Swan Song...

So much has come to a head since my last post..

First decision of the New Year was to lose weight, well 7kg and counting, second was to admit I need to divorce my husband and stop fucking around, not literally I might add. Thirdly, I'm going home, as in the UK, to London, with both kids. Fourthly, I discovered just how behind on the rent we are and we have an enforced, interim move into the basement, yes, the BASEMENT, of our current building...we can't move back until him in Spain has some cash and that is likely to be June, so in the meantime three of us will live in a studio..yay..

This last has been the hardest. Packing up and disposing of eight years of life here and no confirmation of when we can go home..It's killing me a little piece at a time. So far I've disposed of hundreds of books, sacks and sacks of clothes, furniture, toys..our life here in fact. I know it's only "stuff" but having the disposal enforced does not make me happy. It's desperately sad.

To get me through the tough times I've developed an unbelievable obsession with a certain Mr. Tom Hiddleston...Yes, hook, line and sinker! I watch all his films, I tumblr him endlessly! It's childish and idiotic but when the alternative is sobbing in a corner...what prompted me to blog today though was listening to his thoughts on risk taking, having no regrets etc. Initially some of these things made me cry as I feel  like one big regret right now...then I thought it through. 8 years, in a foreign country, two kids, no husband, always short of cash, now finally saying enough, time to move on...hmmmm. Probably quite a big risk taker when you look at it that way. So, here's to moving on, forward and to better things! From where I'm standing the only way is up..I've a feeling there may be a few more levels down before the ascent begins but it will.

So expect a few more ruminations before we get there and if you're lucky maybe a few gif sets of Mr. H... ;)

Time to return...to blogging that is!

My life here in Florence has changed a lot since I last wrote. I now have both kids at home, one studying for A levels via the internet, the other home schooling with me, well if you call watching the Cartoon Network home schooling...I'll go into the why's on my school blog.

I stopped blogging because everyone said that pictures are what people want but I'm now seeing a trend away from that. It seems, like children who start with picture books, that blog readers are progressing too, so expect words!!!!

Did I have 4 cats last time we spoke? Pretty sure I did. So my life, 24/7, is now 4 cats, 2 kids and the occasional husband. I'm saying it here, where it's unlikely my kids will see it, we've agreed our relationship is finally past its sell by...we just have to work out the disposal now.    That's all I'm saying for now, other than its been going off for a loooong time. So he's mainly in Spain and returns here just to see the kids. Their antipathy towards him speaks volumes. My son is 18 and my daughter now 9, they aren't stupid. 

Anyway, my son is basically a vampire...sleeps all day and is awake all night, with very few real friends here but when I suggest returning to the UK he doesn't want to! His first love is Anime/Manga. Here it is both cheaper and more widely available than in the UK. He collects models of his favourite characters. They would cost twice as much, even if he could find them, in the UK. Obviously, to him, this is a good reason to stay here!!

My daughter knows no different now. She speaks good Italian and passable French but I think the French will disappear as she knows no one that speaks just French now. For now she is happy. Whether she ends up back in school here we shall have to see.

Me?? Hmmm...hating being pre-meno. Also I feel so tired and constantly lacking in energy. I'm hoping writing here will help, even if no one reads it!!!! Life as a fifty year old single mum is HARD! I know I'm failing on so many levels...I just can't be bothered. A little is depression, a little is being unfit and a lot is having no real support network close by. Sometimes just living in a beautiful city isn't enough... life has a way of intruding..

It's been a while....

I really wasn't sure if I wanted to resurrect this blog or not. So much has happened since that last post, most of which won't be going on here I admit! Anyway, I'm here now. I'm just going to keep it pretty general from now on. I guess it was anyway but I'll come on when something exciting is happening and that will probably be pretty much it!! My kids changed schools, both are at school together now. It's a French school which is interesting but it does mean they will be following the IB rather than the Italian Maturita which for them is a better option as it opens up Unis all over the world if they decide to go that route. We also have 4 cats now!!! Totally unplanned but we decided to keep the kittens our two had...maybe not the best idea but hey!! Anyhow the sun is shining and it's lunch time! :)

Time Passes!!

Good grief! I can't believe it has been 7 months since I last posted!! Thing is once summer hits it's way too hot to do too much and typing becomes an effort!! Not much has gone on either tbh...Antonia started Prima which is going okay. The homework is heavy at the weekends and neatness in writing and colouring is expected from the start, which I find incredible! That said her reading and writing in both languages is coming along well and she finds maths fairly straightforward so far!!

I'm not going into the details but we will be on the move again soon. Various forces have come together and we won't be renewing the lease on this place, so we need to find a new place before the end of January. I was hoping to be gone before Christmas, so we could decorate our new place with the tree etc but Italy being Italy this is probably not to be.....So we will have to make the best of it here, surrounded by cases and boxes!! It's not very conducive to the seasonal spirit but hey ho! Next year will be different.

Alex is here too at the moment. He is taking some study leave before the pressure of next years exams plus he wants to be here when we move - hoping this will be possible!!

To say my love of Italy is being tried at this time is an understatement but I can't imagine it being any different in any other country right now. Once I am resettled I'm sure it will return but in the mean time I remain frustrated and fed-up!!

Happy Christmas! ;)

Kittens and summer.

I finally think summer may just about, probably, be here. It's been terrible so far this year! So much rain, even friends who like the rain have been complaining! My two poor tomato plants are turning yellow with it all! Finally brightened up the end of last week, just in time for the bbq my friend Kim had arranged for a group she runs for English speaking mums. It was a gorgeous day and there was a great turn out! Unfortunately "cliquey-ness" was a bit of a blight, but once that group had moved on things seemed to take a turn for the better! The kids there had a great time, which was probably more important! So much good food too, luckily my lemon meringue held its own, which was a relief! Star for me were the chocolate cup cakes and the spinach and artichoke dip! I could've eaten the latter all to myself and wanted to with the cup cakes but they were so rich I was feeling pretty sick after two, but they were worth it!! :D We all bbq-d our own stuff, I'd taken kebabs but Antonia and I had pigged out so much on the table buffet we didn't eat much of them! I wasn't that bothered as they really weren't my best effort! She didn't like the meringue though, said it was too lemony!! Lol!

Because we stopped over at the house where the barbie was we also took along our new kittens! Kim is a big cat fan and it was her idea! They slept in the same bedroom as us, which was amusing if not restful. I woke up at one point to find them sucking Antonia's hair!! They also had a "garfield" habit of walking across my face with their claws to wake me up! Here, at home, they have the run now at night but I lock them out of the bedroom. It won't be long though before they work out how to get past the doors via the open stairs! We've had the kittens nearly two weeks now, they still don't have names, we are waiting for Alex to come home for a break this weekend to help out with that! One is a tom, he is absolutely stunning, a grey tabby, not something I've seen before. He has the cutest face and a mass of fluffy fur. I think he will be big, he has huge paws already at 6 weeks and reminds me of a little tiger cub! The other is a female, she is a strange mix of colours, two of her legs are perfect ginger tabby stripe, but the rest of her is a mix of grey, brown and ginger! She is tiny compared to the tom, really delicate like a flower! She's also the nosy one and I know will be in more trouble than him, either that or she will be egging him on from the side!! Lol!

We are all so happy to have the kittens, Antonia doesn't really remember having a cat in the UK and this is the first time in 4 years nearly, that we have had one. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance. I post them rarely because it is such a pain to upload them for some reason, I don't know what it is, anyway, soon. Girly cat just tried to add her thoughts so I'll finish off now!!

All things Volcanic!!

All has been quiet here at Casa Long, hence nothing to write for a while!!

We went to Spain for 10 days before Easter which was a pleasant change. The weather was only okay until the last 4 days or so but it was good to get away!! Loads of British shopping in Iceland - you have to be a Brit to even get that one I think - a good haul of Crunchies came back and so far I have managed to keep them all to myself!! :) We also went to a wolf park up in the mountains which was really interesting if bitterly cold! Oscar the fox was so cute! He likes to have his chin tickled!! I took the kids to Corduba for the day - should have been Seville but we missed the train...Someone forget to tell us that Malaga has TWO stations...Anyway, it was a pretty place and has Roman roots so felt like home (not!). The most interesting thing was the mosque/church. When the moors were kicked out the Christians "converted" the mosque rather than knock it down! Hence the bell tower is the muzzein's tower covered over to look more "Christian"!! Very strange place!! The holy places from the mosque were left intact inside too. Shame there can't be this "tolerance" today - okay so the Christians kicked the Muslims out of Corduba, but they didn't descrate the mosque, rather they adapted what was already there....

We were in Florence for Easter weekend and went to see the cart pulled through the town by the oxen (moo-pigs! - big and white...!). We also caught the flag throwers who were in good form as usual!

Chaos descended over Europe roughly a week later when Iceland's unpronounceable volcano blew it's stack! Suddenly my husband was stuck in the UK, my son couldn't go back to school and it looked like nothing was going to change this for quite some time to come!! Just over a week later my husband is in Spain and my son is on his way back to school!! Whether things changed, like the weather, because they do or because of pressure from the airlines who really knows at the end of the day?? All I know is that everyone got to where they should be and safely, which is what really matters. It also meant Alex had his birthday at home for the first time in about 4 years!! Because of all the uncertainty in where he was going to be he had two cakes, and two mini-celebrations! Neither were perfect (from my pov) as I wasn't sure what was happening when so I ended up hedging a bit...Next year he is definitely here and it will be his 16th, so I will make sure that is a bit special!! Antonia had her birthday in Spain, which I'll write about over on her blog!! :)

Snow again...

It started coming down pretty heavy, but didn't stick this time. As it is it is very wet and miserable! When the wind blows it is soooo cold too! If you go back to March '07 you will see photo's of my kids in the garden in shorts and t-shirts! Antonia went to school in her ski jacket, ski hat, scarf and gloves today!! This weather is so strange! It really should be warming up by now! Normally we would have had a few really warm days by now to remind us summer was coming, but not this year. Actually, not true, two weeks ago we nearly hit 20c...so maybe summer is coming after all!

Still waiting for Antonia's passport. If you are British and now have to apply through Paris do it with plenty of time! Or do it in person in the UK. Only one thing to remember, you can only have white background for your photos on passports done through Paris, in the UK they have to have a grey or off white background as they scan them. We discovered this the hard way with Alex's passport! Sent photos done here with a white background, Steve had to do a round trip to Winchester to pick up new ones with the right background!! :P The same day service is also good if you can hang around in London or whichever city you use with a passport office, for 4 hours after your interview. Also, don't go with anyone, they won't let them in! Only one person per interview/appointment is allowed in the building, not to the appointment itself!! Back to Antonia, it should arrive today - Paris rang me yesterday and gave me the TNT tracking number for it and it is at least now in Florence!! Watch this space...!

Sunday, Sunday.....

Today is the busiest we've been in a long time on a Sunday. We, that is Antonia and I, were up reasonably early as she was invited to a party for one of her classmates at the Palazzo Vecchio here in Florence. This is the town hall but unlike other town halls it really tries to involve the children in its community. So they allow you to host birthday parties there which include activities relatated to the history of Florence and the Palazzo. It's a great idea and they have been doing this for so long now, at least 8 years that I know of, that they have everything worked out pretty well to entertain their audience. Today was based around the secret staircases inside the walls of the palazzo. Firstly the children were told the history of the staircase through a shadow puppet show. They were completely enthralled, which, I have to say, amazed me! I really expected them to be unsettled but they bought right into it! Then we were taken into the wall and up the staircase. A talking mouse puppet then entertained them for a short period before we went back down to the party room for cake and drinks. It was a good way to start the day, especially as it had started early and finished before lunch, unheard of normally!!

Next we went to a Serendipity Sale at the US church. In the UK we'd call it a table sale, so everyone paid for a table then kept the profits on any of their things that they sold. A friend of ours was their with her kids trying to sell some stuff, so Antonia went and played with them while I had a wander. I left with two brand new cardi's, a crushed velvet hoodie by Guess, cakes, tiny little wooden Chinese men, CD's of Britney and the Gipsy Kings, separately that is, a sheep money box and a horse.....I really shouldn't have had that glass of wine after the prosecco at the Birthday party I think.....:P

Coming home we popped into a display of Japanese Kimono's on the square that we live off. We stayed very briefly for a lecture about them, but it was beyond my Italian and Antonia's endurance, so we headed home!! If we'd been around earlier we could have bought a bento box each for lunch!! The hot dogs and scones from the church were pretty good though, as were the brownies and ginger cake we had for tea! :)

The sky is still blue at 6.00 p.m. although it is very cold, but better that than rain! All in all a good day!

So here's the deal....

I haven't posted for a while again, the main reason is I get my knickers in a twist over putting in photos. They liven a blog post and I feel like they make it a more interesting read, but I'm having major problems with getting my photos onto my laptops - yes, I have two, both "cast-offs" of my DH....This one I'm on now has a huge hard drive (for me anyway!) but he dropped it or something so none of the various slots pick-up the photos from my camera, plus I've had a corrupt memory card in my camera for months - I keep forgetting to swap it out! When I finally managed to download a batch of photo's to my other laptop (small memory but working ports...) about 20 photo's were missing - they show up on the card, but not the laptop! I have no clue why and have had to write them off to experience! Maybe it was the fact that they had pictures of a gigantic Michael Jackson head on them that was the problem!! That was from the Carnival at Viareggio...I'm not a fan of the man but his music still rocks!! :)

So I want to carry on with my blog, as I said in my last post, but you're going to have to take it as you find it!! Maybe pictures, but more likely not...

Since my last post we've renewed the lease on the house for the 4th time. The landlady has decided to put some utilities directly into our name. No problem with that except the electricity board reduced the Kw coming into the house! No big deal you would think, I had plenty to start with, but all of a sudden I was like most places here and everything kept tripping!! What a pain!! Turns out it was a mistake and it has now been rectified! I really couldn't cope with not knowing whether having the washer and the iron on was going to trip the electric!! You do become used to things being a certain way.

We didn't see Alex at half-term which also meant he missed my birthday - it was pretty miserable with just me and Antonia, plus I had the pozzo nero cleaned on my birthday which just added to the fun.....:P Anyway, Steve was home last week and I got a lovely pair of fancy slippers in red satin with heels and feathers for my birthday! It's nice to get something frivolous, don't you think??!

I read recently that it is a good discipline to write 750 words every morning when you arise. I won't be doing that but I'm going to try for frequency!! :)

Hello, I'm still here!!!

Ooops! Has it really been over 3 months since I last blogged! I would get a diary for Christmas every year as a child, right up to my teens. Most of them ended up as drawing books or shopping lists! I'm terrible at putting pen to paper or finger to keyboard, unless it's a forum or Fb that is. I know why, it's because I love gabbing and gossiping! This is great, but a bit one sided without the almost immediate input from forums or Fb. Some people hate social networking sites, I understand their reasons, ranging from they like their privacy to....they like their privacy!! Well, the only people I know that won't sign up for Fb or when they do, don't put up a photo, use a false name and never post, use that as the excuse! Others claim technophobia but that is not a good enough excuse in this day and age! Do they have a mobile phone, a tivo, wi-fi??? Okay, they may not initially set it up themselves but they know how to use it from then on don't they? A true technophobe wouldn't be able to touch or look at these things! That's the nature of phobia! So to be honest, they are plain lazy and can't be bothered to find out how these things work. To me, that's their loss and they WILL be left behind! Rant over!! ;) Where on Earth did that all come from I wonder??!

Anyway, I've been having a re-think about my blog and chatting it through with a couple of blogging/Fb chums and have come to the conclusion that I can no longer blog solely about Florence! I've got to the point in living here where my blog would start to look the same every year - Christmas in Florence, Carnival in Florence, Easter in Florence, you get the idea! Look up a couple of my older posts about these events and even some of the photos look identical!!

I am about to renew the lease on our "home" for the fourth time! Yep, I've entered my fourth year of living here! This was my fourth Christmas and New Year! How time does fly! So, from now on my blog is going to be more general. I'm not a newcomer as such to Italy anymore, I live here....so other than the strange things that happen to everyone I'm just going to blog as I feel! When we go somewhere interesting I'll post about it, but I'm not going to feel that it has to be Florence or Italy related! I've a lot of posts that aren't anyway, from the Cadbury's gorilla to Stavros Flatley, so I'm just going to continue the trend. I am keeping the name though, as this is MY life in the city of flowers!! :)

Napoli/Pompeii Photos!

For all my screaming fans! Lol! I haven't put descriptions on it would take the post to 3 foot or something, so you'll have to guess where they are! Really stumped, just ask!! :))

Napoli!!

Finally, after many months of umming and ahhing we got there! And I'm so glad we did! Naples is a trip I will dine out on for many months! Almost certainly means a return trip is on the cards. All the family enjoyed it, which is a coup in itself!

It started on the Friday pretty badly, the train journey was fine but the weather slowly deteriorated as we left Rome. However, our first view of Vesuvius from the train made up for the weather. Everyone was very excited to see it. Antonia was convinced the clouds were smoke and that the volcano was "spooting"! By the time we got to Naples the rain was starting. We didn't bother trying to find the bus we just got in a taxi, or tried to!! The taxi rank was full and easy to spot but the drivers were disagreeing as to who should go with which cab. Our children ended up in one cab and the bags in another! Eventually we managed to get everyone together in the same cab! I thought the trip was uneventful, but my darling husband, sat in the front, felt that driving into the oncoming traffic was beyond the pale! At least he stopped when the lights were on red....

We checked into our hotel, Napolit 'amo, which was perfectly acceptable for a 3 star in a decent part of the city. Then we set off to find a restaurant and the archaeological museum which we had been told we must see before going to Pompeii. As we had a map and the route was pretty straightforward we decided to walk, 5 minutes later the heavens opened! I can tell you there is a really good electrical/media shop on the same street as our hotel! I can probably tell you its stock too! We headed back out as we were all hungry and the rain eased off a little. Eventually we found the museum but no restaurants! There was one and only one, right across the road from it, so we went in there. Of course the kids wanted pizza! The restaurant was busy and the staff were serving tour groups that came in after us first. By the time we placed our order - remember there was nowhere else to go - we had waited 45mins. We were then told we couldn't have pizza as it would take too long, over an hour, to get to us!! What?!! So we had pasta, which arrived after a further 50mins wait.......To say we were a little tetchy by this point would be an understatement!! My husband sent me to pay. To cap it all they wanted 10% service. "But the service was bad!" I said in my best Italian. This surprised the manager for two reasons, firstly, he thought we were British tourists, who never complain and secondly he just assumed we wouldn't speak Italian. It got €2 off the bill and made him think twice about taking the pee again if nothing else!!

Off to the museum....I won't bore you with the details of this visit, other than me being so tee'd off with French tour groups getting fed before us then let in the museum before us that I stood there saying "Vite, vite!" in a loud voice to them as they passed through the turnstile!! Turned out it was mostly a wasted trip. The half of the museum that housed the Pompeii exhibits was closed to the public. We did, however, see the famous Alexander mosaic and the cabinet of secrets was very eye opening and eye watering! Suffice to say my son took one look and walked out firmly towing his sister behind him!! Lol! My husband liked the sculpture but me and the kids thought there was one too many, heathens that we are!

Our first success, and the turning point, came with our meal that evening. It took us a while to track a restaurant down and now we realise we should have gone down to the waterfront, but we found a pizzeria off a side street near our hotel called Brandi. It was brill! Really excellent pizza's, good wine and nice attentive, fast service! It made up for everything! From that point on the weekend just got better!

Next day we headed out to Pompeii. I can't describe it but I will put up photo's. It was everything and more that I had wanted it to be. It's one of those must see places for me and I'd finally got there! It's size was overwhelming. We didn't get to see all of it as rain and hunger defeated us. All the more reason to go back. We did see the casts of the people who died. They were strangely moving, rather than gorily interesting. I think the fact that there were the bodies of children, one curled next to it's parent, made it very poignant. The amphitheatre is huge and well preserved. Stephen and Alex played gladiators in the rain with their umbrellas - it just had to be done apparently!! I won't go over the meal or the shops outside the site, other than to say, if it is nice take a picnic! There is a picnic ground inside Pompeii and a lot of toilets and drinking fountains. Plan it and you won't need to use them!! I saw a €30 bottle of wine here in Florence being sold for €150!! Nasty!

We went to a different restaurant closer to the hotel that evening. The waiter asked if we would like some "nibbles" while we decided what we wanted. Lol! Out came a garlic bread pizza, a bag of dough balls, potato croquettes filled with mozzarella, arancini and a huge wooden platter covered in salami, ham, ricotta, salad, olives, mozzarella, etc!!! Plus a bread basket! Absolutely amazing! Stephen couldn't face anything else, Antonia had a fruit salad and Alex and I stuck to our guns and had a secondi each, which Stephen helped me eat, I should add! Yes we paid for the appetiser but it was worth it!!

The next day we were heading home in the evening and the kids and I were tired from all the walking the previous day, so we headed up to the Palazzo Reale and the basilica, which are in a beautiful square. We then headed down to the waterfront and had another amazing meal at lunch time. Bearing in mind the restaurants were neither tourist nor off the beaten track, the food was all good, barring the two exceptions, and were many times cheaper than anything we eat here in Florence of the same quality, in fact to get that quality we would probably have to pay double what we currently pay! It's just on another level entirely which really surprised me. We wandered around the waterfront, took Antonia on a little fair ground near the yacht harbour, then headed off to the station and our train home!

Despite all we had heard and been led to expect, and despite the beginning, we definitely were won over by Naples. Did I mention the bay and the beautiful sunset over Vesuvius?? Another time maybe.....:)

Summer Photos!! :))

I have no clue where this is!! Not Florence for sure. Lucca??? Think so!

At Genova Aquarium. Isn't he cute?!

If you can just see the date, this is what Ferragosta looks like in Florence!!

Seeing dad off on the Freccia Rossa - the fast train between Naples and Milan.

Not the best, but we had just been playing tennis!!