It was nothing like Shirley Valentine at all. For one I didn't speak to walls or rocks, and for another I wasn't married & didn't even have a boyfriend waiting in the wings ready to rush after in hot pursuit, until I eventually succumbed and fell gratefully into his arms swearing undying love. No. I just made the decision to move here to Sorrento because I fell in love. Not with a waiter I might add, just the place. The beautiful coastline, the weather, the food, the lifestyle. Idyllic and inspiring, especially in winter when it is blissfully quiet, devoid of tourists and tour companies. Then I have to admit it is tempting to talk to rocks and walls. Easier too than trying to get my head round Southern Italian mentality, which on the surface appears much the same as our own, but after actually living here for a year, I realise that I may as well be on another planet. Almost everything I held to believe, all my attitudes, responses, my very foundations have had to go as I learn again from scratch.
At first I fought to change attitudes, to justify myself, but all I did after eight months was exhaust myself without even making as much as a ripple in the calm waters of Sorrentine mentality.
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