F24 payment woes

I have a tax payment to make, only I cannot make this blasted payment; which can only be made via a home banking system now; because my home banking system is not working properly. This is because just about everyone is trying to make tax payments today, because of today’s deadline.  In case you did not know, the legendary F24 is a tax form which you use to donate money to the government.  This form used to be made of paper, but now it is virtual, and all can only be accessed via computer for normal mortals such as myself.

You would imagine in the 21st century that someone somewhere would have ensured that IT systems are bolstered to deal with such ‘deadline’ loads, wouldn’t you? Well, I would. But this is Italy, and ‘unpredictable’ is the best word to describe the way in which things work.

Yes, I could have made this payment before today, but why should I have? I could also have set up an automatic payment for today, but because I am not convinced that the system will work, on account of the unpredictability of things here, I did not. Bad move, I know.

It is not even possible to go directly to my bank and have them make the payment, which, before some far thinking, not, politico changed the rules, was possible, and useful in the circumstances I now find myself in.

Oh well, you live and you learn, and become frustrated.

I shall have a go at making this payment later, or give up and pay the darned fine.

The calm after the storm, and divine, possibly, intervention

Wow! This is a heavy week. I had a long, and quite complex, translation that needed doing asap. I did manage to finish it, but it ate up a lot of time. So much time, that I have neglected my blog, and its readers.

However, this little translating experience sort of restored my faith in the existence of a superior being. Why? Well, on Tuesday I had my usual appointment with my law firm. Now, it just so happens that this group of people cancel once in a while, and I have to admit that I was sort of praying that they would cancel Tuesday’s lesson, as that would have given me a little breathing space. No, I thought, that would be far too much to expect.

Well, as it happens, they did indeed cancel! I just could not believe it. Cancellations are usually a little annoying, but this time I was just about jumping for joy. Someone, or something looked upon me favourably that day.

I’m not great believer in superior beings, but I have to admit after Tuesday’s stroke of luck, I did start to wonder. And should my luck not have been luck as such, but more like some form of divine intervention, I have to say a big thanks!

This little event also got me thinking. I mean, although I am not exactly religious, I do find the argument ‘something or somebody must be responsible for the universe’ difficult to refute. Yes, there may be a scientific explanation, but what kicked everything off? This is extremely difficult to explain, and even science has a more than few problems with it. Big bangs, chemical reactions, and things bouncing around the galaxy for zillions of years may explain how we came to exist, but before that? There was nothing, you might retort. OK, fine, I shall reply, but, I will ask, “Who or what turned the nothing into something?”. Explain that if you can. Although nobody can. And even if the religious types out there say, “It was God.”, I may well ask, “But what or who created God?”. Answers on a postcard, please. Although, I won’t be getting any postcards because there is no answer.

Will we ever find out? Possibly, but not for a long time yet, I imagine. And by the time we do, I shall be long gone, of that I am sure.

In the meantime, I will continue to be surprised when I benefit from unexpectedly fortuitous good luck, and I shall hover somewhere between being an atheist and an agnostic, or visa verce. Then again, maybe I should really be an atheist, for I am not sure that whatever or whoever started everything off could or should, of even would want to be considered as a deity.

Exclusive! Full English Breakfast in Milan, Italy!

Yes, it’s finally here! As you can see from the (not wonderful) camera phone shot I took this very evening, the full English breakfast down at the 442 pub here in wet old Milan is about to go live!

Tomorrow, from midday on, this scrumptious brekkie will be ready to be ordered and eaten. And you can pick up a plate of these goodies from noon until two in the morning on both Saturday, tomorrow and Sunday. This probably means that this will be the longest English style breakfast ever! And I will be down there with my wee one, and we shall be tucking in.

Tonight’s trial run was tried and tasted by Chris, all round good bloke, and English 442 regular. His verdict: ‘It’s the best full English breakfast I’ve had outside the UK!‘ – High praise indeed and I agreed with him. Wonderful!

Finally an ex-pat can find a decent breakfast that is a wee bit more substantial, and enticing, than the cappuccino and cake that is the usual offering here. Cholesterol overload, here I come.

The cost of this extravaganza? A mere 10 Euros, and this special offer price, includes coffee, tea, and toast. After Xmas you will still get the same, but the price will be 12 Euros. Still not an exaggeration when you consider that brunches in Milan can cost from 16 Euros up.

And you can blame me for the sausages. Check them out, I don’t think you will regret it.

Be there, or be hungry!

Here’s to the 442 and extended British Breakfast euphoria!

Roccaraso Ski Resort, Abruzzo, Italy – Skiing off the beaten piste.

I have several friends from the south of Italy, but I was rather surprised to learn that one of them, Ciro, is an avid skier, who spent his ski holidays not far from Naples.

I imagined that he must have made annual pilgrimages for ski holidays to northern Italy to learn to do his thing.  He must be one heck of a dedicated skier, I thought, because he comes all the way from Naples. Wow, impressive, I thought.

It’s on heck of long way to come from Naples all the way up to somewhere in north Italy for your ski holidays.  What enthusiasm, I thought, initially.

… Continue Reading

The Great British Blunder

You probably heard the news this week about the loss of data concerning 25 million UK citizens.

The data included names, addresses, and bank details. For those specializing in identity theft, it must be something of a dream come true. However, for the victims, it may well be the start of a nightmare. Not good.

Yet, this was inevitable, and the famous FBI also knows quite a lot about losing critical, confidential information too, by all accounts.

The problem boils down to the enormous capacity of today’s computer hard disks, and the ease with which huge amounts (from 4 to 8 gigabytes) of data can be saved onto DVDs. An accident waiting to happen, if ever there was one. Only this accident has now happened.

Possibly the best way to ensure that such an event never occurs in the future, would be to eliminate hard disks from the computers of certain organisations. A system, known as a ‘thin client‘ already exists. And this system functions on the basis that no or minimal information is stored directly on a user’s computer, instead, all files and applications are located on a server or many servers. The user’s computer sort of acts like an internet browser and allows the user to access data held on a network.

This means that anyone in an organisation can access anyone else’s information, with the right permissions. So it no longer becomes necessary to put stuff on a dvd and send said DVD to someone – and risking that said DVD goes missing – as happened in the UK.

It also appears that the UK government has not heard about the very efficient – and free, data encryption systems which exist. Search for ‘Truecrypt’ on Google if you need to know more.

Anyway, I digress. A thin client system may have saved the face of the UK government. But, you may be commenting, what about the ubiquitous laptop?

Well, we now live in an increasingly wi-fi world, and we have high speed Internet too. This means that harddiskless laptops can exist, and, through the use of wi-fi or any other Internet connection, become thin clients, thereby eliminating the need to ‘carry’ huge amounts of sensitive data around.

The technology to implement this ‘remote access’ of data exists. Why it is not being used is anybody’s guess.

There is even a consumer angle on this. I am terrified by massive hard disks which hold enormous amounts of data. My own laptop hard disk is becoming crammed with huge digital photos too. I’d hate to lose them all. To allay my fears, I’d like to see cheaper hard disk space available over the www. Modern data centres are secure and reliable, and they often save copies of the same information in several different locations, so even if one is destroyed, another should still have all your precious data. This kind of service really interests me, and I don’t think I am alone.

So, don’t try to sell me a 50 terrabyte hard disk, instead, sell me space on a well managed and backed up server system. Then I can get to, and work on, my data from just about anywhere in the world where I can find good Internet access.

Bye bye physical hard disks, hello virtual hard disks.

Just a wee thought, and I know it does not, on the face of it, have much to do with Italy. In actual fact, this worrisome problem relating to data loss is potentially a global problem, and with e-Government just around the corner, this issue needs to be looked into, and looked into pretty damn fast.

Be safe, not sorry, Mr Brown.

A MINTy Evening

MINT is an exhibition.

Oddly enough, this exhibition, which goes by the name ‘MINT’, has nothing to do with the sweet, although you could say that it is quite refreshing. Sorry, I could not resist. And my weak attempts at associating the MINT event and the sweet have fallen on deaf ears where Italians are concerned. Not many Italians, it would seem, are able to understand the connection between ‘MINT’ and mint, or ‘menta’ as they say here in Italy.

Must be my quirky English sense of humour. Oh well.

Anyway, MINT does not stand for anything apart from MIlan INTernational, and this will most probably not help you to understand just what this event is all about. So, I’ll shed some light on this mysterious happening.

Basically, MINT is all about antiques and art, both the old stuff and that, sometimes odd, modern stuff.

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the inauguration of MINT (my other half works in the trade – such sweet luck!) and it was not at all bad. First of all, this exhibition is held in what is, to all intents and purposes, a large tent, situated to the rear of Milan’s castle. In the foggy Milanese winter evenings, this location is certainly rather atmospheric, and so it should be in a way, seeing as the items on display are just about all available for purchase, at, wait for it, atmospheric prices.

By way of example, there was a fabulous two and a half metre high portrait of a poor woman on show. This gem was on offer at around one million Euros. I was sorely tempted, but the size of the thing put me off rather, oh, and then there was the minor problem relating to finding the odd million Euros. That old cash flow problem again. Oh well, never mind. Maybe I could negotiate the price down a wee bit, by say ninety nine percent?

Although my own finances may be limited, there were plenty of well dressed Italians there, many of whom, I suspect would have been able to stump up the odd million or so. Indeed, talking of expensive paintings, there were some lovely images of Venice on display. I did not even inquire as to the price. And, no, I cannot remember the artists.

I believe that this event is open to the public from the 21 / 26 November 2007, between 12 a.m. and 9 p.m.. If you would like to know a little more, then the MINT site may interest you, and it is here (in English).

If are into art and you do manage to find your way there, then you may well like what you see. I did, and I am not really into art.