There are moments when I am happy to be alive and, particularly, happy to be here, in Italy and, for that matter, in Milan.

So after taking V to work this morning I had several chores to do, narrowly missing the closing of the Post Office, it seemed like all a bit of a rush.

And, as I had already taken Rufus out at 6.15 a.m. this morning, when we got up, I decided to take him to Giardini Pubblici later, about mid-day, the large park near our house. It is our usual weekend walk. As I write this, my blog’s weather pixie says it’s 20° C. Nice and warm really although most people have coats now.

So, for those of you in the UK, it’s almost like summer (for you). The breeze is very gentle, the skies are clear and the sun is shining. I went without a coat and the walk was good although, because we were later going to the park, it was full of dogs which Rufus doesn’t like very much. They say that owners are like their dogs (or maybe dogs are like their owners); in any event, neither of us are particularly sociable.

On my way back I had a choice. Get cigarettes now or have something to eat at the café that is on our way back; having only enough money on me for one of those options. I plump for the food as it really is such a perfect day and I can always come back later for the cigarettes.

As I go to sit outside at the café, the waiter/owner says ‘Ciao’. I lead Rufus through the tables-and-chairs maze and we sit in the corner. After the waiter has finished the (very) long conversation with the old lady and what, at first glance, looked like her granddaughter, but in the end turned out to be her grandson, he came over.

I ordered a beer (birra media – basically a pint) and asked what they had to eat as I really wanted pasta. I settled on pasta with ragu and salsicia (like a Bolognese sauce and sausage).

I like this café. When we have visitors and, if they are leaving in the afternoon, we quite often take them there for lunch. Firstly the food is good, the staff friendly and helpful and it’s close to Corso Buenos Aires and trams, metro and buses.

When we first came to live here we would go to there often. At that time we really struggled with the language. The waiter (same guy) always speak to us in Italian and we made a stab at trying to order. I would always recognize the names of the pasta so would always chose that because you could just say the name of the pasta and it would be enough. Then, after a few years, one day, we heard him speaking to another customer in English! We had always assumed that he couldn’t speak English!

Another time, V asked for a can of fish tea – instead of peach tea (one being pesce (pronounced peshay) and the other being pesche (pronounced peskay).) The waiter didn’t say anything and it was only afterwards that we realised the mistake.

So, today, I’m sitting there enjoying the not-cold weather, with my beer, pasta and, afterwards, a cup of cafe corretto (espresso with a dash of grappa that G got me on to when we were doing the TEFL course) and I saw this English/American couple sit down not far from me.

They were obviously here for a long weekend. And they were obviously enjoying the experiences, the city and the weather. And it made me think, sitting there, of how lucky I am to live here, eating a light but very nice lunch, outside in October, in a city that I love, that others come to for a holiday, I used to feel the same when we lived in North-West Herefordshire – but not as often as I do here.

This really is a great place to live and I really do love it and it’s times like those that helps me to remember.