Space problem? What space problem?

We complain — justifiably — about tourists who take up too much space on the vaporettos with their steamer trunks and expedition backpacks, though I have to say that Venetians with children in strollers the size of tanks is becoming an even more annoying, and even dangerous, problem.

But the other day I encountered a new twist on the “I’m here, deal with it” mentality as evidenced by an exhausted Venetian mother.  (Perhaps “exhausted mother” is redundant.)  In any case, she was evidently in “standby” mode, mentally speaking.  But she was sufficiently alert to have offered me her seat as I passed by, which surprised me.

She wasn’t sufficiently alert, though, to register that she wasn’t at home in her living room, where clearly chaos reigns.  I sympathize with that, considering that her little boy, sitting on her lap, appeared to be about two years old.  The fountainhead and source of chaos, in other words.

But I am helpless to further interpret her spatial awareness.  So I will say no more.

The little boy helpfully clutched it.  People walked around it.  I failed geometry in high school but even I understood the nature of 90 degrees.  I’m not sure what planet we’re living on.

 

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3 Comments

  1. OH, yes. I can sympathize with you. I have a two-year-old grandson who is really becoming a little stinker and joker. He does seem to have a healthy sense of humor. The other day he walked into the bathroom where his daddy was “taking care of nature’s call” and inserted his little hand from behind between daddy’s legs and threw his mommy’s hairbrush into the toilet. He was put into “time out,” a very new concept to him. Of course, he really is a delightful little guy, says his Nonna. I certainly would be aware of his little skateboard or whatever it was, sticking out into the aisle, but then, I have been around much longer than his young mother!

  2. Dear Erla,

    I recently came across a travel guide for Venice authored by you. I was intrigued by your work and your name and, thus, I came across your blog. I wanted to express my sincere admiration for your knowledge of Venice.
    Unfortunately, the first post I happened to read on your blog was this one. About a mother who, we can freely speculate here, was either so absent-minded that she didn’t consider the people around her or was so tired that she was for a moment miles away and didn’t register that the child’s scooter could be a nuisance/hazard.
    I am a bit shocked by this blog post and by the speculations that the mother’s house is in a disarray.
    Judging people and making up little stories about their perceived shortcomings is not what I expected from such a renowned author as you.
    Not to mention publishing the photo of the lady in question.
    I was hoping that there would be many things about Venice and writing I can learn from you. Unfortunately, I see that the most important thing is lacking here.
    I will leave it at that.

    With best wishes,

    Rossi Thomson

    1. I’m sorry to have disappointed you. Probably no writer — apart from Charles Dickens — is loved by everybody, and there are certainly plenty of other blogs about Venice to read. I hope you find one that you like, though if you only read one post from each one it may be more difficult that you think. Managing to please you on the first piece taken from nine years’ worth is a challenge I’m clearly not able to meet.

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