Italians happy with smoking ban? I don’t think so!

Google blog searches are not really that good.  If you search for a blog by relevance (the default) and then search by date, some blogs that appear in the first are omitted from the second!  Freaky.  So, say you search for ‘milan italy’.  The first search results page shows blog A, updated 15 minutes ago.  Then click on the search by date (which lists them in reverse order (i.e. last updated showing at the top of the page) and sometimes, blog A is not there!  How can that be?
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Where are you?

So, blogging!  It’s interesting stuff.  To be honest most blogs are rambles by teenagers or people who think they’re teenagers.  Search through the blogs in Blogspot, Journalspace, etc. and most of the information is banal, to say the least.  You might find some like minded people, but mostly you don’t – or maybe I’m looking in the wrong places – or maybe there aren’t any people who think like me (which wouldn’t really surprise me).

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Lots of amazing news!

Well, many things are happening!

First, we have been offered (and accepted) a beautiful house in Val Curone – halfway between Milano and Genoa, about one hours travel from Milano) – which is almost like Tuscany but without the Brits or the tourists!  Absolutely fantastic!  We have got it for the whole month of August and, originally, when we accepted it, I was going to do my last lesson on 31st July and my next lesson on 31st August – so it would be a whole month in the country!

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Passions for Food

Italians have a passion for food.  But the passion they have is incredible.

On the plus side, most of the food you get here is fresh – made with fresh ingredients (and you can taste it).  In a restaurant, the menu will say if any of the dishes contain frozen food.  Getting a take-away pizza (which we do from time to time, from the restaurant at the back of the flat) means that it is cooked that instant using dough made that day and with produce bought that day.  Everyone here eats pizza from a restaurant.  They have the best (wood or, sometimes, gas fired) pizza ovens and the cost of a pizza – about €6 – €8, sometimes less!  Why cook it yourself?

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