Where is the California "Pot o' Gold"?

And how do I get my hands on some of it? First of all -I'm real estate crazy right now. I spend hours a day studying the market and trying to figure out where to live. Let me give you a brief summary of what is on the market: 

1. places in the city are either $1+ million USD (I've never seen so many of these outside of Monaco) for about 1,600 square feet (150 square meters)
   
2. or a half million dollar crack houses that haven't been repaired or updated since the 60s -if you're lucky
   
3. or you can go half an hour (up to 2 hours) away "the commute" to pay much more reasonable prices ($400,000 and up) for really nice brand new homes
   

I'm not fond of commutes and with fuel prices soaring this week I don't know how people can afford it. The photo above shows the 'cheap' stuff starting at $4.11, that was Monday. You know it is starting to get bad when a camera crew arrives at the local gas station. 

Well, that was Monday and today I nearly swerved off the road when I saw this: 

By the way you should know that it would be wise to take a large wallet of cash because if you pay by credit card they charge you an additional .10 cents a gallon. Most people here drive LARGE trucks and I don't know how much longer they can afford to. So, I'm more determined than ever to find a small ex-drug den in the city -I hear that the 60s style modern is coming back!

P.S. My new theory on the California Pot o' Gold is that most own stock in big oil companies -what do you think?

Napoli Road Rules

Driving in Naples is a hazard and an accident waiting to happen. The most dangerous road in Italy is in fact the Naples' Tangenziale (it is our main spine highway). You have to be on your toes all the time because you never know which direction they'll be coming from.
Here are a few rules:

1. It is common practice that if you should whizz by your exit it is no problem -simply go in reverse!
2. Speaking of whizzing -that is also an acceptable and common view on the side of the highway (I like to call it al fresco peeing). Though now they say it is illegal I've never seen anyone get ticketed.
3. Brace yourself when approaching an exit because you never know when someone will be passing you on the left to cut you off to make it to the exit on the extreme right.
4. When approaching a red light slow down and determine whether you can beat the traffic, the cop, or the old lady crossing the street and in all likely if you can STEP ON THE GAS AND GO
5. If there is a police car flashing lights behind you let them through (they need to get to mama's asap because they told her to "buta la pasta")
6. If a cop sticks out an over sized lollipop on you then you must stop or he'll shoot you (really)
7. During traffic hours there are double the amount of lanes than are drawn on the road so be prepared for full contact with scooters too

Remember: show no fear -they can smell it and use it to their advantage against you!

Photo is of an actual taped up Fiat going full throttle down the highway. If you look closely the driver's side door is taped to the passenger side to keep it closed. So does this mean those people won't be able to get out?

Rules for Parking Neapolitan style

Just like with anything south of Rome the rules get dented here in Napoli. Let's take for example parking.

• Rule #1 All parking is to be done socially. Don't even think of parking where you don't see any other cars. This is because either it is sure to be stolen or broken into (or both within 10 minutes)
• Rule #2 It is okay to double park or triple park as long as you drive either a nice car with tinted windows or a large delivery truck
• Rule #3 All parking is free (including the sidewalks) as long as you have a lookout or your Mama is in the car to argue with the traffic violations officer
• Rule #4 Handicap parking is for anyone -why discriminate against those who aren't?
• Rule #5 Don't be cheap with the parking attendant, what you don't pay him now you will pay for the damage later
• Rule #6 Bumpers are made for parallel parking -how else do you know when to stop?
  
• Rule #7 You can block traffic, parking or even the hospital ER all in the name a quick coffee.

Next time we will review driving for foreigners. Stay posted!