In Which She Notices the Alarming Correlation Between Monopoly and Real Life

Someone stole my wallet from my purse on a busy tram yesterday afternoon, whilst I tried to keep my umbrella out of the nostrils of the woman in front of me, one blonde boy from falling out of the bus every time the doors opened, and the other from shoving his tennis racket into the crotch of an elderly signore seated behind him. Danged pickpocketers. It of course contained my ATM card and credit card and driver's license, two of which cannot be replaced internationally. So annoying! Not much cash, however, just a brand new 20 euro bill. In the post-thievery flurry of collect phone calls to monetary institutions (and simultaneous instant message chats with both of my parents), I realised that in just a few days this would become just another item in my ongoing column of expenses. Chance card: Wallet Stolen, Lose 20 euro. Pass Go next Monday, collect 100 euro. So weird how sometimes the things that were supposed to teach us lessons about Real Life, actually do prepare us for Real Life.

Today I bought slime from the joke shop/school supply store across the street from the boys' school, one "barrel" of "petroleum" (the slime is black) for each boy. When we were walking home with them the younger one said to me, "Mi sembra acqua ciccione!" Literally, "it seems to be like chubby water." That's adorable.