{"id":21,"date":"2009-12-12T22:11:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-12T22:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/?p=21"},"modified":"2011-03-31T23:40:13","modified_gmt":"2011-03-31T21:40:13","slug":"marmite-the-food-of-the-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.katebailward.com\/drivinglikeamaniac\/2009\/12\/marmite-the-food-of-the-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"Marmite, the food of the gods"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>(image by hodgers <\/a>on Flickr)<\/em><\/div>\n
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After the disastrous meal on Saturday, there was a rather more cheerful outing on Monday, when I met up with Claire, who runs one of the boards <\/a>that keeps me sane here.\u00a0 She’s resident in Rome, and we had a few hours of window shopping along the Via Corso.\u00a0 I completely failed in my family Christmas shopping mission, but we had a lovely afternoon, and I managed to get some Estee Lauder Idealist, which my skin will thank me for.\u00a0 My pocket won’t – it was \u20ac56.18, and that was with a 15% discount.\u00a0 Yikes.\u00a0 (It’s about 30 quid in the UK.)<\/p>\n

Late on in the afternoon we ended up in Castroni’s, which is the most fabulous little treasure trove.\u00a0 Upstairs is a floor full of delicious Italian stuff, including clear perspex boxes of sweets set into the floor (display purposes only, but lots of fun and very pretty).\u00a0 However, if you head downstairs, there is a cave full of imported goods from every corner of the globe.\u00a0 This is very unusual in Italy, which is a country that is pretty set in its ways, food-wise.\u00a0 If it’s not produced here, you’re unlikely to get hold of it.\u00a0 There were actual shrieks as I discovered Marmite and Sharwoods Biryani sauce on the shelves.\u00a0 Claire was in similar raptures over Heinz tomato soup.\u00a0 It felt like the end of rationing after the war (I imagine – I’m not that <\/em>old), and, in a giddy daze, I happily handed over \u20ac5.60 for a small (small!<\/em>) jar of Marmite, which just shows how much I’ve missed it.\u00a0 Ah, expat life, when these are such things as dreams are made of.<\/p>\n

On my return to Salento, there was a note under the windscreen of my car, which I had left in the car park at the bus station.\u00a0 Apparently the parking is not, as I had thought, free, and I owed money for 3 days’ parking.\u00a0 Bah.\u00a0 I therefore went into the office to pay.\u00a0 This turned into a hilarious farce of epic proportions.\u00a0 Not only did the 3 guys in the office not speak English, they spoke dialect, so communication was, to say the least, painful.\u00a0 Also, they couldn’t agree how much I should pay.\u00a0 They started off being quite bombastic and telling me off for not paying in advance.\u00a0 However, once they realised that I don’t speak Italian, they softened.\u00a0 There was rapid conversation between them and they seemed to come to an agreement on what the price should <\/em>be.\u00a0 There was then a phone conversation in which there appeared to be a debate with (I assume) the boss man as to whether I should pay at that rate, given that I am a poor, weak-minded, non-Italian speaking female.\u00a0\u00a0 Eventually, it was announced to me that I should pay ‘sessante<\/em>‘.\u00a0 This nearly gave me a heart attack, as I thought they were saying \u20ac700.\u00a0 However, I got them to write it down, and it turned out to be a much more reasonable \u20ac60.\u00a0 Phew.\u00a0 I waved my bancomat card at them, as I only had \u20ac45 in my purse, but they shook their heads gravely and mimed that I should go to the bank and get the cash instead.\u00a0 Considering doing a runner at this point, I thought better of it, given that they had my car numberplate, and me on camera.\u00a0 This is far too small a town to get away with such things.<\/p>\n

When I returned, there was a fourth man behind the desk, who took over from the guy who had been dealing with me before.\u00a0 He looked at the time I had arrived, did some calculations, and came to the total of \u20ac43.\u00a0 Hooray!\u00a0 But hold on a minute – old guy who had come up with the \u20ac60 total wasn’t happy at all.\u00a0 How can it possibly be only \u20ac43?\u00a0 She has been here since Friday night at 8pm and it is now 10am on Tuesday.\u00a0 That makes it 4 days!\u00a0 New guy stuck to his guns, however: it’s not 4 days, it’s 86 hours!\u00a0 Friday and Tuesday are not complete days!\u00a0 There then ensued a stand up argument, which involved them storming out of the office and bellowing at each other outside for 5 minutes.\u00a0 Eventually, they returned, and I held my breath to see who had won in the battle of honour.\u00a0 Happily for me, it was new guy.\u00a0 “Quaranta-tre<\/em>,” he informed me, slightly smugly.\u00a0 Old guy smouldered in the corner.\u00a0 I smiled sweetly, paid and made a run for it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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