Nearly Friday

I know it's early, but I've already started on the panettone / pandoro...By January I'll be regretting it severely and won't be able to look at another panettone / pandoro, but they were on offer at the supermarket, and what can I say, I am weak when put face to face with cake. I don't even have a preference, either will do. Ever tried pandoro with custard? It's a sign of a truly-integrated-but-loyal-to-one's-roots expat.

Saturday

Saw this picture in the paper the other day of "Posh" and her son Cruz. The fourth picture down is so funny. How can she hold her miserable face with a little one dressed up as a zoo keeper with a Santa's hat complete with sun glasses? I wouldn't be able to keep a straight face. Her kids seem to like dressing up (I know I shouldn't read the DM too much, but it's addictive). I reckon they try to have a go at making her smile, but alas ...

Wednesday

I can't believe it, my favourite store Marks and Spencers now delivers overseas! From the site: "We deliver to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Spain and the United States." ...Note no Italy on the list. Darn. Why could that be? Er, maybe because when you're expecting a parcel here you never know when, or if, it will arrive.

If they did post to Italy the last order date in time for Christmas would be some time around March. Hee hee,

Tuesday

Eccomi. Gosh it's been a while...Anyway, one reason why I've been neglecting my dear blog is that I've been trailing the immobiliare sites, aka house hunting. Today I'm having a bit of a down day, debating if there is any hope of finding anything bigger than a workman's tent in a decent area...Sigh. We're discovering also how the (Neapolitan?) estate agents work, or as the case may be, do not work. We were phoned Saturday morning 30 mins before an appointment supposed to be at 9.45 to say that the owner would be late - s/he would arrive "at around 10:15 or 10:30" Con tutto calma allora. We told them to forget it as we had other appointments and that we would call them. This afternoon we had to cancel an appointment for tomorrow too as we had said 9:30 (yeah, we have to work afterwards) but the agent had us down as 11:30 - sorry but we cannot take a morning off work each for a five minute viewing of a house. Do they want to sell these houses or not? And the agent even expects 3% of the house price too.

Any advice / tips on house hunting / calming techniques / greatly welcomed.

It's a miracle again!

The miracle of San Gennaro happened this morning at 9.43.

Phewww

Prague

I got back from Prague this week. It's a really beautiful city and I'd definitely recommend a visit there. The view over the river with the castle and Charles bridge is just magical.

I'd like to see Prague again in the winter time. This time we were hoping to get away from the heat for a few days, only to hit nearly 30 degrees there too. The evenings were cool at least. So strange as looking at the temperatures for Prague now it's a max of 14°C today.

Blue blue sky in Prague:


My legs and feet have just about recovered from all the walking. Hopefully the many kilometers covered helped to work off some of the food we had. Czech cuisine, from what I saw, is not for the light eater and the hotel we stayed in had super buffet breakfasts too. What's a girl to do?

If the weather man says it's raining you won't see me complaining

We've finally got rain!!! Yesterday we were promised storms and it only rained a little so I was a bit disappointed, but during the night it has really rained. Much needed. My plants are singing out with joy, though they're a bit battered too as it's been quite windy.