"TO MARKET, TO MARKET...."

But I didn't "buy a fat pig" or a "plum bun" at Modica Sorda's fortnightly market this morning because Rosa and I were in search of clothing bargains.

"Cui voli vinniri caru

guadagna poco dinaru."

= "If you want to sell at high prices

you won't earn much money."

Thus goes a Sicilian proverb and indeed, this could have been the motto of the market traders we encountered. Had there been any room in my freezer, I could have stocked it up for a very reasonable price. But so determined was I to get at the clothing that I even walked past a stall full of fridge magnets!

On a very hot morning, the atmosphere was jovial, with the traders calling out their wares and their prices, customers waving to people they knew or shouting to them to come and see what they had just purchased and absolutely everybody exclaiming, "Mamma mia, che caldo!" ["Goodness, it's hot!"]

There was not a single stall that was not crowded but the biggest throng by far was around one selling what Italian women refer to as "house" dresses - simple, cool, sleeveless, usually patterned dresses, quite pretty in their way, which the women wear in summer when they are cooking or doing housework. They wouldn't be seen dead in these garments outside, partly because everyone would know they were from the market - "vergogna" ["shame"] - and partly because they would not deem them sufficiently elegant attire for walking down the street to deposit their rubbish bags in the communal bins. Now I wouldn't have minded snapping up one of these dresses myself, but I could only find medium, large or extra-large sizes [no small at all], which was quite maddening as when I was a larger lady I couldn't find large sizes for love nor money. I probably was a bit half-hearted about grabbing as many of the dresses as I could in one go and scrutinising them for size, quality and then resistance to tugging by giving them a good yank, [you expect all that for your 6 euros? - yes, siree, in Italy!] which was what all the other women were doing, and I got so hot that I gave up the fight after a mere half an hour, reader.

But then, oh then, reader, a few stalls further on, I found them; these Italian silk trousers and a fine top to go with them [I seem to be going boho]:

I don't know where I think I'm going in them and they probably won't turn out to have been quite such a bargain by the time I've bought the right bra and accessorised them [I know exactly where to go for the shoes!] but I was one happy lady by the time I left the market for a drink and an ice cream in the pleasant garden of a nearby bar:

"Li ricchi comu vonnu e li poviri come ponnu" = "The rich live in the way they want and the poor in the way they can."

- Another Sicilian proverb.