Friday Morning at the Hairdressers

I'm on holiday today, and decided to head to the hairdressers before making the journey to Marche.
It seems that Friday morning might be the time when people go to the hairdressers in Florence. It being a work day, I expected that the place would be quiet. In fact, as I went in, it felt more like a hair factory than anything else! The place was packed, and full of women being pampered, preened and perfected before the weekend.
After the horror of the last time, I decided not to return to Ciro, but instead googled hairdressers in Florence and picked one at random that seemed to have been around for a long time and had good reviews.
The experience is still nothing like Hong Kong, although the prices were pretty much the same. It feels much more like a production line!
I sat on the sofa and waited for the nameless woman who came and washed my hair. No consultations here. And once the drips had been wiped away from the ends of my hair another nameless woman arrived and asked me what I wanted to do with my mop.
Explaining a little that I was thinking to have it cut shorter, she agreed, and, before I had time to blink, whipped out a razor and slashed off about 6 inches.
No going back from here then!
But when it was all done it looked a million times better, and it was a happy customer who headed for the cash desk at reception.
The bill, when it arrived, was highly specific. It turns out that I paid extra for the cut, the wash, the shampoo, the conditioner, the hairdrying etc etc. At the end the prices were high but not over Hong Kong levels, but it took a lot of strength not to feel ripped off for the fact that I had to pay 20 Euros for the blow dry after the wash and cut. An all-inclusive price - even if it was the same - would have seemed less shocking!
I asked the name of the stylist - Tiziana - who had scraped me into shape. She told me that I needed to do ??????? the next time I came. Which made me realise that I still need to do an intensive study of hairdresser terminology in my adopted language - no idea what she was on about! But I guess I will see when I go back again.

Euro Effect Part 2

I wrote last week about the effect of Euro 08 on the traffic.
This week I was later at work and discovered the Euro effect part 2 - if you leave it too late to go home, you run the risk of being mobbed by speeding scooter drivers racing back in time for the game.
But this week Italy won, so maybe it was worth the hazardous journey back.
I'm sitting in my lounge writing this, and hearing the crowds downstairs cheering as Germany have just knocked out Portugal. Either I have unknown German neighbours, or this is a good thing for Italy!

The Euro Effect

Tonight as I was leaving the office, my colleague Paola said to me, 'Hey, tonight on the way home you will experience the Euro Effect.'
Immediately thought that it was some kind of inflation, a road tax? an increase in the price of fuel?
In fact, Paola was referring to the strange phenomenon of finding the road home from Sesto empty at 745 at night. It is the same effect that caused there to be no queue in the supermarket at 715 when I entered.
The Euro effect in question is that of the Euro 2008 championships. Half of Florence had left their offices early in order to get home in time to eat, open the wine to breathe and watch the game.
After I parked the car (in the blue line parking outside my door - unheard of! more people away for watching the footy! - I could see the strange green glow in the street - the TVs of every house in town tuned into RaiUno for the start of the game.
Imagine my horror at the final result - 3-0 to Holland. Not only is this a tragedy for the nation of football lovers, and my colleagues who are as poassionate about the game as they are about anything, but also for me.
The Euro effect meant that I was able to shop, drive home and park outside the house all in under 45 minutes. I was hoping to wallow in the emptiness for more than just the 2 remaining group games!
To Italia, in bocca al lupo for the remaining games!

Politically scorretto

In Napoli this ad was everywhere - this one, and its sister ad - where the headless girl is holding her chest with her hands. For the non-Italian speakers, the caption reads 'Vesuvius and Etna.... Have never been so close.'
Apparantly the ad has been very successful for the company, although they are also profiting from the TV courage. The commentators, I understand, are not concerned about the political incorrectness of the ad per se, but more that car-bound Napolitans may have accidents as a result of staring too much at the assets on display.