From where we sat yesterday afternoon, the traffic coursed through the roundabout at the center of Sorrento with all the regularity of a river flowing at runoff. Our drinks were paid for with the 20 euro note I found in the shrub as we sat down. We could have been in Santa Barbara except for the Italian spoken and all the British English too. The air was perfumed with jasmine and orange blossoms. The sun warmed.
I am not sure exactly when the alignment began...maybe it was at the point where we decided not to go out to the island of Ischia. We both believed that it didn’t sound fun to walk around in the rain...which is exactly what we did most of the morning. Maybe it was the standoff between a cat and dog down in the old port with the cat again proving to be just a bit better adversary or perhaps it was when the rain actually stopped. Maybe the un- choreographed jelly fish ballet that we observed at the breakwater marked the beginning or possilbly the alignment happened about the time we waited too long to decide our lunch spot and chose the wrong one.
More than likely though the alignment began like infinity begins and had no real definable beginning.
What happens in these alignments can not be defined as a single event. I find that it’s a series of events either random or orderly. One decision leading to another event. Much like the movie Sliding Doors where missing the subway by seconds has the effect “life changing”. We missed the train today. No my life has not changed but the alignment continues even now. So many little ocurrences yesterday have me thinking. There, after drinks, with the remainder of the 20 euro note we found our way to a crowded gelateria. Paying in advance, we waited behind Duddley Dursley while daddy prodded him to make a choice. Coni in hand we ate street side leaning against the building. This was the best free gelato ever. We both were all smiles.
What happened next could be the point of alignment or just another thing. We stood there, tipsy and nearly satiated on gelato and a limping bearded man on his way to the gelateria began speaking in tongues just 3 inches from my face. Clearly he wanted to say something to me and he really was not happy with the fact that I made no effort to reply. Anyone who has been around me long enough knows that I am a magnet for this kind of thing. I wish I had a tape recording of all the events previously that make believe this. If our smiles were wide before; now they where positively oceanic.
Nearly in tears from laughter, we proceeded on our way with that feeling that can only come from a good laugh. Then the nuns in the car and the old man in front of us at the street crossing who passed gas with gusto. Really, what happened to manners...and again everything seemed to be so amusing.
Later we had take away pizze (plural for pizza, not a misspell) from a place that translated to “Arms of Iron” and had Popeye as a mascot. It seems that the crust really is the truly important part that we have ignorantly missed in the States. That was the second best pizza I’ve ever eaten. The first being in Naples the day before.
On the train today, we sat with some newlyweds, he an Army Chaplin and she a double music major. I made up that he is spending his entire years salary on the memory and forcing his own celestial alignment. As the train pulled in to Orvieto my phone actually worked for once and Sabrina, the B&B owner, insisted on picking us up. It turns out that money cannot by happiness. Just being in the moment is where that is often found. Our best place of the trip so far...is the least expensive.
