Sounds like a budding friendship.

Went walking today. With Bruno. An Italian. He speaks a little English. I speak even less Italian. But that didn’t deter us. We had a nice chat. For maybe two hours. I lost track of time. Because I was enjoying Bruno. Nice thing. In that we communicated effectively. With our limited common vocabularies. We helped each other. If he was grasping for the right English word, I found it. And he’d give me the Italian for the English word I was using. Reminded me of the way the Navy teaches recruits to swim. Toss them in the swimming pool. And tell ‘em to swim.  Just do it. That's what I was doing. Doing it. Conversing with an Italian. Far better than walking in silence. Anyway, Bruno invited me for the walk. Because we (my Italian true love and I) had socialized earlier in the week. With Bruno and his wife, Mariella.  And I got Bruno interested in walking. I’m a daily walker. Bruno is 65. Retired. Acknowledges that he doesn’t exercise enough. So he’s gonna take up walking more. At my behest. Which makes me feel good. Because it’s also gonna make Bruno feel good. It was a cold day.  Windy, too. I could have walked all day. Because Bruno is interesting company. He and I are on similar political plateaus. Liberals. Socialist sympathizers. In the last Italian election, he voted for liberal Democrat Pier Luigi Bersani, who doubles as the secretary of the Italian communist party. Same guy I would have voted for. And there’s a good chance he’ll become Italy’s next prime minister. The decision is still up in the air. Because no one party got a majority. It’s gonna take a while to form a coalition government. I like to talk politics with Bruno. With anyone. Bruno is also strongly pro-labor. Before retiring, he represented trade unions. Like me, he shares a concern over the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor. We wish for a worldwide revolution. To rein in the greedy and obscene excesses of capitalism. Bruno also likes flowers. And nature, period. Same as me. Bruno also seems like a curious fella. Curious about Americans. And my mission is to get to know Italians. Especially the curious ones. Bruno and Jim. Sounds like a budding friendship. –Jim Broede