Top Two Rants: 1

There are two things that are really driving me insane–one fills me with anxiety and the other fills me with rage and disgust.

The first is driving. I FUCKING HATE DRIVING IN ITALY. It is the most stressful thing ever, and to think, I actually live in the “civilized” part of the country. I used to live in a much less progressive part of Italy and it was a lot worse.

I just spent 3 glorious and peaceful years in Scandinavia, where rules are followed and people are calm. Where, when you put on your blinker, people let you enter traffic. Now I’m back in the land of wannabe Formula 1 drivers who see a turn signal as a sign of weakness and/or an indication that they need to speed up to cut you off, because God forbid, anyone get in front of them.

In addition, if you do manage to get in front of them, they will ride your ass so closely, swerving from side to side, periodically swinging into oncoming traffic to see if they can pass. If you are on the autostrada (toll interstate) they will flash their brights at you. On the autostrada the limit is 130kph, but it isn’t unusual to see cars going 160 or more.

The photo below is from today. That woman was on my ass until she could pass, and then she got stuck between me and the truck I was keeping space from.

So if you try to drive at a proper, safe distance, forget about it. Everyone will try to squeeze into any space they think is unnecessary. They have zero concept of safe distances.

I have been trying to tell myself to be relaxed while driving. That I don’t need to be hyper-vigilant. Well, as soon as I tried to relax I almost got hit by someone who decided to take my exit from the right lane, swinging into me as I exited. About 2 hours later I was driving around a roundabout, going left, and the woman coming towards me, ON HER PHONE, was going so fast she screeched her tires sliding into the roundabout.

Yesterday I was being passed on the autostrada and as the asshole passed me, he veered into my lane and I narrowly escaped being side-swiped.

So fuck relaxation. Not in the car. It’s a fucking nightmare out there, especially for someone who’s genetic background and culture has rules and order ingrained in her.

A good point about the Italians that Americans don’t do is use the left lanes for passing. Trucks and semis stay in the right lane unless they pass one another, when they move to the center, then back again (if they are not dicks). Most transport trucks are foreign here, because the autostrada nearest me is a major thoroughfare for the southern part of Europe, from Turkey to Spain.