Fresh air – Cough, splutter, cough!
Thursday, March 29th, 2007Strange thing, this ‘getting fresh air’ or, as they often seem to say here ‘changing the air’. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for March, 2007
My mood, my books, a list of strange things
Tuesday, March 27th, 2007My mood is like the weather, sombre and grey. Spring? Where the hell is it?. Read the rest of this entry »
Aimless, goalless, nothingness
Monday, March 19th, 2007When we first came to Italy, we did nothing. Well, obviously we did things, but we had no jobs, no reason to get up in the morning, to leave the house (apart from the dog and buying food). We had money. It was the plan. It was what we had decided to do. Nothing. Just be there. See how life was. See what would happen in the future. Read the rest of this entry »
how to make people like me
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007I really shouldn’t have had that fifth whiskey last night (I don’t even really like whiskey), nor for that matter the other four or the large mirto that V poured me. I feel that, although my body is obeying the commands I give it, it is doing so very reluctantly and with a time lag as though my body were in Australia and I am phoning with the instructions. Also, at any moment now the line will break and my body will stop accepting any instructions at all. Still, a nice evening. Heather had arrived back from the UK and we had much to talk about.
And the title, you ask. What’s that all about? Well, the site is registered on Google Analytics, which means I can see certain information about visitors to the site. In this case the title was what was typed into search.com and the person (in Derby, I think) got to the vanda site. Tried it myself this morning and I have no idea why it came up as I can’t find it at all. Sorry to the person in Derby for not giving you the answer, but you did have a look around before you left, so I guess there might have been something of interest.
Via The Magistrate’s Blog comes a link to a Guardian article and this quote from one of the contributors
‘images of us being forced into a van and taken to airport come back. We were taken off the flight at the last minute, but I can hear the screams of the other Congolese being forced onto the plane. My son has had constipation ever since we came here’
No, not some kidnapping or hijack. An asylum seeker in the UK whose two children were born here and who was writing from an asylum centre, having been ‘snatched from our home in Glasgow’.
I can make no comment as I think it says all that is required.
Update p.m. I’ve just thought, perhaps the person wasn’t looking to be more liked by others but rather they were looking for a method of cloning themselves!
Let me tell you how ill I am!
Sunday, March 11th, 2007As those of you who know me may remember, I’m not one for illnesses. Sure I’ve had my fair share. I had an operation for a small hernia when I was about 8, had Spillaine’s Syndrome at about 35 and an op for a cartilage tear about 6 years ago. But that’s about it, really. Yes, I do get aches and pains but, really, you don’t want to know, so I won’t tell you. I don’t take aspirin or any other drugs as I reckon that one drug (smoking) is enough – oh yes, and alcohol. Read the rest of this entry »
Where’s the bloody Tooth Fairy when you need him/her?
Wednesday, March 7th, 2007It’s difficult to write every day – as you can tell, because there aren’t entries every day. I do try to write, following Lisa’s advice, but much of the output is fairly banal and not worth posting. I find myself trying to think of things to write about knowing, as I do, that the blogs that I like have regular posts, giving me a story that’s more interesting to read, that I want to follow. For example, Wandering Scribe, now that her situation has changed, has stopped posting so often and, in turn, I’ve stopped looking so often, whereas, Italy is Falling, The Magistrate and My Boyfriend Is…, post regularly, so I look at their blogs every day. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t hold your breath in the Gotthard Tunnel!
Sunday, March 4th, 2007Today, as yesterday, has been a really beautiful day. Unfortunately we had some chores to do – mine in front of a computer and V ironing. However, it was so beautiful that we decided to take Rufus for a walk in Giardini Pubblici (the park closest to where we live in Milan) this afternoon.
Whilst walking in the park, we have to pass under a footbridge – but it’s a wide one as I guess they also use it for park vehicles. - V says that he doesn’t like walking under the bridge because it smells. I said that it didn’t but he said that it didn’t matter anyway as you ‘have to hold your breath under bridges and in tunnels as it’s lucky’! Yep, he really said that. He did add that it probably wasn’t a good idea to do that in the Gotthard Tunnel (from here to Switzerland).
It reminded me of when he was on Jeopardy and, when asked if he had ever worked in a factory, he replied ‘No, but I did drive past one, once’. Read the rest of this entry »
Clocking off and more on that tongue
Friday, March 2nd, 2007During the day, occasionally, V & I have email chats. Here, I will give the one we had yesterday – well my bits anyway, because they tell of the new clocking in card that I have to use. Read the rest of this entry »
Current status: dipendente; plus amusing tales of cutting off tongues in Milan
Thursday, March 1st, 2007Yes, it really is some big deal here – to be employed with a contract with no fixed end date! So, here I am, a properly employed (dipendente) person. I was also told, yesterday, that I was a level 7 employee which, so I am told, is the highest level. However, this being the country that it is, I now have a clocking in card! This is the first time that I have ever had one of these and I am sure I shall forget to use it many times. We’ll have to see how important that is. But we are in Italy, where rules and red tape are so important.
In the meantime, it would seem that we are about to also congratulate V for getting the same status where he is working. He should know by the end of the day.
On another subject, however, whilst surfing the internet for something (I forget what, exactly) yesterday, I found a story that really caught my eye. You can see one of the examples here. Read the rest of this entry »
