I was struck today, whilst having lunch, about the difficulty, when moving to a foreign country, of knowing the correct/polite manners.
Table and other manners; class differences
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Category Archives: Friends and Inimies
Art for Art’s Sake; Dino is funny
Thank goodness, at least for this morning, the feeling deep in the pit of my stomach has gone; the first time for weeks and weeks. And I suddenly feel more positive, which is great. I know that it’s not all over yet but, at least, there is an end to it which is now in sight.
Don’t Panic! The Cleaners are coming……
I love my dogs, I really do. They are fun, they are loving, they are, in nearly all respects, wonderful. There is one (there are probably more but for this post, there is really only one) problem. Every day, the place looks like a park. And, by that, I mean that, given their hair, they collect the park and bring it home, dropping it at home during the next 24 hours so that home looks like the park – mud everywhere (in the form of huge amounts of dust), dried leaves, twigs that got stuck, etc.
To give you an example, a couple of days ago, V went to the shops and I swept up. I did a good job but, when he came back he did it again.
And, as we have no carpet here, the dust flies everywhere so that, within 24 hours, there is a slight film of dust everywhere. As I look at my desk, which is in the hallway and, therefore is, by far, the worst place in the house, I see the dust, on the bookshelves, behind the computer and it looks like I have never, ever cleaned it.
And today, S&N have kindly “lent” us their cleaner(s). OMG! I really had to fight the urge to clean everywhere before they came – you know what I mean. I did fight the urge but immediately apologised as they walked through the door, blaming, of course, the dogs (which is true, of course).
However, V is doing some sort of party on New Year’s Eve so, at least, we should only have to do a surface clean tomorrow, I hope.
Then, I guessed as they don’t speak English, that they needed the cleaning stuff. Except I found we had no glass cleaner and no bathroom cleaner!
It would be great to have someone in a couple of times a week but I guess it would be far too expensive and, given current circumstances, more difficult than normal.
Anyway, they are here now and starting on the lounge. They are here for a few hours so I have limited the cleaning to the most important areas as, given the state of it and the size of the place, I’m sure they will struggle to complete even that! We shall see.
Still, it was so nice of S&N and I’m sure it will sparkle and gleam like it never has before!
(False) Lessons in Life.
Christmas is a time for reflection and for remembering things past. This one was no different. At various times over the period I remembered the Christmases we had in the past. The mountains of presents; shopping for the veg on Christmas Eve at “Wiggy’s” shop in Kington; having the open fire to sit around; and the people with whom we have shared our Christmases, including my sister (one time, I think).
However, it was also time to think of deeper things; things more hidden or, rather, not previously analysed.
The mysterious case of the disappearing heater; fancy dress parties; Be afraid, be very afraid (the de Menezes travesty of justice)
On Friday, I went into the smoking room to get warm and have a cigarette. Later, just before lunch, I went in again – the heater had gone and the chairs had been rearranged now that there was vacant space! The heat already in the room from the heater kept the room above freezing for the rest of the day, so better than nothing. Several people have said that, in the New Year we shan’t be able to smoke inside the buildings any more. It will be quite funny to see the MD outside lighting up! We shall see. On the plus side, at least it won’t get so cold in my office as she won’t have the window wide open in hers whilst having a cigarette. So there are advantages to everything, I suppose.
Last night was a fancy dress party. It was held in a friend-of-a-friend’s shop in an area of Milan that, they say, is up-and-coming. She sells designer clothes from lesser-known designers from all over the world.
I absolutely HATE fancy dress parties. I never have a clue as to what to go as and am always genuinely shocked at other people’s ingeniousness and how something so simple can look so good.
As we had less than 2 days notice and it was Friday night (so no time to try and do something special on Saturday), V came up with the idea of going as 70s people. My era. Sadly, we had all the necessary items in our wardrobes including, for me, a pair of real platform shoes that I had worn only once before. They had brought them in as new items in the 80s in Schuh, in Birmingham, hoping for some sort of revival, I guess. Well, it never took off but I kept them as I loved them. Boy, they looked good last night but how my calves suffered! Anyway, it was a cool party and we got back about half one in the morning.
Finally, I had written a long post about the jury’s verdict on the de Menezes case but feel it was far better covered over at Stef’s site. If I lived in the UK now I would be very, very afraid. What kind of future is there when you cannot trust the police to be truthful and themselves uphold the law against murder?
Oh, yes, and it hasn’t stopped bloody raining for days!
And just WHO is going to buy all this crap??????
We arrive about 1 p.m. The place is heaving with people. Italians, not renowned, in my view, for moving to one side, bump and jostle with each other to get to the stalls, get to the next aisle, get to a place for food.
A tidy up
For weeks now, I have been thinking that the links to other blogs needs a serious spring clean. In spite of this not being Spring, it really can’t wait.
Monopoly; Snow; Fat Feet; An Outing At Work!
I won! Since this happens rarely and certainly if V is playing (since he nearly always wins) it was quite something. It was a match arranged by V with some colleagues since one of them, L, was convinced he could take V on and beat him.
But I did like the ‘new’ way of making deals. L started it with the deal he gave to M, letting him complete the ‘dark-blue’ set on condition that he wouldn’t have to pay rent if he landed on them. Then I made a deal with him in a similar vein but also collecting 25% of any profit that he made during the game.
>However, my coup-de-grace was letting V have the final green one in place of a complete one and a half sides of the board! I knew that he wanted the greens so much that he would give anything to get the set.
And it snowed Sunday night, even in the centre of Milan. And it’s been very cold since then. I just HAVE to get another job because they don’t keep the offices warm enough for me. The forecast is for snow and rain from now until next weekend! Enough already! Roll on spring.
In other news: I think my feet have put on weight. It seems to be getting harder to get my socks on.
Also, I found this morning, yesterday someone at work found my blog. I was a bit concerned for a while but then I thought it must be Pietro. Luckily, perhaps, it was. However, whilst I was looking at all the sites they had visited, it did scare me for a while. Anyway, now that he has found it perhaps I should include his blog on my links on the side? Nice to see you Pietro!
A cunning plan, maybe?
I should be grateful for my life, even if, at times, it does not go so well. After all, there are many people who are worse off. One ‘blog’ friend is ill and I have yet to find the right words (indeed, any words) to express how sorry I am. Another friend is not ill so much as just not quite themselves. If only I lived a little closer.
Cheese and Celery and other rambling
V brought back some strong cheddar cheese from when he went back to the UK recently.
We already had celery in the fridge and, the other night, we had cheese and celery and a nice glass of Nero D’Avola. I had forgotten how good cheddar cheese was.
Next week I am back in Wolverhampton for a couple of days. Unfortunately, with three colleagues, so I won’t be able to visit S nor go and see V’s family (although, on that front, everything is not too bad).
However, I will be able to buy some cheese, and bacon, and sausages and, maybe some other stuff, so there is a bright side. My colleagues have a list of stuff that they want to buy. Maybe I can encourage them to go to Primark too!
V has some sort of internal interview early next week. We don’t know what for, exactly but we are hopeful. Apparently, there were jobs that V has been put up for (secretly, of course, Siamo in Italia) but the language was considered a barrier.
Nothing further on my job front but one can always keep one eye open, just in case. Although, it seems, the only way to make some real money is run the business yourself and I consider that a tad difficult in this Bel Paese.