Olive Knitting

So I got a call yesterday in my capacity as secretary of Maberga.  It was from a neighbor.  Let's call him Paolo.

P: LINA!
L: Yes, hello Paolo.
P: LINA! I'm Paolo.
L: Yes, hello Paolo.
P: LINA! the hunters!  the hunters have paid for the road?
L: Yes Paolo, the hunters paid their bit this year.
P: LINA! They don't have the right to pay! 
L: Actually Paolo, they don't have the right to come up our road to hunt but seeing as they do anyway, yes, they have the right to contribute to the road work.
P: LINA! Who gave them a key to the gate?!
L: Well, Paolo, I don't know exactly since I've only been here 10 years and they've been coming for a lot longer than that.
P: LINA! They shouldn't have a key.  And they shouldn't pay.  They shouldn't come up.  If they pay I'm not paying.
L:  Well, Paolo, I don't know what to tell you.  I can't make you pay.
P: LINA!  I'm not paying. The hunters can't pay. I'm not paying. 
L: Ok, Paolo.  Anything else?
P: LINA! buona sera.

We do sort of have a problem with hunting squads coming up here.  It sucks actually.  They come really early in the morning on the two days a week when hunting is allowed (one being Sunday-- yeah, I don't really like sleeping in anyway).  They have big trucks and dogs with bells, and of course those pesky guns.  No one who owns property up here likes having them come up but no one does anything about it.  They come up with such casual sense of belonging and confidence of propriety that someone at sometime must have told them that it's ok.  That, and they all have keys to the gate....so, yeah, someone at some time who does have the right, told them it's ok.

Kind of funny that there is another neighbor who hasn't paid his road dues for about 8 years because "the hunters don't pay, why should I?".  Maybe I can get his money now, seeing as how Paolo's not paying.

Being an elected official is pretty much a crappy job.