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We are now in the full swing of tourist season. There is a lot of car traffic and motorcycles, you would never think that a litre of gas sells for $1.97 or $7.88 a gallon.

So this being mid-July most garden centres have discounted their garden plants and flowers to sell off what is left. I went to one centre near us, it’s a big one, huge selections of flowers and baskets still but all prices are slashed by 60% or more. I got a great bargain on a big basket of peonies in this dark blood colour. They look like velvet, they are replacing a planter of chives and Italian parsley which became infected with aphids. They also smell delicate sweetness.

So for dinner tonight it was salad and charcuterie, I really did not feel like cooking, it is too warm. We also watched an episode of Commissioner Brunetti, the detective who lives in Venice and solves crimes. Donna Leon created this personage for her books. The storyline is of seedy crimes and Italian politics. Does not give a very nice image of Italian society, but it does capture the essence of Europe and its problems and how the powerful in Italy and elsewhere in Europe are always beyond the reach of the Law.