Actually, I thank one of my team. She is from Parma and she has just returned from her home town complete with some lovely fresh parmesan and some of this rather splendid salami. It is really rather good. I think it is the time of year that the parmesan comes fresh out of the presses. Last year she got some of the excess cheese that did not make it into the press. This is a rather light cheese, more like a mild to medium cheddar and really was rather splendid, better than the parmesan. However, the parmesan has lasted well, very well, in fact - I have just donated the remnants to Stuart and this is a year old, not gone off and probably just starting to mature nicely. However, the new stuff is great.
One funny thing that we get here are green satsumas. I think they have a specific name but I do not know it. They are perfectly green on the outside and normal and orange on the inside. Only seem to be available this time of year and are rather nice.
Shops in Siena are disappointing, with very little variety. We have supermarkets Coop, Pam and Conad. They all sell all the usual foods, and at a surprisingly high price. However, there is also a chain of a supermarket called "Penny Market" - this is a great supermarket that is in the style of Lidl, right down to the german lager. Prices are great and there are some really non-Italian foods in there. However, recently I bought in there a "kebab pizza" - couldn't resist it. It was ok, but not great, but anyway makes a wonderful change from the usual italian stuff, which although very nice, you do miss the variety.
And finally from the classy end of Siena we have an outdoor very European public toilet - this one amusingly enscribed with the phrase "il cesso piu' bello di Siena" - "the most beautiful toilet in Siena"!
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