
I like the food; the wine; the art (for the most part); the weather - in all its manifestations; the people (in general); the architecture; the gardens; the landscape......in fact, in most ways, I'm fairly positive about Italy in all of its myriad shapes and forms. For all that, though, I have to admit that the place still has its occasional drawbacks. Chief amongst which is probably 'getting things done' . It is.....a Nightmare!
An example: Several years ago, inspired by the presence in Pisa of the Saint Gobain glassworks, and thus by the ready availability of mirror

Two ye


Even so, by last summer, all was done, apart from the last sections of mirror to go around the lunette window in the shower area. Maybe twenty five or so pieces in total. Which were duly ordered, in a bit of a hurry, before the middle of July in the hope that they might be delivered before Saint Gobain closed down for August. Ha! I can feel hollow laughter rising up even as I write that.....The way things are going, by next August would be stretching optimism to its limits!
Even Billy Bunter would have been embarrassed by the thinness of the excuses for non-delivery, as the months have rolled past. On each occasion, a date and time has been fixed, arrangements made to be at home when they arrived....even telephoning ev

The mirror was due, for the umpteenth time, to be delivered last Monday. And when it wasn't, the explanation was that in fact the arrangement had been for Tuesday. And so, when nothing arrived on Tuesday, there was no real explanation - or attempt at one - but merely the statement that it would be delivered next Monday. And do I believe it? Not for one nano-second. But, since there's nothing to be done, then the only alternative to pretending to believe what

In the same way that we carry on waiting for the quote from the builder to lay the new Salone floor, which was promised faithfully by the end of December, and then by the middle of January, and then by the start of February....Maybe his truck is the wrong size? Or his dog's eaten the estimate? Who knows....
And much of this week has been taken up with waiting for the post office to deliver a package, which Post Italia's online tracking system faithfully swears has been 'attempted' on three occasions, on all of which we were at home, so you'd think we'd have noticed them trying.....and now it doesn't much matter, since the fact that they've 'tried' and failed sufficiently often means they won't try again, and we'll just have to go to them to pick it up ourselves instead......
And the process of trying to pay a Telecom Italia bill online (which you need only mention to any expat in Italy to rouse gales of cynical laughter.........although, actually, you don't need to mention the online bill-paying bit, just mention Telecom Italia, and people's eyes start to roll ...!)
So, all things considered, it's rather a good thing about the art, and the food, and the wine, and the weather, and the landscape....which all-told do a pretty good job of ungritting the teeth at the end of the process of trying to interface the system. Or is

Tonight's Dinner:
Moules Marinieres.
Chicken & Mushroom Croquettes; Carrots in Marsala.
Fresh Mango & Strawberries in Cointreau.
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