There are a couple of things I just thought I’d say.
One is that, further to the apparent monopoly that the Mafia have on the rubbish collections around Naples (and most of Italy), it seems they might have a monopoly, here, on the supply of tarmac and road paint.
For you lot in the UK (or anywhere else outside Italy) you may have noticed in your news that Italy is going to the polls this weekend.
Well, Wallace’s real name is Vetroni.
I was struck the other day, whilst waiting in some traffic and looking at the election posters (one of them above, nicked from Italy is Falling), which are everywhere, that the man looks so much like Wallace (as in Wallace and Gromit) with that inane grin, that every time I see the poster now, all I can think of is Wallace’s voice saying ‘Cheese, Gromit?’.
I mentioned it to some friends over the weekend and they thought it was very funny.
Meanwhile, Berlusconi is now promising that he, and he alone, can save Italy from the marauding hoards of ‘foreigners’ looking to strip Italy of it’s major assets – namely, the proposed take-over of Alitalia by KLM-Air France. Nothing too concrete though. After all, we wouldn’t want a real and definite proposal that anyone would have to stick to, would we?
So, I read this morning, the unions have walked out of joint talks saying that they would prefer to wait until after the elections. I guess they’ll be voting for B(uzz) then?
It looks like the Italians have a choice between Wallace and Buzz Lightyear. Not much of a choice, really.
This was going to be a long, rambling post but I decided to cut it short.
Jack would be appalled.
Having had a dreadful time that evening already and being much later than normal, I pay for the supermarket items I have bought with a card. The total cost is €40.02. I hand over my debit card.
‘Have you got the 2 cents?’
Last night we went to a great house party held by a colleague of V’s. I did have a little too much red wine but didn’t realise that until I woke up this morning. Luckily, I don’t, generally, suffer from hangovers so I just felt a little sick. However, the party was FUN! And I spoke more Italian than normal and even had some sort of debate with some guy, who’s standing in the upcoming elections here, from some new communist party. Well, I say debate – he didn’t speak English and, now that I know I was quite tipsy, God knows what I actually said to him.
Urgent cry for help! I have finished all my Tetley tea-bags (you know, the round ones that come in a blue packet). I still have a few nice ones which are free-trade ones from the Hay Festival – but only about 5. This means I won’t last the week out. Does anyone know how I can get hold of some in Milan? I’m afraid that tea here is far too weak, whereas Tetley round ones do the trick perfectly.
The entry on this blog for 4th November has GOT to be the funniest I have read. In particular the conversation with the drunken customer about the pizzas (or, more correctly, pizze) and, more specifically, this bit:
It would seem that Mr Poole, recently attacked by a herd of cows, thinks it is ‘rare’ for this to happen.
Not so, I’m afraid, Mr Poole. True, unsuspecting dog owners/walkers should be made aware but I found it to be frequent. For all the dogs we have had, I was always wary when walking across a field where cows were and, absolutely when the field contained a group of young cows or cows with young.
I first became aware of this fact, probably, thirty years ago. They were, of course, not after you, but the dog. And the RSPCA are wrong when they say it is a large dog that can cause this. Nearly all our dogs have been bearded collies and they are not particularly large dogs.
After the first time it happened, I became nervous when crossing a field of cows. And there have been several times where we (the dog(s) and I) have had to make a run for it when they suddenly come charging from one end of the field towards you. Now, I’m not particularly frightened of cows. When I was a child, on my Uncle’s farm, I used to help with the milking and that included rounding the cows up. I learnt the way to make the cows frightened of you and not the other way around.
But when there is a dog in their field, no amount of action can change what appears to be a blood-lust. They want the dog and there is nothing to stop them I’ve tried. So yes, it’s fear; but tinged with respect for nature. In the end, the only thing to do was to keep the dog close by, walk quickly to the stile or gate and, if they did start to make a run towards you, run like hell.
Secondly, shamelessly, I wish to prostitute myself for Seal. Well, not the bloke, just the Best of album. Jack is giving away 10 of these albums. I’m hoping that his readership is not so great that there will be too much competition, but I suspect there will be. On the other hand, I don’t expect my site to generate much traffic for him, sorry Jack. BTW, I prefer his blog now that he has gone back to telling us about the trials and tribulations of his job. Although the posts regarding the news were good, this stuff is really interesting and why I read the site every day. So thanks Jack. I like the lined paper theme too. So name me, Jack but I don’t feel any shame!
Like Second Life, the blogosphere (the world of bloggers) is not real life. It has similarities but is almost like some sort of game to many people. The trouble is that many of the Real-Life people don’t actually know about this Blog-Life. But, it can be compared to the old Wild, Wild West. Laws (and by that I mean the ‘rules of living together’) have yet to be fully defined.