la vita qui è amaro

This morning as I was walking up from my apartment for breakfast, I stopped by Luigi’s shop to tell him that one of the kids is really into Formula One, that I’d introduce them so they could talk about it. Luigi was talking with a friend and the commandante of the Carabinieri caserma here. The four of us went to the bar together to get something to drink (coffee in my case, sodas for everyone else, like Campari and Orangina). Evidently, the Carabinieri guy had lived in the apartment where I live (speaking of, it’s only €300 a month to rent an apartment here) before the current caserma became habitable. I told them that that was illegal in the US, as a result of the British, and they were surprised and said it wasn’t a big deal here.

However, the point of the story is the following. I was the only one to get coffee, the other three got sodas. After I’d finished my coffee, of course only two sips, Luigi said “you know there’s sugar there, in case you didn’t see it.” I told him I never put sugar in my coffee, I only drink it when I have caffé freddo and it’s already put in. Luigi said he drinks his coffee with a lot of sugar.

The commandante of the caserma, who of course and traditionally is not from the town where they’re stationed, said to me “the people here drink their coffee sweet, because the life here is bitter.”