Long Term Parking

Our new neighbourhood is made up of a mixture of residential villas, old villas that have been turned into office space and the odd religious compound. Because the offices - mostly.. shudder... lawyers - predominate daytime parking is an nightmare. But in the evening the streets are almost empty - for Rome! And what nightfall reveals is the number of cars that are parked "long term!"

Apparently there is some sort of strange law here that stops the police from towing cars that have been parked in the same spot for lengthy (six to 12 months) periods of time. Near our old apartment there were five or six cars parked on the street covered in dirt and debris, tires flat and in one case windows open that were there when we arrived and were still there when we left one year later. The same thing occurs here in our new neighbourhood and probably in all neighbourhoods around town.

This SUV - the license plates are not EU so it might belong to someone at the Embassy of Côte d'Ivoire across the street - has obviously been parked here for some time. There is at least one previous harvest of figs (sweet, green, juicy, sticky figs) dotting its surface and no doubt doing a real number on the paint job.

I love figs but I can't imagine the elbow grease needed to clean up that mess.

05 settembre - Beata Madre Teresa di Calcutta