Well, well. McCarthy actually acted for the good of the country

Romania, maybe? Affordable and I can take my Canadian pensions (2) (and my own money) anywhere... Poate. (Perhaps). The lingo is, I think, the closest Romance language to Latin - closer, even, than Italian. So - shouldn't be too much of a problem... I like Romance languages -- ALL of them.

 

Buy one of those Italian houses for a euro!

 

WHAT Italian houses for a euro? Never heard of this. Are they buried beneath the ashes of Pompeii? Or in a direct line for the flow from Mt. Vesuvius? Or right next to the biggest Roman fish market??? Sewage plant? Crematorium? Rock concert venue?

...these one-liners...

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/italy/italy-one-euro-homes-buy-house-b2274302.html

 

@nosborne48 Like I said - WHAT One-euro houses. D'ya have to be so enigmatic?
Oh yeah -- It's all here. https://immigrantinvest.com/insider/italian-house-for-one-euro-en/

Costs a LOT more than the one-euro purchase price. Lorraine Bracco bought one. I remember her from The Sopranos. I'll try Romania. Maybe I'll get to meet Catrinel Marion (such a beautiful name) or Alina Vacariu... you can look them up. And I can probably buy a decent house there for less than the cost of fixing an Italian ruin and paying back-taxes, making 15,000 euro deposits etc.

 

Romania has some innovative builders. I remember seeing a lovely smaller house design on a Romanian site, called the Soleta. House alone - $70K to build. Might be perfect. Maybe I could drive again --- get a Dacia. Basically a Romanian-made Renault. And I could take all my guitars and maybe I'd get to jam with the Roma (Gypsies.) Lots of great Roma musicians there. Ever heard Taraf de Haidouks? (Band of Rogues). Worth listening to, especially if you already like Gypsy music.

 

I'll find my own victims, thanks. Not meaning to blow my own horn, but hating is something (probably the only thing) I'm really good at. Everybody has to be good at something... right?

 

Speaking of hating. McCarthy's hand picked Speaker pro tem Patrick McHenry just gave Nancy Pelosi 24 hours to vacate her office in the Capitol. I guess it's some sort of petty vengeance for the Dems siding with Gaetz and the Fire Breathers?

 

Of course, McHenry should be a bit more cautious. A truly pissed off Pelosi is a dangerous thing!

 

"Pardon me boy...is that the Transylvania Station?"-Mel Brooks.

 

Ja. Track 29. Can I give you a shine?

 

Apartment rents in Venice seem pretty reasonable until you see how tiny the apartments are. We're talking one, maybe two rungs above Hong Kong cage homes.

There are about 50,000 actual residents and 11 million tourists at any given time. Not for me. Santa Fe has about the same population and a tenth the number of tourists and that was bad enough.

Besides, I don't speak Italian.

 

But should you decide to move to northern Italy, Johann, we will all come visit!

 

No, nessuno di voi lo farà. Potete fidarvi tutti di me su questo. (No, none of you will. You can trust me on that.)

Besides, I'm pretty well decided on Romania. "Bună, Alina? Ești ocupat sâmbătă?" (Hello, Alina? Are you busy Saturday?)

 

Why Johann! Where’s that famous Canadian friendliness?

 

https://www.1zoom.me/big2/40/225992-mrshadow.jpg

 

Dunno. Try Nunavut. Or Newfoundland. They got Screech. It helps. https://screechrum.com/

 

Sorry, Alina. That should be "Ești ocupată sâmbătă?" Dang Google! What good is a gender-blind translation thingy? I'll do my own from now on. Or maybe test Deepl.