We were sitting outside Meeting Bar in Acciaroli
this morning, enjoying a pre-lunch drink.
The sun was shining in an almost cloudless sky
and there were lots of comings & goings
of various locals and holidaymakers alike,
pulling up in cars &
offloading passengers to shoot in to
pick up dolce for post-lunch.
At the particular moment that the Polizia Locale car
pulled up outside the church,
there were a couple of cars & a Vespa
or two parked up.
As both female officers got out of the vehicle,
one of them gave 3 sharp trills on her whistle;
this warning to illegally parked motorists that
the Polizia are about and ready to start handing out
parking tickets always makes us chuckle -
no way would you get such a warning in the UK.
(I should point out that, around here,
motorists MUST park in a marked
parking space, otherwise they're parked illegally).
There was an ice cream coloured VW Beetle with its
roof down parked a few metres along from the bar. The officer blew her whistle again as she walked towards it; the owners of the other cars all scooted out & drove off.
Another 3 whistle blasts, and that was it - final warning had been given - pen was put to paper.
Too late, the owner & his two passengers
came back to the car, to find a
Penalty Notice attached to the windscreen.
He argued half heartedly, but he knew it
was too late - once the ticket is written,
it can't be cancelled.
And so, his Sunday morning bar bill suddenly jumped by a further €60.