As people come from all over Italy to spend their summer in traffic around Salerno, it is comforting to know that even if sometimes they can’t quite get to a beach, there’s still always something to eat.
It is glorious summer again, a fact confirmed by the presence of a corn on the cob vendor at every corner. Whether roasted or boiled, and with a little salt, a corn on the cob is a delicious snack, just the sort of thing to keep your strength up while sitting in traffic along the Litoranea.
However, not all corn on the cobs are created equal, a fact which any savvy street seller of this food will know. Some are long and thin, usually being quite tender and succulent; while others are short and fat and are accordingly harder and drier. It is therefore more difficult to sell the short fat ones, since most people will ask for a long thin one (as will be noted if you observe next time you go and buy one).
But this is no problem for a clever and wise seller. By a subtle understanding of human psychology he has worked out that he can usually get away with selling the short fat ones to men and the long thin ones to women. This may not sound like a stroke of genius, and indeed it is not. (Though there is something quite logical about the association nonetheless). What is a stroke of genius is to actually discover this little trick of the corn seller and then work out a strategy to counter it.
In essence the strategy is very simple. If you are a male, send your wife or girlfriend to buy the corn on the cob; but if you are female, make sure your husband or boyfriend stays well out of sight! But never, absolutely never, go and buy corn on the cob as a couple. You will end up with one fat one and one thin one, which is probably all that is needed to send you clear over the edge after a whole day spent in traffic along the coast of Italy. And though there have not yet been any reports about couples killing each other over who gets the long thin one, we can be sure that it is only a matter of time before such a tragedy comes to pass.