Nov
30

F24 payment woes

2007 | Filed Under Life in Italy, Work | 4 Comments

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.

This is a preview of F24 payment woes. Read the full post (266 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
29

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

2007 | Filed Under Blogging, Me | Leave a Comment

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.

This is a preview of The calm after the storm, and divine, possibly, intervention. Read the full post (466 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
24

Exclusive! Full English Breakfast in Milan, Italy!

2007 | Filed Under 4-4-2 Pub, Milan | 3 Comments

Full English Breakfast

This is a preview of Exclusive! Full English Breakfast in Milan, Italy!. Read the full post (264 words, 1 image, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
23

Roccaraso, Abruzzo, Italy - Skiing off the beaten piste.

2007 | Filed Under Holidays | 5 Comments

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. I imagined that he must have made annual pilgrimages 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.

This is a preview of Roccaraso, Abruzzo, Italy - Skiing off the beaten piste.. Read the full post (546 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
22

The Great British Blunder

2007 | Filed Under Technology and Gadgets | 2 Comments

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

This is a preview of The Great British Blunder. Read the full post (613 words, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
21

A MINTy Evening

2007 | Filed Under Art | Leave a Comment

MINT
MINT is an exhibition.

This is a preview of A MINTy Evening. Read the full post (463 words, 1 image, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
20

Milanese Grey

2007 | Filed Under Life in Italy | 4 Comments

I think it may be true to say that winter has finally kicked in here in not-so-sunny Milan. As always here, the temperatures dropped almost overnight, well, it seems that way. In reality, the temperature had been falling gradually over the last few weeks or so, but it hit genuine winter levels towards the end of last week.

This is a preview of Milanese Grey. Read the full post (157 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
18

Light Canon

2007 | Filed Under Digital photography | 3 Comments

Metz 58 AF1Nope, that’s is not a miss-spelling, ‘Canon’ refers to my Canon 400d, which now sports a heavyweight, in all senses, Metz 58 AF-1 flash unit, more about the ‘light’ adjective later on. I drooled over this lovely piece of kit some months past, and now I’ve managed to get my hot little hands on one. Yum, yum.

Some of my initial efforts with this piece of kit can be seen in the sausage posts, especially the photos of sausage making and the sausage tasting evening at my favourite local, the 442, here in Milan.

I have never had a good quality flash unit before, and so I cannot really compare the Metz 58 to anything. First impressions were positive, the build quality feels fine. It does not have a metal hot-shoe connector, but the plastic one feels good and sturdy, however, from what I’ve read, picking your camera up by the flash unit is not a great thing to do.

The controls, which I had read about, are indeed not all that intuitive and getting to the settings tends to involve quite a few button presses, but with more use and familiarity, I imagine that operating the thing will become quite fast. There are only four buttons, which, from a psychological viewpoint, means that this complex unit does not totally overwhelm. Apparently, the Canon high-end models are slightly on the fiddly side to use too. I guess at the end of the day, using these things comes down to whether you prefer Canon fiddly to Metz fiddly.

This nice Metz unit (I was about to write ‘nice little unit’ but it certainly is not little!), comes with a built in diffuser and a little white pull-out card for bouncing flash. In fact, you can also point the flash just about anywhere you like, because the head swivels round and moves up and down. This means that you can bounce the flash from wherever you think will make your photo look better, and gives you plenty of room for creativity.

This is a preview of Light Canon. Read the full post (1328 words, 1 image, estimated 5:19 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
16

I think this is spam??!!

2007 | Filed Under This blog | Leave a Comment

I found this amongst the junk blocked by the anti-spam system:

This is a preview of I think this is spam??!!. Read the full post (166 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
14

Bulletproof Iphone?

2007 | Filed Under Technology and Gadgets | 3 Comments

I actually managed to hold an Iphone yesterday. One of my lawyer students managed to bring one over from the US, and with the help of Internet sourced hacks, she managed to get it to work in Italy.

This is a preview of Bulletproof Iphone?. Read the full post (165 words, estimated 40 secs reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
12

Italy’s Irresistible Attraction

2007 | Filed Under Italy | Leave a Comment

A very nice chap from Down Under wrote and complimented me on my blog. He also told me that his wife and himself owned a flat in deepest, darkest, and beautiful Umbria, and that they both made the twenty hour flight from Australia to Italy several times a year. Wow, I thought - people come all the way from Oz just to spend time here. That is impressive in my little book. But that is not all, this gentleman, whose name I shall not mention, also speaks pretty good Italian. And where do you think he developed his ability to speak Italian?

This is a preview of Italy’s Irresistible Attraction. Read the full post (527 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Nov
12

The 442 Star

2007 | Filed Under 4-4-2 Pub | Leave a Comment

Without this man and his pub, my life would be too hum drum:

Ale - 442

This is a preview of The 442 Star. Read the full post (30 words, 1 image, estimated 7 secs reading time)

Like to dig deeper?

Next Page →