11 posts tagged “england”

It is very well known that summer in England is not as good as it can be somewhere else...and for many aspects this is very very true...there is one thing though that makes me love this period more than others during the year... The dusk is very very late, almost at 11 o'clock, if not later. I took a picture from my window at 23.07 GMT, pointing NW. The sky is still a bit clear, but in few minutes it will be completely dark...Tomorrow morning, before 4 o'clock dawn brakes...it is another day...

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Finally I made up my mind...It was long time I wanted to get one...and from today I have a new Mountain Bike...wheeeyyy!!!! No that there are very many mountains here to be honest... :) I hope I can use it a lot in the summer (is there a summer in England? Today max. 16 C°, overcast, another dull day) to go to work, and also maybe to go for a ride around the city...My friends go often...so hopefully I will join them soon. To get it I use the cycle to work scheme...a government scheme to encourage people to use bike instead of cars. Basically my company bought the bike for me, and now they are going to deduct the cost from my wage in 3, 6, or 12 months (up to me the choice) but before taxes, so I end up paying 20% off the full price. On top of that there is an extra 10% off for a convention between my company and the shop...which bring the total save up to 30%...not bad at all...
Now let's wait for some sunshine to enjoy it properly.

... aspetta e spera...

A friend is a friend...you can define it in as many ways as you want...but it is still someone that mean something to you...There are good friends, best friends...or...just friends...bur this doesn't really matter...does it? They are all friends...

I was very pleased to meet so many of my old friends last week end in Italy...it was cool to see that even if you have not seen them in years you are still very familiar with them...you feel familiar with them...I didn't know about most of them...what they were doing, how they were doing...however I was just happy to see their face...and to see that everyone is still the same that I knew...that was just amazing...We had time to talk about their work...for me to tell them about things here in England...and then a lot remembering all the funniest things happened when we used to spend time together daily...What a laugh...!!! In this (I hope) we have changed...cos out of the million of facts that came back to our mind, some of them were really really stupid...Kind of thing that you think about and you say...How on the earth I was so silly...???

And now...Here I am...back to the English summer...with its blue sky and warm temperature...and some friends from Italy here with me...

Off to Italy again...tomorrow, early morning...hopefully...(Easyjet flight to Pisa has been has been canceled today, so touch wood...). Once again it is wedding time, "la Vale" this round...with whom I took classes and studied for 5 long years at the University...

As usual the weekend looks already pretty busy...as I said, tomorrow morning the wedding near Pisa...which is a good way also of seeing some of the guys I went to Uni with...But this is only the beginning... in the night I am gonna have a dinner with the old classmates from the high school...I am pretty excited about that...cos some of them I haven't seen for ages really...definitely not since I have moved to England...So it is indeed a good chance to catch up on things...and talk and laugh together a bit…

Sunday morning 11-a -side football match, then Fiorentina for the last match of the season...and then dinner with the guys I used to play Basketball with...over 10 years ago...And again there are some people I haven’t seen for years...for years... It is all so exciting...especially if you live far from everybody...and therefore you never really have the chance to see them... I do not what they are doing, how they are doing...but at the end of the day these are the faces I have spent long good years with…Cool...I can’t wait...!

...and straightaway under pressure...! Poor my little car...I think she might hate me...! I collected her form the garage on Friday afternoon...and I drove to the Peak District (North of England) directly from there...Almost 700 Km in 2 days...but that was a good test to see that she is still a great car...! The response was brilliant...! Maybe from now on long distances will be banned anyhow...just for the need to preserve the car...
I am too tired to talk about anything else now...

How's the Twingo then...?
Well...it looks like she is still alive...and that already a good new...
Yesterday I was quite worried that I had to say goodbye to my little car...but today I had a phone call from the garage and they say they fixed the problem and the car is working again...!!! :)
It was a bit expensive to fix it...but at the end of the day I didn't have very many alternatives...
On Friday I will go to collect the car...and drive straight away to north of England...she will hate me...!
BTW...the problem was caused by the water pump...bloody water pump...

Wait a second...you got it completely wrong...!!!
I haven't actually got married...it wasn't "my" wedding...but the first one I attended in England...
Catherine and Stephen, two friends from Bristol got married Saturday in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham.
It took 3 years before going to a wedding in England but I have to say it was interesting, and beautiful. Indeed.
I was mostly curious to see whether there were differences from a typical Italian wedding and what they were...! Well...there are some, of course...!
Everything here is much more formal...maybe also too much...less spontaneous I'd say...Not big differences...very many little things...I was astonished seeing the bride and the groom, with their parents get in line and welcome, shaking hands and briefly exchanging few words, all the guests, from the first one to the last one... What a patience!!!
Italian weddings  are definitely more noisy...but I bet anyone is surprised of this... :) Also the dinner in Italy lasts hours...while here was quite short...Nevertheless the salmon and the cheesecake selection were absolutely delicious...! The party with live music and dancing was really funny...! Anyway...I am not here making a list of differences in wedding habits... and it is also hard to describe if you have not been to one before...
This was the first wedding for this year...5 more are already scheduled from now to September...

In the meantime...while I am here writing my blog...Stephen and Catherine are at the Maldives Islands...Lucky them...! :)

My little Twingo made it...! Today just off Monmouth, South Wales, she (yes because it is a she) reached the 160000 km...amazing...!
In 11 years she brought me everywhere really...! A lot around Italy...a lot in the UK...and hopefully there is more in the future...!
I remember many great drives with her...Of course the main is the one that took me here...from Grassina to Bristol...all in a go, with no stops...23 hours and 15 minutes...to go for 1785 km across Italy, France a England...Few years before I drove to Zianl, on the Switzerland Alps; an 8 hours drive with 4 people on board and luggages for 4...The Twingo is never too small and always comfy...she is surprising every time...! Another good one was when me and my friend Antonio went up to the Abetone, 1388 m over sea level, at 2 am, in icy and snowy condition with no snow chains...crazy! And how to forget when we went to Venice to watch Fiorentina, and she almost lost the number plate, or when I took Dao for the first time to Trento and the next day we went for an amazing tour on the Dolomites, just after a massive snowfall...Stunning!
I could tell lots of stories, lots of drive...lots of little nice anecdotes from 1997 to today...most of them are in my mind anyway...and there they stay...and I will not forget...!
I love my car...I say thanks every time after a demanding trip...and she appreciates it...I think she likes me as well...and even if she doesn't say it loud I am sure sometime she thinks Cheers Drive :)

Sometimes it happens that you are a bit tired and you look forward to the weekend to get some rest...
Sometimes it happens that the weekend is instead even more tiring of the working days cos you have a birthday to prepare...and then you start to think that the following week you would like to leave work as early as possible, come back home and relax...one, two, three days in a row...
Sometimes it happens that you cannot even do that though...cos you have guests...and you have to entertain them...go out and spend time with them...
Nevertheless having guests is always a great thing...first of all because it's nice to spend time with people that you don't see very often...then because they made the effort to come and visit you...therefore you just dedicate all the time you have to make the most for them...
Sometimes it happens that the plane that takes the guests home, on its way back takes some other (much more demanding) guests along...your parents...
Sometimes you see the chance to have a good rest...as something you will never achieve...
Tomorrow they will be here...for a week... For the first time we will spend Easter in England...!! I love the idea....even if I still haven't though properly what to do in this week...
Mum will be busy cleaning and tidying 24/7 anyway...so I better decide with my dad what we want to do... :)
My uncle instead has been here for couple of days...with his friend Alberto...tonight we had a really nice dinner at Clifton Sausage...they liked the place and the food a lot...good choice. It was maybe 20 years that I didn't spend so much time with him...It's amazing to see how everything can be always a surprise...

Here we are...just turned 30...just left the 20s behind...ready for a new, definitely interesting decade...
To be honest I do not feel it to be a special birthday...one different from the others...
I remember many many things of last 10 years...but I cannot focus on a special one at the moment...Indeed I grown up a lot in these time...I left home almost 8 years ago by now...and from that point never came back to live there, if not for few days from time to time...therefore, willy-nilly, I had to start to think and behave in a different way...to do different things...to take a bit more of responsibility... It has been a slow constant learning process...still on its way of course...
Probably the biggest satisfaction has been the graduation...which anyway is not only a one day job...but the result of long years of lessons and books. It has been time for important decisions...above all moving to England...for good fun, and for unforgettable holidays...like the trip to the US with my granny, back in 2003...!!!
For the next thirty years the only thing I really wish is to look everything with the same interest (I'd say the same eyes, but I am not sure it makes sense) I had in this time...which is what makes the life interesting...regardless the age...regardless the place you are...