Zapping the mozzies
The mosquities are still a pain in the neck, although much less so now than back in June and July. I hate the little blighters but now I’m able to take my revenge. I invested the princely sum of 5 Euros in an electronic bugger zapper which looks a lot like this:
An electronic bug zapper.
It’s cool and lethal. You hit a button on the side to charge it and then hit the bug and if contact is made you see a blue flash and may even hear a satifiying crack! Even though it is only battery powered it has to handled with a degree of caution. Our little one shocked himself with it as it seems to retain its charge after the button has been pressed and I zapped my other half’s rear end, unitentionally I might add, and she was not at all happy and the distinct smell of burning did not win me any browny points either. Naughty me. We both laughed about it later on seeing as the whole thing seemed rather comical looking back on it. I will not, however, be mis-using this ‘weapon’ again and it is kept out of reach so that little hands do not get zapped. It is a great, and effective, way of getting rid of pesky mozzies though - to that I can bear testament!
Bring the little blighters on!!
Confusing schools
The state school system here seems to operate in an odd way. For example the date when pupils return to school after the summer break is only announced in late August, so, apparently no-one knows when they will go back to school when the summer term ends. That’s not all, schools seem to have different start dates all over the county with some starting up in early September and others not kicking off again until early October. I’m not sure what the reason for this strange situation is but it always seems to have been the same.
Our wee one will enter nursery school for the fist time on the 19th of September, about a week after the school opens - being his first year he has to be introduced/induced and so starts later than the ‘veterans’. There is a one day session in which parent and pupil stay together to help their little one get used to his or her new surroundings. We also have a meeting on the 13th of this month at which we will be informed as to what things we will need to buy for him. Parents provide just about everything here in terms of school books and other stuff. About the only thing they do not pay for is the actual schooling, which of course is funded from taxes. The more tax you pay, the more your little one costs to educate and vice versa.
At least the state system seems to be quite effective here and there do not seem to be anywhere near as many private schools as there are in the UK, for example. I do not even know the names of the equivalents of Eton or Harrow here, if indeed equivalents exist. There is an equivalent to Oxford/Cambridge universities in the form of Bologna, however seeing as very few students actually attend university away from their home towns the situation is not really comparable. I guess if you grow up in Bologna, pass your exams and stuff you automatically get to go to one of the best unis in the country, which cannot be said of youngsters growing up in Oxford or Cambridge.
Bullying and fighting seem to be rarities here too and Italian kids appear to have a more balanced attitude to schooling as far as I can tell. Not many, reported, teenage pregancies here either, even though teenagers and younger kids are well aware of sex.
Volendo.com
Our on-line supermarket seems to have mysteriously closed down for the moment. We keep getting a message that the service has been suspended. I did call them and was told that there were ’supply’ problems.
It was a good service and the prices were very competitive so we are a little disappointed. Something odd is going on and I have not been able to find anything on the WWW about the suspension. Who knows why?
-
Photos from Flickr
-
Ads
-
-
