Nasal assaults

7th April 2006, Napoli

I didn’t sleep last night. Gigi has developed some sort of blocked nasal passage thing that results in chronic snoring. Ordinarily, a push to roll him over, or a desperate jab with the elbow wakes him up enough to stop the acoustic disturbance. It seems though that the cigarette smoke, traffic pollution and sleeping in a bedroom with creeping mould on the ceiling (Gi has been diagnosed with a mould allergy) has only worsened the snoring and last night was bad. It also means he sleeps badly because I toss and turn, get up, wander around, put on my earphones, change positions, trying to will myself to a state of exhaustion or the snoring to stop long enough for me to doze off. I was awake until 8am this morning, and then only went to sleep because Gi got up to take his mother to work. Needless to say he returned to bed a couple of hours later and reduced what could have been four hours of sleep to only two.

It must be an inherited condition though because his lovely mother was rocking the house last night as well. It was like being in the middle of a snoring orchestra.

When we finally roused ourselves this afternoon we decided to do something productive as the house hunting efforts have stalled until the weekend. We drove into the centre to our preferred Internet place. Last time we lived in Naples I used an Internet café in Piazza Bellini, which was a bit expensive, and later paid a rather steep annual fee to join the British Council where Internet use was free provided you could secure a computer workstation. Five years later, Internet access is still not as convenient as you’d expect but this Internet Point is like a gift from the gods. It’s in Piazza Cavour, which is in the centre of the city, near the famous archaeological museum. Surprisingly, we can usually find parking around the piazza but it also has a metro stop, which is convenient for public transport usage.

Across the road from the piazza is a ‘bar’ (read place that serves coffee and alcoholic beverages) that serves great coffee and croissants. Nearby is a good photo lab. Polite, friendly and helpful people run both businesses. I tend to notice things like this being a creature of habit that appreciates locals that won’t try and rip me off.

The Internet Point itself is inside a ‘palazzo’ (building) that requires two security doors to be released to gain access. This is good because I don’t really want to sit in view of the street when using my laptop. The two guys that run the business are great, courteous, attentive and professional. They charge in ten minutes lots, and it’s the cheapest rates we’ve found to date in Naples. There is a toilet (don’t take it for granted that it’s always easy to find these facilities), and they’ll order coffee or drinks from a local bar to be delivered. I always feel comfortable and safe and if they had beds I reckon we could just move in there.

The best thing about this Internet place though is the leaving. You exit and start to walk down the internal stairs of the building only to have your sense of smell assaulted with the aromas from the ‘pasticceria’ (read bakery / pastry shop) downstairs. It’s incredible, and if I could bottle it and send it to my closest friends and family I would. The waft of sweet pastry, chocolate, custard cream and warm biscuits floats up the stairs. As we walk down the stairs we both take in great breaths of the scented air, only to find ourselves shortly afterwards standing in the doorway of the bakery debating about what sweet nothings to indulge in.

It’s one of those heavenly experiences that I can’t fully describe or capture on film but it’s these sensory moments that make the transition we are going through worthwhile.