Flu Hits Blog from Italy

Well, we’re not sure if it’s really the dreaded swine flue H1N1 virus, but my other half thinks it could well be.  Whatever it is, this distinctly flu-like illness, has laid all three of us low.

This is why not much has been happening on Blog from Italy recently.  The flu assault started on Tuesday, worsened on Wednesday, and its effects seem to be lessening slightly (I’m writing this).

The wee one; he’s six; seemed bright and breezy enough today, but still has a temperature which goes up and down.  He fell asleep this afternoon when he ran out of energy, and he seems to have lost his voracious appetite.  Last night he hardly slept a wink as a result of coughing all the time, which probably explains the snooze this afternoon.

Other half seems weak but is bearing up fairly well, as usual – she’s a real trooper in these situations, I have to say.

I slept pretty much all day yesterday, and, just for good measure, vomited too.  Then there is that blasted cough.  All in all, not good.  And things taste funny to me too.

It’s looks as though we are not alone by any means.  … Continue Reading

Blog from Italy – Close to a Million Hits

In June 2009, my server logs showed that Blog from Italy got over 785,000 hits.  Now before someone goes, ‘Wow, that’s a lot of hits for a blog’, you should know that hits are not the same as visits, and I won’t even go into the concept of uniques!  ‘Hits’ refers to all the little bits and bobs of a web page which load every time someone visits Blog from Italy.  The actual number of visits which shows up in Google Analytics is much, much lower.

Regardless, nearly one million is quite a big number, and its slowing things down from time to time, and has caused Blog from Italy to crash a couple of times that I know.  It has soon popped back onto the webosphere, thanks to my hosts, but risks falling over like a drunken man once more.   I have not stood back and prayed.  No.

… Continue Reading

Of Writing and Love Struck Spiders

I can’t write.  Well, not in the tradition pen and paper sense.

Honestly, if you were ever to have the misfortune of  seeing my dire handwriting, you would probably run away screaming and feeling confused.

About the only being likely to find my handwriting even moderately attractive would be a female spider in search of a mate.  This poor deluded lady-spider might just about mistake my illegible scrawl for the love poem of some amorous male of the spider species.

Thanks be to computers and their neat keyboards, is what I say.  Some of my readers though, may well wish that I had never discovered computers or the joys of blogging!

Sorry, if I write too much.

Surreal Legal Writing

Yes, I know it’s odd to say it, but today’s (it was still ‘today’ when I started writing this!) encounter with the advocates was a little bit on the surreal side.

Would you believe that an examination of the language relating to liquidated damages, lept towards kangaroos, enduro and dirt bikes, with a small dose of equity thrown in for good measure?  No, and neither would I, if it hadn’t been for the fact that it happened!

Yes, it was a mite surreal.  I remember asking myself if it really was happening.

The lawyers I’ve been teaching to write and translate are quite a fun bunch, it has to be said. … Continue Reading

Important Note

It is likely that Blog from Italy, and sister site Italyisin will be down for up to three days – hopefully much less.

Do not worry – some things are going on in the background, and once they have been sorted out Blog from Italy will be back.

If you want to know how things are coming along, I will be posting progress updates via twitter:  http://twitter.com/newsfromitaly

Thanks for reading and for your patience.

Good Weekend, Bad Weekend

Ah, spring is in the air.  It’s almost feeling balmy in Milan at the moment, as winter starts to drift definitively away.

The 442 Pub, Milan

And I wish the problems with my hosting service would drift away definitively too. I did not manage to post anything to this blog at the weekend.  Partially because of family stuff, and partially because my dear old hosting company has been having some major problems, which meant visitors would have been greeted with a cold message saying something about the server, which many would not have understood anyway.

For the moment, even if the server problems still have not been resolved, it looks as though I can write, though for how long, I have no idea.  Actually, I have no idea whether anyone will even see this post, but I’ll write it anyway, on the off-chance that someone does.  And I have not written about Milan’s  good old 442 pub in a while either. … Continue Reading