[ExI] abandoning hope

[Amara Graps]

>The fun thing is that when Amara moved to Italy a few years ago I told
>her that this sentence, written in capital letters, appears on the
>exit door of the airport for those who enter Italy.

It should be also for those who are desperate to leave Italy.

Monday (yesterday morning at 9:30) my wallet was stolen at a major
Rome bus terminal / metro stop.

All passports, identity cards, permits, credit cards (but one), bank
cards, drivers licenses, ... two weeks before I make an international
move (that's _why_ I'm carrying all of that, I'm closing out all of my
accounts, visiting bureaucratic offices, making reservations, plans and
so on.)

Probably no time else in my life, except when I was a kid, have I been
reduced to a single piece of authentic identification: my birth
certificate.

Amara