Sicilian Interlude

If you stay in one place long enough, the world will pass by. What better place to sit, on a baking hot July afternoon in Taormina than a shady bench in the Public Garden, with a view of the bay of Giardini Naxos?

In the foreground is a drinking fountain which attracts a varied clientele that provides ample entertainment for the lazy onlooker.

The first visitor is a black cat, which uses the stepping stone as a jumping-off point for a leap into the fountain bowl and proceeds to satisfy its thirst at leisure. 

Next is a family with boisterous young boys.  They make the happy discovery that by pressing down on the fountain source with a thumb they can create a water jet with which to soak their brothers, and anyone else who gets in the way. 

A gaggle of teenagers cool off by dipping their foreheads in the fountain. A passing tourist goes one better by soaking his New York Yankees baseball cap in the water, before putting it back on his head.

A grey tabby cat joins me at the bench.  After a thorough scratch, it finds a piece of dry bread crust, which it crunches noisily, before taking up position in the shade of a bush, ready to pounce on an unsuspecting lizard.

Back at the fountain, a young couple employ the spray technique, but without malice, in order to cool each other off.

At last, an elderly couple come to the fountain to drink.