Jul
29

A lapse

2005 | Filed Under Me | Leave a Comment

Oh dear, I’m sorry to have to report that I smoked two cigarettes this evening. Bad blogger. Weak willed, I was. Someone insisted while I was at a bar and I gave in - but I have not bought a packet of ciggies, which is usually what happens after these incidents.

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Jul
27

Sharm El Sheikh and bombs etc.

2005 | Filed Under Holidays, World News | Leave a Comment

Two years ago my other half went off to Hurgharda, which is in the Sharm El Sheikh area - ie the Red Sea - for a brief holiday. She had a great time and we've been thinking about going back there or checking out Sharm El Sheikh with our two year old son. Not now.

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Jul
25

I have not smoked for over a week!

2005 | Filed Under Me | Leave a Comment


It’s true. I’m becoming a non-smoker, again. I even resisted when surrounded by other ‘orrible smoking types, too. But ciggies can be useful - as you can see from the pic.

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Jul
25

Back to the UK

2005 | Filed Under England, Holidays, Me | Leave a Comment

Next week I, or I should say, we, will be flying back to the UK. Not London, which is where most people here think most English people come from (I guess most English people think Italians all come from Naples or Sicily), but the deep and darkest north of the UK. A stones throw away from those that shoot haggis and very near the place coal used to come from, otherwise known as Newcastle.

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Jul
19

Creative juices

2005 | Filed Under Language, Language teaching, Work | Leave a Comment

Trying to design activities for teaching people how to use English in meetings and discussions situations. Coming up with something original, enjoyable and effective is not at all easy, I can tell you. Thinking of using football as a theme in some way. It’s difficult to find an Italian who does not like the game, so you can play on this at times to get, all male, classes talking for hours. And they do do all the talking. I know sweet nothing about the game, apart from the fact that you use a ball and that people quite like fighting about it. Bit like religon in some ways, is football. Good excuse for a bust up. I digress. Anyway using footy as a subject is just about a dead cert in terms of gererating interest. Think I will explore this avenue. Puts thinking cap on.

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Jul
18

Pocket PC’s and giving up smoking

2005 | Filed Under Me, Technology and Gadgets | Leave a Comment

I’ve given up smoking, again. Only this time I’ve come up with a wacky scheme to keep myself off those bad for your health and expensive smoke sticks. I’ve bought myself a pocket PC. Don’t know what one of these things is? Well, in simple terms its a digital diary, only it can do just a little bit more. My new PDA - personal digital assistant - has a fast CPU - the processor - 624mhz - which is faster than the first real PC I built a few years back which sported a hyper-fast 400mhz CPU, wow!
Anyway, the thing cost me just over 400 euros, which means that I have to go for just over 105 days or 3 and a half months without smoking to pay for it. I figure that if I can go for this long without a puff, then I can probably do without the things for the rest of my life and save myself around 1,400 euros a year (at current prices) in the process. Of course, if I should manage to go the course, I shall become a vehement anti-smoker and preach the benefits of giving up to anyone who’ll listen.

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Jul
18

Harry Potter and the Pope

2005 | Filed Under Films, Italian news, Italy, World News | Leave a Comment

As you, dear reader, and the rest of the world, not to mention most of the universe, I suspect, will know, the latest Harry Potter book is now on the shelves. Now, I have not read the books, but I have seen the films and have to say that they make wonderful entertainment for the young and are not at all bad for those of us who like fantasy and can still remember reading books such as the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Good and very wholesome fun in my, excuse the pun, book.

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Jul
13

Simple acts

2005 | Filed Under Italy, Me, Milan, UK | Leave a Comment

Whilst returning from work today I was stopped by a lady in her car who asked for a light. I obliged and, having noticed my strange accent or dress(!?), I suppose, she asked if I was Italian. I replied that I wasn’t and she asked if I was German. No I replied. ‘Where are you from?’ she asked. ‘I’m English’, I said. ‘Oh. Sorry to hear about all the bombs in London.’, she added before driving off.

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Jul
9

Do you video phone?

2005 | Filed Under Me, Technology and Gadgets | Leave a Comment

Mobile video phones were the latest and greatest must-have gadget here for the last two years or so. However, there are one or two signs that people are tiring of these miracles of modern technology. This could, in part, be down to the fact that the video call system does not work particularly well. This is possibly because financial pressures led to the release on the market of mobile video phone devices that were not quite up to the task, although having said this, one of the first operators into the video phone market here was ‘Three’, which is part of the huge Hutchinson Telcom group, and their phones do work quite well, even if they do not function everywhere.

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Jul
9

A little get-together

2005 | Filed Under Italy, Me, Milan | Leave a Comment

One of our neighbours, a lady who hails from the Trentino area of Italy and speaks Italian with a Germanic accent, thought that it would be a good idea to try to get everyone on the ground and first floors of our appartment block together for a summer get together. She hoped that others who live in our 4 storey block may also be interested in participating and to this end my other half produced a little poster to stick down in the entrance hall.

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Jul
7

Bombs in London

2005 | Filed Under England, World News | Leave a Comment

My other half rang me to say that their had been reports of bombs going off in London and these reports were all confirmed by Internet sources and BBC world, which has been providing a blow by blow account of the catastrophe.

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Jul
4

The return of the tea bags

2005 | Filed Under Italian Food, Italy, Me, Milan | Leave a Comment

Oh joy! My other half wandered into the internationalish supermarket near us on Saturday and rang me up to ask me if the brand of tea bags I usually got was ‘PG tips’. I said ‘yes’ and asked why. She said that they were in stock. Wonderful, I had almost given up hope of finding my beloved bags ever again, at least without having to go traipsing around Milan, in the heat, in what could well have turned out to have been a fruitless search.

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