Poopy lane

One of the really fun things I have been able to do since we have arrived is to get into a different morning routine.  Each day Elena and I walk the 1.5km (1 mile) to her school.  After the first week or so, we got our time down to about 15 min at a brisk pace.  I get to do it twice a day, there and back since I got pick her up at 1:20p also.  On the way there we stop at the alimentari to get a slice of pizza bianca for her merenda, the little snack they can have to get them to the end of school.  On Tuesday's Elena orders it stuffed with salame so she can make it to her 2:20p release time.

The walk itself is hardly along a very scenic route.  The meager sidewalk goes along a busy road that on rainy days is moving with traffic at a crawl.  We usually get to school before the cars do.  There is a stretch of road along our route of about 500m that is basically the public doggie dumping ground.  There is absolutely no public etiquette when it comes to cleaning after your dog.

I have gotten to know the varies little piles quite well.  Some have slowly been oozing across the sidewalk as the rain (and snow) have been slowly dissolving them.  Others are probably petrified, there since the very first day we started walking.  I know which light posts to avoid, the trees to pass on the left (not the right) and particularl zones where there is more activity than others.  The scientist in me wanted to see if I could estimate the poop flux by measuring how many new ones appear each week and how many disappear over time.  I have set a goal for myself to make it this whole sabbatical without stepping on one.  Elena wished me luck on that one!  So I leave you with this little haiku that Elena and I thought of this morning as a parting thought:

Oh little brown turd,
you look at me like you want
to jump on my shoe.

Oh, how I wish Italian dogs could do this!

Claudio and Elena