Pay the Bill

Our bills are delivered to base, and they are usually late. The electric bill, with a scadenza (due date) of 26 April, was delivered yesterday 11 May. Housing told us that if we pay at the tabbachi shops that the information is received immediately. Well, I headed down there this morning. A lovely walk with lots of cars lining the street to the market and for the first time I saw children in the Baby Jungle. I paid the bill in the tabbachi....which carries a huge selection of purses.... then walked across the street to the posta to mail a couple of postcards that I had bought/written in Venice/Padua at the airport over the weekend, but no stamps were available when I completed them.

The post offices serve as a bank, a place of bill payments, and mailing. One selects the needed service from a Baskin-Robbins-type 'take-a-number' (six different service buttons) then you wait for your code to appear and go to the window number listed beside it. For example, my code was PO 28, and I went to window 5 when my turn came....the only window that was servicing mail needs.

Note the sign in the picture below says, "20 Minutes". It's very doubtful that one would get in and out in twenty.

A side note: A few years ago, we stopped at a much larger, busier posta enroute home. While Flint waited in the car, I stood for almost two hours waiting for my number. However, the cleaning people entered, the security people took the money, they ran the thirty or so people out as their office hours were finito! Many locals expressed themselves loudly with wild gestures. It was almost worth the inconvenience to witness that.

Enroute home I decided to get my first granita for the season and stopped at a bar just because it is on the way (not one of my favorites). The only choices were almond, lemon, and chocolate. I prefer fruit so I chose limone con panna and a brioche, but since they didn't have brioche, I settled for a day old croissant. The cool granita provided a boost for my walk home where the flowers were beautiful and the Baby Jungle was locked and silent.