Weird Italian things, part 1

I wrote "part 1" because I'm fairly sure that other weird things will come to mind later on. For now, let's start with these two:

1) girls who wear boots in the summer time
2) the saddles in bicycles are set too low

Let's start with the boots then.

home is where the snow is

Now, I come from a country where you have to wear winter clothing min. 5 months of the year. The first time we get snow is usually around the beginning of November, and this goes on until April. During this time you do NOT go out without proper winter gear. So when it finally starts to get a bit sunny and warm, we take those winter boots and we chuck them, never to be seen until next November.

So I find it really really hard to understand why anyone in their right mind would wear boots when it's +35 degrees outside and you're already sweating like a little pig. I've asked about this a few times from my friends, and the response was "they're not real boots, they're summer boots". Nevertheless, they're boots for fuck's sake. They are shoes that are made of a thick material that cover every inch of your foot, sometimes all the way up to your knee!! Wouldn't you rather wear something a bit more comfortable and less covering? Like a flip-flop? Or a ballerina? Or if you really need to wear something a bit heavier, maybe a nice sneaker would be nice? A nice pair of Converse anyone? But no, it has to be the boot.

Someone once explained to me that it's a relic of an old fashion statement, that one time wearing a sort of a mudflap for a skirt and combining that with boots was the hip-thing to do. All I can add is hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop a you don't stop.....

Moving on.

Another thing that has bothered me a little (and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one wondering about this) is how the saddles in the bicycles are set freakishly low. First I thought it was a mistake. That maybe these people just didn't have the whatchamacallit to adjust the saddle. But then I noticed that the same thing applied to every single biker. All of them riding their bikes with a hunched back and their knees in their mouth. Now, I'm no professional biker, but when I was younger I did bike 12 km everyday. In the bike store they adjust your saddle in a way that your feet have a firm grip of the pedals, but that you also manage to fully stretch your leg. That to me makes sense. Actually, some of the girls used to set the saddle too high, so that in order to pedal sitting down they had to move their ass from one side to another , and this of course was somewhat interesting to watch if you're a 15 year old boy (I imagine).

my manly-man bike (a gift actually)

Still, who am I to say where the saddle should be. I'm a guest in this country so the least I can do is to try this thing their way. And so I went about riding my bike with my knees in my mouth, but had to stop after a while because it started to hurt my back, and also pedaling was really difficult. How the hell do they do it??

Someone once explained to me that the saddles are set low so that when there's a red light and you have to stop, you don't need to get off your bike, but you can just put your foot down. And that staying closer to the ground makes you feel more safe when you're riding and/or stopping. Ah. Well, couldn't you just learn to ride your bike really well so that you're confident with it anyway, rise up the saddle a bit, and pedal without having to pick peaces of your teeth from your kneecaps?

Apparently not.

Fun fact no.1.
I've always had a men's bike. And men's skates (none of that girly figure skating stuff for me thanks)

Anyways, I wouldn't bring these things up if I hadn't spent hours and hours pondering on them. I promise to write also about weird things in Finland, god knows there are a lot of them as well.Although it might be a bit hard considering that many weird Finnish things aren't weird to me at all.

Maybe I'll ask help from my boot-wearing hunchback friends.