Aug
31

So you wanna learn English?

2005 | Filed Under Italy, Language, Work | 1 Comment

Obviously, the marketing bods reckon that zillions of Italians have discovered that their knowledge of my good old mother tongue is not quite up to scratch, which is why, and it happens every year in this period, the TV screens are starting to fill up with adverts trying to persuade you to buy some cd rom/DVD based English course.

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Aug
30

ASBOs and Baby Gangs

2005 | Filed Under England, Italy | Leave a Comment

This story makes worrying reading. A 16 year old killer is bad enough, but a 14 year old gunman? What the blazes is going on? How can we let society get to this stage? It's bad news, in every sense.

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Aug
30

Weighty matters

2005 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

There is this old saying in English 'You are what you eat', well, the Italian equivalent might well be 'You are what you wear', and of course to wear the right gear, you need the right figure. Yes, this beautiful country adores beautiful people and Italians will go to great lengths to develop and maintain their beauty, and keep the kilos at bay.

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Aug
29

Losing things

2005 | Filed Under Me | Leave a Comment

Sometimes losing something makes you feel ever so good. For instance, this blogger has lost 3 kilos since he got back on the 17th of August.

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Aug
29

Much maligned members of society

2005 | Filed Under This blog | Leave a Comment

Traffic wardens are about as popular as mouldy mushrooms in the UK, however, one of these loveable individuals writes a mean blog. Worth checking out in my humble op: Walking the Streets.

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Aug
29

Open your mind to Open Source

2005 | Filed Under Technology and Gadgets | Leave a Comment

Even though this old world may at times seem to be without hope, there
are certain things which make you think that there may well be hope for
us all. One such thing is the open source software movement. This
veritable army of good souls from all corners of our suffering planet
are trying to do something to bring computing to all, not just those of
us lucky enough to be able to afford a PC. They also make life for those
of us, like me, who cannot afford to shell out for the latest update to
a piece of software which already does far too much anyway, but that we
must have if we want to remain compatible with those around us.

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Aug
28

Town or country?

2005 | Filed Under Me, Milan | Leave a Comment

I grew up in the middle of nowhere. My parents liked to live well off
the beaten track. As a result of this both my brother and myself find
living in silent virtually peopleless areas to be almost a necessity.
You may well be asking yourself , 'well, why the heck does this idiot
live in the middle of a big city?'. A good question and my answer would
be that I like to try new things, I hate travelling and I can find more
work in a city. Plus my other half finds the emptiness of the
countryside disconcerting - she finds noise and confusion comforting,
within limits.

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Aug
28

First real post from my PDA

2005 | Filed Under Technology and Gadgets | Leave a Comment

Yep, that's right, I've written, or rather, tapped this entry out on my
horribly geeky personal digital assistant. It's actually proving to be
quite a benefit in unexpected ways. For example, my other half moans
when I despair of the TV and plug myself into the www. Now though, I
can stay on the sofa next to my better half, connect wirelessly to the
Internet and everyone is happy. OK, this may seem to be a rather pricey
way of keeping a relationship on the straight and narrow, but anything
which helps deal with the stresses and strains of city life and
parenthood has to be worth its weight in gold - well almost.

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Aug
28

Nothing ever changes

2005 | Filed Under Thoughts | Leave a Comment

While in the UK I picked up a book lying around my parents house. It was a book called 'The Guinness book of Flying Blunders' and it has made fascinating reading. However, what made the most impression on me was how the politicians of the period seemed to be about as competent as those of today, in other words not very good at their jobs. OK, in peacetime (almost) blunders do not generally lead to deaths, but in wartime the level of poor organisation and insane decision making literally cost lives. 'Hindsight' (il senno di poi), I hear you utter - with it mistakes are that much easier to identify and criticise. True, would be my reply, but, I would add, 'How about learning from one's mistakes?'.

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Aug
28

The sleeping giant awakes

2005 | Filed Under Italy, Milan | Leave a Comment

The curious phenomenon known locally as the 're-entry' is taking place as I write. This means that Milan is starting to fill up with humanity again as the holidaying thousands head for home after tanning on the beach or trekking in the mountains.

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Aug
27

Post office pains

2005 | Filed Under England, Italy, Milan | 2 Comments

There is something that Italy and the UK have in common. Queues in post offices. They are diabolical in both countries, but possibly worse in Italy. I remember popping out of work during the afternoon in the UK to go to the post office - either I did this or I spent up to an hour hanging around in a queue which snaked and weaved all the way through the proud postal service's premises. Needless to say, the experience of whiling away time in the local post office did not enthrall me. I hated it.

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Aug
23

A certain group of people

2005 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

This certain group of people is apparently protected under Italian law. They used to be famous for moving around in caravans. The women from this group are required to sit outside hospitals, supermarkets, or on street corners and beg for a living, while their male counterparts spend the day travelling around serenading Milan's population with well known classical favourites on the city's underground system. These certain people seem to have a monopoly on begging and 'busking'. The offspring of these people pass the time of day targeting potential victims for their nice, and very well prepared, little pick pocketing/mugging street acts.

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