There are a couple of things I just thought I’d say.
One is that, further to the apparent monopoly that the Mafia have on the rubbish collections around Naples (and most of Italy), it seems they might have a monopoly, here, on the supply of tarmac and road paint.
I must stress that this is pure conjecture on my part. However, I have read elsewhere, including the BBC, that they do have control of the waste business and, in order to make more money have by-passed certain regulations and have been shipping all the trash down to Naples and the surrounding area until, eventually, all waste sites were full, leading to a build up of rubbish on the Neapolitan streets as there’s nowhere else to dump the stuff. Needless to say that the EU is less than impressed by this.
My conclusion is that they are doing similar things with the roads. Look, I’ve watched the whole of the Sopranos, several times. First they undercut the competition and then, having won the contracts, maybe with a few bungs to the right (or maybe wrong, seeing as they might be bent) people, they then supply inferior material to cut costs. If anyone complains, they may send round a few heavies to ‘encourage’ the people with bungs to keep everything sweet.
The result is that painting the roads is, almost, a continuous job since within weeks the new paint is wearing off. And, when it rains, the roads start to break up. And, recently, as it is Spring, we have had a lot of rain. Of course, it’s important for the plants and trees and the park looks great. Unfortunately, it also makes the roads more like some off-road obstacle course with holes appearing overnight. Newly filled holes reappear as holes almost at the sight of rain. And by holes I mean holes that are about a foot deep!
Perhaps I’m wrong and the rain here is so acidic that it would dissolve the best tarmac. I’m no road engineer. But it does seem strange.
And now to Jack. Long live Jack in his new life. I don’t know the details yet (if, in fact, I ever will) but one of the best blogs on the net has been pulled because of problems at work. I will leave the link on the left for a while as it’s worth reading and do listen to the podcasts. Jack – it was great, thanks.