http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb VandaWebblog - Life in Milan, Italy Thu, 29 May 2008 12:02:22 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This blog is now closed.  Many thanks for visiting. Ciao!  Arrivaderci!  And all that stuff.   http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=198   There’s a weirdness about Italy that is not particularly peculiar to Italy but, in my view, the extent is peculiar. It’s about secrecy.  In all aspects of Italians’ lives, it seems, they have a contradictory and irreconcilable view on their privacy. Being a rather bold statement, I suppose I had better explain. Our ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=197   Being brought up in the UK, no-one said much about the choice of words you used.  It was all perfectly understood. Here, however, it’s different.  Even for those people who have English as their mother tongue – but a different form of English. Fantastic is a word I use often.  And it ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=196   Gardening is one of my favourite hobbies. And it is a hobby rather than anything I could remotely think of doing as a career.  After all, although I always enjoyed it I was never really good at getting the plants or shrubs to their perfect state.  In fact, they were often ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=195 Man of Roma tagged me for this meme. It is the first time I’ve ever been tagged.  I’ve noticed other people have done this sort of thing before and always wondered what it would be like and if I would do it, not being mad on the chain-letter type of ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=194 It’s an age thing.  I feel I ought to be able to say something profound with the experience I have.  But there is nothing to say. Ah well. In past times, when we were in places like Siena or Pienza, where we were last weekend, we would have visited museums, seen churches, ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=193 I mentioned in the previous post about Chiara.  Now, those of you who read this blog will probably fall into one of five categories: a)         Friends (I know you, you know me and, I hope, can hear me saying the words I write, including, maybe, the tones and inflections that I would ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=192 It was our first Italian wedding.  Our second wedding this year.  They were very different. For the first, we flew from Milan to go to Stirling; the second, drove from near Siena to just north of Milan.  The first was set in a castle chapel, with candlelight; the second in a ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=191   There are a couple of things I just thought I’d say. One is that, further to the apparent monopoly that the Mafia have on the rubbish collections around Naples (and most of Italy), it seems they might have a monopoly, here, on the supply of tarmac and road paint. I must stress ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=190 Buzz Lightyear, having won the election is, no doubt, preening himself before the mirror at this very moment.  Not that looks are so important to him but, well,....... they are. In the meantime a conversation I had with a colleague over lunch today. Colleague:  He is very charismatic. Me: Yes but I still ... http://vanda.co.uk/vandaweb/?p=189