** This post was written in a small fit of indignation and is not meant to disparage an entire swath of people. Just those that I refer to as "snobs."
I will attempt to do this as delicately, as diplomatically as I can. However, there are no guarantees that I will succeed. I might hazard a guess that I will fail miserably, in fact...so, tread with care. I will not, however, apologize for my sentiments or opinions, based on my experiences. If someone is offended or reads with hurt feelings or, better yet, huffiness and snorts....so be it.
There is a large concentration of people from a certain "kingdom" here in this little obscure hill town in Italy. Most are part-time residents...or, as locals say, "tourists." A very few are full-time residents.
We speak the same native language with minor accent, word and meaning differences. In other words, we speak the same language, but different dialects.
There is something I have come to despise....a certain attitude that couches itself in small, nearly innocuous phrases and social slights.
It started with the door. MY door. The door to our home. It had been a kind of a puke yellow. A really awful nothing "color" that made me slightly sick every time I saw it. I'm sure there is a wood door underneath...but how many layers of paint? What kind of shape is the wood in? It wasn't worth it to find out. I had the door painted. And it pleased me.
So, a certain male person with whom we had contact one day said to me...."Oh..what do you think of that BLUE door??? *he left out, but I heard "that DREADFUL blue door" in his delivery.
Well, jackass, if you hadn't noticed, but you should have, that BLUE DOOR just happened....recently, because I asked for it, I wanted it and it makes me happy every time I see it. In my opinion, and this is what my reply was..."It beats the hell out of baby shit yellow."
It isn't just "blue"...it is aqua. It reminds me of the sea, and we are just west of the Adriatic. It is a bright and snappy color and I love it. Yet, he tried so very hard to insult me.
There were others....one who, although I thought he was quite nice, decided it was his mission to educate me on the history of this town and was bound and determined to lend me a book to read for my enlightenment. I guess he forgot. He never mentioned it again.
A man who is also part-time, with his wife....to whom we have never been "formally" introduced, but we have seen and spoken to, nevertheless, several times. She never remembers. "Do I know you?" "Have we met?" Really? No, lady, only about 4 or 5 times. Are their memories so short? This isn't a very big town. Or are we just that disposable? Ah, who cares? Americans......meh. Such plebeians.
We were at an "event"...a night of music and wine....and there they were, this couple. We saw them. They saw us. Nothing. Not even a nod of acknowledgement. "Have we met?" We had freaking dinner with the husband!!! What..ev..ah!
And the latest. Yet another......so, I see a pattern developing, an unpleasant one. I do not like to make generalizations about people, but....I'm being helped along here. So, the latest. Guy is boisterous and has a big mouth...well, yeah, ok..boisterous. Big smarmy smile...HAHAHAHA.....always laughing.....life is just a bowl of treacle.....at any rate.....in our "conversation"....he said he looked at a place that had "a view of the parking lot! BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!!"...yeah...that's us. Yes, there is a parking lot below. Not visible in the summer, only when the leaves fall in the winter. And so what....it is a panoramic view..not JUST of a parking lot...in one small lower quadrant...but...this....
The cityscape to the west...gorgeous no matter what the season or time of day,
And this.....
Olive groves, farms and vineyards...and the Adriatic...some "parking lot."
It seems to me that certain people go out of their way to slight and insult because they feel so very superior. I am not sure how or why they are "superior" but they certainly seem to think they are. I must hone my skills and learn how to dish back what is slopped onto my plate. Give me a bit of time...I will figure it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment