Riace bronzes | Venice: I am not making this up

This morning, I came across a stuffed bear that couldn't make it to work. He couldn't make it to play, either. A compassionate woman removed him a few minutes later. Either she took him to the clinic, or to the park. — This morning I came across a stuffed bear that couldn’t make it to work. He couldn’t make it to play, either. A compassionate woman removed him a few minutes later, lifting him from the small sodden concavity in the stone where he lay. Either she took him to the clinic, or to the park.

Here’s some news on sick leave in Italy: There’s a lot of it, especially on Monday.

Today is Monday, as it happens, which is why I bring this up.

A recent statistical analysis reveals that more than 30 percent of workers in the public sector have availed themselves of a doctor who will certify that they aren’t able to come to work that day, the day being Monday, as I mentioned, or what they might prefer to call Sunday 2.0.

In Calabria, the numbers collected for 2012 showed an average number of 34.6 sick days; “average,” of course, means that some people took even more. This number doesn’t specifically say that that month was made up exclusively of Mondays, but we can suppose that at least ten of them were.

Whether this indicates that the environment at the toe of the Italian “boot” is extremely unhealthy, or that there are so many wonderful things to do there that a mere weekend isn’t enough to enjoy even a few of them, I am not qualified to say.

I do have some theories, but will leave you to your own conjectures.

The world-famous Riace bronzes would have a hard time getting a doctor's note excusing them from war, or the Olympic Games, or anything else they had to do on Monday. Riace, as you know, is in Calabria. — You might assume that the world-famous Riace bronzes would have a hard time getting a doctor’s note excusing them from war, or the Olympic Games, or anything else they had to do on Monday. But Riace is in Calabria.

Hardly working