Strange day!

Last night we had a weird visit from the hotel housekeeper, asking us if ‘everything is OK’ then I saw a couple of police officers in the foyer. This morning there was what looked like half the Naples ‘polizia municipale’ guarding the front door of the hotel, a couple of police vans and several members of staff on walkie-talkies - all very disconcerting!

I had a quick chat with the receptionist and mystery solved - Napoli are playing Lazio tonight and the Lazio football team are staying at our hotel! I hung about downstairs for a bit, hoping to get a photo of them, but I started getting some funny looks from the police so I went back to the room. We spent the rest of the day exploring a very rainy Naples and rubbed Pulcinella’s nose for luck.

When we got back, I somehow ended up talking to the policemen, who’d been there all day. I think they were laughing at the fact I was absolutely soaking wet but they made me laugh, too, as I don’t think they were very pleased at being assigned to the rival team. They then - very oddly - said that I could go with the team to the stadium if I was a doctor, as they were short of one, but as they had no need of a geography teacher I had to watch the team bus leave without me.

The score’s currently 3-0 to Napoli so I think the polizia will be happy!