up my trash. It had only been 13 days since the last time they picked up (I was beginning to feel spoiled). Unfortunately my excitement was short lived! While mowing the lawn and straightening up in the back yard a bit I noticed a really terrible (almost sickly) smell. After a little investigating I traced down the culprit- a dead rat in my garbage can!! The trouble is I didn't realize what it was until I PICKED IT UP!!! Oh, the thought of its feel in my hands makes me ill. I am not sure I will ever fully get over the experience!
Anyway, I have been pretty wound up about the whole thing. I mean hello- am I wrong to think that this is completely unacceptable!?! Besides being totally gross- this is a major health hazard, isn't it? Seriously, thoughts of the Bubonic Plague and other rodent transmitted diseases have been running through my mind all day. And what about the flies that have been feasting on that dead rat for the last 13 days and then landing all over my kids when they are outside playing. Honestly the thought of it all makes me sick.
So I need your opinion, am I totally over the top to think that "rats" are the limit for me as far as the garbage in Naples is concerned? Should I make a big fuss about this? Or should I have expected it? I mean- there is a huge pile of garbage outside my back door and rats do like garbage, don't they? Was I silly to think that our garbage was somehow cleaner than most? I've tried to suppress my feelings on the garbage issue here for a long time but this experience has really really got me worked up. AHHHHHH! Help me out here friends, what should I do?
Anonymous | October 21, 2008 at 7:58 AM
Oh Girlfriend!! How I wish I had an answer for you!! I can remember driving along the road and seeing rats scatter. Plus...we found a dead mouse on our balcony...two stories up!! How did that get there?? It was already hard and it wasn't there the day before! I do better when I don't think about it all...think about Cinque Terra and Venice! That's the Italy you want in your memory!
tyler | October 21, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Go to
http://www.naples.navy.mil/risk/index.cfm
and and write a nice descriptive email about it including the major health concerns.
At least the air sensors are running 25% of the time, mostly after a rain when there's no smoke, so it's obvious they're trying to solve the problems.