You know that it’s August in Positano if…
- You wish, really wish, that it would rain to bring relief from the heat.
- You make do with whatever you have at home because everyone refuses to brave the hot stairs to do the shopping.
- There are zillions of ants everywhere.
- You burn yourself in the water that comes from the cold water tap.
- You have figs from the garden for breakfast (and lunch and dinner).
- Navigating at sea means narrowly avoiding boats moored everywhere.
- You feel guilty when you are charged €4 for the same pizza that a tourist pays €7 for, only because you are a local.
- You try to get into the Music on the Rocks Club as a tourist, to avoid paying a €15 entrance fee as a local.
- You give up trying to catch a Sita bus in the Sorrento direction in the late afternoon, knowing that it will not even stop at Positano, due to the ridiculous amount of tourists that got on at Amalfi.
- All prices go up on the 15th.
- You have to take a ticket and wait in line to eat at the beach bars at lunchtime.
- The area under the beach bars becomes jam packed with everyone’s water floats.
- The hotel puts a sign up saying that only clients of the hotel can use the lift to the beach. Locals ignore it.
- You know that Ferragosto is codeword for ‘noise’. Loud rockets thunder an echo around the mountains all day long. Fireworks, boat horns blaring, sirens wailing, helicopters hovering, speed boats showing off, dogs barking, children yelling become background noise all day and night for two weeks.
- You are glad to pack your bags at the end knowing that this is not the real Positano you love.
