage stamp, overlooking the street or the inner courtyard of the apartment block. So, the idea of Romeo calling to Juliet whilst she is on the balcony is so accurate.

A couple of weeks ago, walking to the supermarket or somewhere, I noticed, on the pavement, some large letters scrawled on the ground in chalk or paint. It said Ti amo (which is ‘I love you’) and then something else underneath, which I forget now.

We are inured to graffiti here. It is everywhere, on every building. As I have posted before, I don’t know when they do it. I think I’ve seen some kids once but these things just appear overnight. And Banksy it ain’t. I don’t normally pay any attention to it but, as this was on the pavement, I did. Obviously, not that much notice as I can’t remember the rest of it.

I thought it was quite cute. After all, some Romeo had written this for the love of his life, right under her balcony.

However, this may be becoming a bit of a phenomenon. As I went to the only supermarket open on Sunday in this area this morning, I’m walking down the street near our flat and all over the road, in really large letters is another Romeo’s message. It can’t be chalk else it would already be fading. It must have been done late one night as it’s quite a busy road. Again it started with Ti amo and went on for several lines from one side of the road to the other. There were quite a few people looking at it, so maybe it had been done last night.

I guess it beats carving your initials inside a heart on a tree. This has added danger of dodging traffic and is for everyone in the apartment block to see for quite a few days.

I only hope she reciprocates the love.

Update 16/4: I managed to download the photo from my phone and the other one didn’t say Ti amo as I had thought (which shows how bad my memory is getting) but rather ‘….stand by me …….’ which is, come to think of it, more than a little strange. Also it couldn’t have been seen from the windows as it was too close to the block of flats and the balconies overhang too much – but it was right outside the door to the block.