Feb
23

Have we got ourselves to blame?

2006 | Filed Under Thoughts | Leave a Comment

An odd question, I know. Blame for what, you are probably thinking. Well, lights the blue touch paper (UK people will understand this) and prepares to stand back, for all this Islamic stuff. Why would I make such a suggestion? Well, today I was doing a class with a whole bunch of budding media relations people and we were examining the origins of the new media relations profession. It transpires, from the article we were reading, that a wise old PR expert considers that the corporate arrogance of the 1990's could well have lit the fuse which led to the attacks on the twin towers. Enron and all the subsequent corporate blunders have also demonstrated that all these mission and vision statements lacked, er, vision. They all said 'we'll do it our way and you'll all be fine'. Not exactly, the 'our way' got certain elements rather annoyed, very annoyed in fact. Certain people felt that progress was destroying their power and culture, fast. Hence the radical reactions and the, shall we call them, 'damage limitation' exercises undertaken by the brainwashed extremists. Like it or not, terrorists often have reasons and, like it or not, they believe in what they are doing and something got them thinking that way.

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Feb
22

Podcast your way to English perfection

2006 | Filed Under Work | Leave a Comment

You may think from the title of this post that I've finally gone mad. Well, I assure you that this is not the case and that I'm no madder than usual. I digress.

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Feb
20

The perils of preparing pasta

2006 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

Yesterday we had friends round for lunch and being in Italy, we kicked off with pasta. Nothing unusual there, you may think. Well, there was something unusual.

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Feb
20

That’s interesting - not

2006 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

I've just read on the www that the Winter Olympics in Turin are proving to be one of the most popular Olympics ever in terms of web interest levels. Wow! Really?

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Feb
18

Italians

2006 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

Maybe I have already written something about the occupants of this fair country, and if so I don't apologise for writing some more, or even saying the same thing again.

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Feb
18

Luck of the Italians

2006 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

We sometimes say, in English, that someone has the 'luck of the Irish' for some obscure reason. Well, I move that this antiquated saying be updated to 'luck of the Italians'. Why? Well, little did they all realise, but this country of phenomenal beauty, pizza and pasta is in the safe hands of a leader who combines the best aspects of Napoleon, Winston Churchill and Jesus in one smiling happy super person, but who, unlike the aforementioned, and to the eternal fortune of those who reside here, is still on this earth.

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Feb
13

Fumes in the city

2006 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

Milan, or Lombardy, is about to be fined by the EC over excessively high pollution levels. Now, I'm not sure, but I reckon levels are bordering on dangerously high. Why am I of this opinion? Well, for a number of weeks now, I've been waking up with no voice. I've had a cold which will not go away. The air smells foul. I have a nasty dry cough which will not go away either. However, it appears that I'm not alone. A colleague who lives in Milan has also had throat problems, our little one has catarhh permanently and even my other half who rarely gets a cold has got one at the moment. I am, in fact, very worried.

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Feb
12

Those terrible toons

2006 | Filed Under World News | Leave a Comment

Perhaps, despite howling 'free speech rights' and all that stuff, the Danish newspaper that published these now infamous cartoons could have chosen a better period in which to have championed the right to say what you want. Poor timing. Now, alas, ordinary Dutch people are likely to pay the price and extremist actions may well be directed against citizens of this country. It's a shame sometimes that hindsight cannot be avoided through better use of foresight.

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Feb
12

Tram trouble

2006 | Filed Under Italy, Milan | Leave a Comment

I was nearly flattened by one of the many hurried drivers here as I got off a tram . This happened last night while I was on the way to a friend's house to help her sort out a spyware problem with her PC - ( she got messages in English, which she does not know, thus making the whole experience yet more traumatic, especially as she had some important work to finish too) but I digress.

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Feb
12

Ariel Sharon

2006 | Filed Under World News | Leave a Comment

When my other half heard about Sharon's first stroke, she commented that maybe he had been poisoned. Bearing in mind the radical changes he has introduced, it is more than likely that he has created one or two enemies along the way. It is thus feasible that someone or other may have attempted to silence or punish him - hence the stroke. Then again, Sharon is not the lightest individual ever to have graced this earth and thus, this, combined with the strain of being so radical may well have proved too much. Net result, alas, a stroke, soon to be followed by an even stronger one. When one takes into account circumstances, the possibility that these strokes were down to natural causes does not seem too remote.

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Feb
8

Election images

2006 | Filed Under Italian politics | Leave a Comment

It's easy to tell from all the, I have to say 'amateurish' looking, advertising hoardings popping up right, left and centre that election time is almost upon us. I don't know really whether the political adverts promoting some politician or other are meant to look so shoddy; it's possibly an image thing. Maybe they are trying to look folksy or something, but I reckon I could do a better job after messing about with photoshop for a couple of hours.

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Feb
8

Weekend work was worthwhile

2006 | Filed Under Work | Leave a Comment

Yep, so far so good. After working away for at least part of the weekend, it looks as though my trouble has proven worthwhile. Tomorrow I shall be suggesting a date for the course I have been designing. I still have a fair bit of road to travel, but my destination is now much clearer. The acid test, though, is yet to come.

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