17. Duck Pond Lesson

Well.  It's true even at Il Poggio. 

Not all is beer and skittles.

I was caught off my guard and told a bit of humiliating truth after I helped  drain and clean the Il Poggio duck pond.

The truth teller was a young man, maybe eighteen years old, by the name of Giovanni.

Giovanni helped out at Il Poggio on a once in a while basis. He was not a regular, but when he was around we sometimes worked together--usually on sort of dirty physical projects--gardening, cleaning and whatnot. 

My Italian was improving a little so we could communicate in a very basic way.

Cleaning the duck pond was my idea.

Ducks don't seem to care what kind of unpleasant muck they slurp and paddle about in and this little pond was only about fifteen feet around and a foot deep. Water for the pond came from a nearby outdoor spigot with twenty feet of plastic hose attached. The pond did have an unpleasant odor to it if you got very close but since it was in an out-of-the-way place-- kind of behind one of the stone outbuildings--I probably the only person who noticed the stench.

Anyway, I had the help of Giovanni and explained the project to him.

He didn't see how I was going to drain the pond though to me it seemed a simple matter.

The pond was on a hill. Just take the water hose--stick one end in the pond and carry the other end downhill. Suck on the downhill end being VERY careful not to suck too long and you had a siphon situation. The water would flow to it's lowest level through the hose and out into the nearby garden.

To Giovanni this seemed like a magical trick.

Well, I demonstrated the siphon technique and the pond was drained and we shoveled some smelly stuff out and the ducks had some clean, fresh water for a few days-- but Giovanni got something off his chest by confronting me thus:

"You Americans." he said bitterly, "You think you are so smart. You are so well educated. Italians like me stand no chance! You know things like how to drain a pond with a hose and I don't know anything! No wonder I can find no work and have to to stupid things. You can do anything you want and go wherever you want. It is so unfair!"

That's something I learned about human relations from cleaning the Il Poggio duck pond.

 

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