Here in our small town in Italy, we often see an elderly couple at the local supermarket. We\u2019ve named them Bill and Betty. I doubt their Italian names are anything close to that, but giving nicknames to Italians we see often helps us give a quick reference when chatting about who we saw when out around town. We only ever see Bill and Betty at the fruit and vegetable aisle in the supermarket doing the same ritual. The old gent, Bill, picks up a piece of veg, smells it, inspects it, and if it passes the test, he carefully places it in the basket which Betty stands holding, patiently waiting for each verdict.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t forget we need to stop at the supermarket and get a bottle of prosecco,\u201d I say to Ronan on our way to our friend\u2019s house for an afternoon swim, which is naturally followed by an early aperitivo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll get a watermelon to take with us too,\u201d Ronan says as we enter the shop and see Bill and Betty.<\/p>\n
Watermelons are rampant here at the moment. They are enormous. Carrying them to the cash desk is like an Ironman challenge, but they are the most refreshing thing to munch, during the current 37C days we are having.<\/p>\n
Bill and Betty must think the same, as Bill is standing at the large crate of huge watermelons tapping each one with his head bent close.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think he is listening for?\u201d Ronan asks while I choose a bunch of grapes to take with us also.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little hello from inside perhaps?\u201d I say. \u201cDo you think a hollow sound is good or a dull sound is bad? Or would hollow be bad and dull would mean good?\u201d Ronan says, watching Bill carry his chosen watermelon to the cash desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said hello not hallow. I don\u2019t know if a hallow sound would be good or bad, but a hello would be just freaky.\u201d<\/p>\n
I head to the Prosecco aisle and leave Ronan to weigh the grapes behind the usual hoard of German and Dutch camping tourists doing their grocery shopping.<\/p>\n
But Ronan decides not to queue, instead Ronan being Ronan goes along tapping each watermelon and holding his head close trying to figure out, or given some divine sign, which would be the best watermelon to buy.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m at the cash desk at this stage waiting to pay for the Prosecco and in earshot of the fruit aisle. A Dutch tourist approaches Ronan and starts speaking Italian, Ronan, who doesn\u2019t speak any Italian, asks \u201cCan you speak English?\u201d \u201cOh yes, great, I am sorry for my poor Italian,\u201d the tourist says to Ronan.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan you choose one for me?\u201d he says, pointing at the watermelons. Instead of picking one at random and exiting stage left as quickly as possible, I watch as Ronan goes from watermelon to watermelon, tapping each with his ear close to the crate. A small attentive crowd gathers to watch The Watermelon Tapper before Ronan announces confidently in his best Italian speaking English accent. \u201cThis one. Choose-o-this-a-one-a.\u201d<\/p>\n
I can\u2019t take the embarrassment any longer so I go wait in the car.<\/p>\n
Through the supermarket\u2019s large plate-glass window, I can see several tourists tapping watermelons and listening for the magical mystery sound.<\/p>\n
Ronan sits into the car all smiles to himself.<\/p>\n
\u201cRonan,\u201d I say. \u201cWhere are the grapes?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh sorry, I left them down. I got distracted choosing a watermelon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd where is the watermelon?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh crap… I forgot that too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Watermelons are rampant here at the moment. They are enormous. Carrying them to the cash desk is like an Ironman challenge, but they are the most refreshing thing to munch, during the current 37C days we are having.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-how-much-does-it-cost-to-live-in-italy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3054"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3096,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3054\/revisions\/3096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rosiemeleady.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}