DAY 170 - PALAZZOLO SULL'OGLIO TO TREZZO SULL'ADDA: 21.4 MILES (42,800 STEPS)

9 October, 2011 

21.4 miles (Total: 1715. 9 miles) 42,800 steps (Total: 3,733, 401 steps)

The marginal utility of a buffet breakfast has risen since entering Italy. Previously I might spend 5-10 euros a day on snacks and drinks, but in Italy this is running close to 15-20 euros. Hence it is worth trying to find a place which may be more expensive than budget (30 euros) because by the time you have done more laps of the buffet table that a Formula 1 Grand Prix, filled the empty water bottle from yesterday with fresh orange juice and made up some cheese sandwiches wrapped in napkins along with dried apricots and walnuts—you have enough to keep you going for the day.

The motel I checked into in Trezzo was in a shopping centre and advertised a buffet breakfast.  Sadly like most other places in Italy it wasn’t open on a Sunday, so we were served a coffee and strictly one croissant at the reception desk. The poor receptionist/waitress had just been given a very hard time from one of the other guests, so I didn’t have to complain though I did give a big smile and ask if there was any discount on account of the breakfast not been available and she politely replied that I had already had it, prices were lower on a Sunday evening—I hadn’t noticed.

I never cease to be amazed as to how the shops in northern Italy are able to make a living, as they clearly do, when they open for so few hours in the day. Shops may open around 10AM and then close for a siesta at 2PM and then may open again between 6PM and 8PM. They have a saying which is that “2PM is too early to finish and too late to start.” I contrast this with the long hours culture of the UK and US where stores will often stay open for 12 hours a day and open on Sunday. An Italian store may open for 36 hours a week, whereas their UK counterpart would probably open for 80 hours, but if, as I suspect, the takings in the stores in northern Italy are comparable to those in the UK, then that means that their productivity is twice as much as ours. Much more important, the shorter hours strengthen family and community cohesion. In addition, Italy has some of the lowest consumer debt in Europe whereas the UK has by far the highest—in fact I am sure I heard that half of all consumer debt is from UK consumers.

The prime minister in his speech to the Party conference reportedly had to remove a section in which he urged consumers to pay off their credit card debts after a hewn cry from the press, but it could be that the structural adjustment we need is to learn from the northern Italians in shunning credit cards, living within their means, working less and living more. Not only will our financial system become more sustainable, but perhaps our families and communities will be more so also. I think the prime minister’s instincts were absolutely right in his original message.  Perhaps then we wouldn’t need to have 24/7 shopping, where people buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have, and will have more time for the truly important things in life—family, friends and community.

I also had a useful chat with a young cyclist from Colorado who was cycling from France to Bosnia & Herzegovina and had just come through the Alps. He reported that the snow was already falling down to 1500 metres and some of the higher (and shorter) passes were already closed. I was able to reciprocate with thoughts on routes and places all the way to Sarajevo. His brother was a film maker and he had made a film about Bosnia. We spoke about the tensions that remained in that country and the sense of hopelessness amongst many of the young people I encountered. Cynicism in the old is depressing to see, but when the young are cynical it corrodes the soul of a nation.

There is a fellowship amongst travellers; I only wish I could meet more, but it remains a fact that I have not met a single foot traveller on my 1700 miles, all my encounters have been with cyclists.