Lo Sciopero: When "Guaranteed" is Just a Suggestion
A chaotic trip to Parma reminded me that even after ten years, the "WTF" moments aren't just for foreigners—they’re the Italian way of life
Italy had a train strike today. I needed to go to Parma for medical reasons (appointment set six months ago), and I hadn’t really paid attention to the fact that there was a strike.
So, I casually took the 12:30 bus from right outside our door down to the station (a five- minute trip on a bad day). Oftentimes the bus driver will just stop right at the entrance to the station, but this time, the driver decided to do a three-point turn and actually line herself up at the bus stop. Only two of us got off. The bus was destined for Fornovo (where one often catches a connecting bus to Parma), and I was barely off the bus when the driver departed. A girl ran up to the door, asking if this had been the bus to Fornovo. I confirmed that it had indeed been the bus to Fornovo, and she lamented that the bus hadn’t even stopped. I tried to tactfully point out that in fact, the bus had stopped because I was standing on the sidewalk after getting off of it, but I had to admit that it only stopped for about two seconds.
While I certainly had empathy for her, I really couldn’t help her, so I went on into the Bar Stazione for a beverage while I waited the 30 minutes for the train to Parma.
We locals tend to be a little casual about train schedules and platforms. The train to Parma always leaves from platform 2. The train to La Spezia always leaves from platform 3. Platforms 1 and 4 seem to just sit there dormant. I often wonder why they don’t use platform 1 more. Always using platforms 2 and 3 just encourages the able bodied delinquents to jump the barrier intended to prevent them from crossing the tracks. Using platform 1 would surely prevent a life of crime for many of these (often 40-year old) hooligans!
By default I just descended the stairs to the underground passage, marveling at the fact that we were FINALLY getting wall tiles installed, after seemingly years of repairs to the elevator, the stairs and the tunnel. It wasn’t until I rounded the corner at the top of the stairs for platforms 2 and 3 that I noticed a train parked on platform 2. Pushing the “door open” button did nothing. Interestingly, I noticed that the girl who had missed the bus was also waiting. I checked with the TrenItalia app, and was assured that my train would arrive on platform 2. I was still a bit unsure of what was happening, and as luck would have it, I found a spot where I could peer through the windows of the parked train and see the electronic train schedule on the station wall. Our train would arrive on platform 1, and was thankfully 5 minutes late. As I was heading back to the stairs, I asked the girl if she was waiting for the train to Parma, and she indicated that she was. I told her we needed to head to platform 1, and we hightailed it back down the stairs to get to the proper platform. Even an able bodied hooligan would not have been able to avoid using the stairs, since the parked train was in our way! It struck me that I had been present for almost two transportation disasters for this poor girl! It also did not escape my notice that she was Italian, and thus her day suddenly resembled many of my “che cazzo” days that I often attribute to being a “dumb foreigner”.
It wasn’t until I was safely on the train that I looked at Facebook, and saw that the train strike was causing quite the “polemica” in our community. You see, in Italy when there is a transportation strike, buses and trains running between 6-9 am and from 6-9 pm are usually exempt from the strike. And yet, the “guaranteed” 6:34 train had been cancelled at 7:20 this morning, after the passengers had been waiting almost an hour — “un treno garantito dovrebbe essere, appunto, garantito!” Every local Facebook group that I’m a member of was showing genuine outrage at our town being cut off from the outside world. I was simultaneously shocked and relieved that my 13:09 train had not been cancelled.
I made it on time to Parma, and the weather isn’t the blast furnace it was two weeks ago when I came here to pick up my translated “One and the same” affidavit. That said, it’s still too hot, and I decided against any “shopping.” Instead, I’m having another beverage in the kiosk café in the park while I wait for my appointment. Will I make it home tonight? Surely I will, as long as the guaranteed evening train is “appunto, garantito”.
In bocca al lupo.
