- Just found this post still in 'drafts' so I'll post it now!!!! -
We're just back from a little trip to Forli to see the Rossi clan. We flew out on Thursday morning with KLM via Amsterdan to Bologna.
Now, it's quite an unusual thing to go and stay with friends instead of family but for quite a few years, this is what we have been doing so as not to put my family out too much. All of them would, of course, turn themselves upside down for us, we know that, but actually it makes us a little bit uncomfortable to do it. Instead we've been staying with Anna, our friend of many years! She originally came to us when she was 19 and I was about 7. Her mum and my Nonna went to the same church, and her mum thought it'd be good for her English to come and stay with an English family! 30 plus years later, she speaks better English than the rest of us and we are all still firm friends!
Anyway, her and her other half, Wainer, have recently bought the flat above hers & knocked the 2 together! It's AMAZING, and, of course, it means there's LOADS of space - double what was there before of course, so that's where we stayed.
Dan hadn't ever been to Forli before - he'd been to the little house and to Rome but not the town where I spent all my summer holidays, so it was lovely to show him around.
More on this when I write it...!
31 Jan 2009
Leeds to London flight
In order to get to Heathrow for our flight to Raleigh last week, Chris and I took the BMI shuttle from Leeds. It was a lovely clear day and we spent most of the journey looking out of the window at the view!
As we came in to London and circled over the city getting in to line for the airport, the view was SO clear, I was able to snap a load of pics for the album.
See if you can recognise any landmarks....the pictures are here.
As we came in to London and circled over the city getting in to line for the airport, the view was SO clear, I was able to snap a load of pics for the album.
See if you can recognise any landmarks....the pictures are here.
Having a really nice time
So I'm in Raleigh again, not for the 1st time....I was here in the summer for a quite traumatic visit.
But this time it's all been rather lovely!
Firstly, it's a lovely town and has a very high quality of living. On previous visits, I was a bit confused by the town layout, I didn't think there was a "proper" town centre and wasn't sure where to head for when looking for 'town'. I'm not good in a place if I've not done reasearch, I feel quite disorientated without maps and prior knowledge (it's a failing, I know): this time I did a bit of digging, and discovered that the old centre of town was boarded by North, South, East and West streets. So, on Sunday we drove into town and then stopped & parked when we crossed West St. Instantly we were in the centre. There was a capitol building, and some museums, so we were able to do some culture - the sport hall of fame, arts, civil rights history through the eyes of one reporter. It was very interesting. Even though this is my 4th visit to Raleigh, I felt that this was the first time I got my head round the history of the place.
Anyway, we're here because SMA Microsystems, an IBM Business Partner are here, and they've been hired by Arcadia to set up their new store (for New York) to prove it's all going to work when they open in March.
So I'm back in the Marriott - it's directly opposite a huge shopping mall (7 or 8 lane highway to cross though!) but it's very handy for the airport and really good for the work location which takes us all of about 15 -20 minutes in the mornings and evenings.
Work has been engaging but has gone well. I've been able to test loads of the system. It's great. Normally I spend all my time documenting things which are wrong!
It's still hard work tho. Awake most mornings at 5:30 grabbing my emails, aerobics at 6-6:30, shower and down for brekkie at 7:30, leave for work at 8. Arrive at SMA at 8:30, an hour or so to get the 2 systems up and running, and check and answer emails and respond to queries and requests. 10am we go on the call with the UK team (it's 3pm for them) and discuss our yesterday activities and their today activities! Confused....?
Each day this week we've had quite large brekkies and haven't really had lunch so we've been doing full on 9 or 10 hour days without a break! At 6 - 6:30 we head back to the hotel and either step out to the mall for dinner or have a few beers in the bar. I think they're getting their money's worth out of us, that's for sure!
But this time it's all been rather lovely!
Firstly, it's a lovely town and has a very high quality of living. On previous visits, I was a bit confused by the town layout, I didn't think there was a "proper" town centre and wasn't sure where to head for when looking for 'town'. I'm not good in a place if I've not done reasearch, I feel quite disorientated without maps and prior knowledge (it's a failing, I know): this time I did a bit of digging, and discovered that the old centre of town was boarded by North, South, East and West streets. So, on Sunday we drove into town and then stopped & parked when we crossed West St. Instantly we were in the centre. There was a capitol building, and some museums, so we were able to do some culture - the sport hall of fame, arts, civil rights history through the eyes of one reporter. It was very interesting. Even though this is my 4th visit to Raleigh, I felt that this was the first time I got my head round the history of the place.
Anyway, we're here because SMA Microsystems, an IBM Business Partner are here, and they've been hired by Arcadia to set up their new store (for New York) to prove it's all going to work when they open in March.
So I'm back in the Marriott - it's directly opposite a huge shopping mall (7 or 8 lane highway to cross though!) but it's very handy for the airport and really good for the work location which takes us all of about 15 -20 minutes in the mornings and evenings.
Work has been engaging but has gone well. I've been able to test loads of the system. It's great. Normally I spend all my time documenting things which are wrong!
It's still hard work tho. Awake most mornings at 5:30 grabbing my emails, aerobics at 6-6:30, shower and down for brekkie at 7:30, leave for work at 8. Arrive at SMA at 8:30, an hour or so to get the 2 systems up and running, and check and answer emails and respond to queries and requests. 10am we go on the call with the UK team (it's 3pm for them) and discuss our yesterday activities and their today activities! Confused....?
Each day this week we've had quite large brekkies and haven't really had lunch so we've been doing full on 9 or 10 hour days without a break! At 6 - 6:30 we head back to the hotel and either step out to the mall for dinner or have a few beers in the bar. I think they're getting their money's worth out of us, that's for sure!
29 Jan 2009
Driving
Well I've never driven in the US before - quite a few trips have been to NY (no car needed) and the last time to NC with Arcadia, Shane, the customer, had the car. This time, though, I've had to hire one. It's been a laugh!
Firstly, we picked up our 'compact' car from the airport. (1) it's NOT a compact - it's quite large. (2) It's an automatic - I've not driven one of those since Dan had his Chrysler Crossfire!
So we set off around the car park for a couple of goes until I got the hang of it. I kept trying to put my clutch foot down on the brake!
OK so we got out of the car park and because we'd requested a car with the sat-nav, I was quite happy to follow all the instructions, even though I'd got the route sorted from the airport to the hotel (basically one long road, once you've escaped the airport's clutches), so that was OK! I think Chris was somewhat relieved that I could actually drive on the other side of the road! I only put him in the gutter twice on the 1st day!
We still have a couple of issues though....
What's with the 'turn right on red'? I have done it a couple of times now I'm getting brave (makes me feel quite naughty!) but the effect is that as you're approaching the lights, and you have a green light, you can see cars trying to creep out to see if they can see a gap, and you get the feeling that they might just leap out at you.
The law about not talking on your phone unless it's handsfree hasn't kicked in yet (I think it's due soon) but EVERYONE is on the phone, one hand up clamping it to their ear. Now I suppose the fact that the majority of cars are automatic means that you only need one hand to steer, but it IS still quite disconcerting. Not that people *don't* do it in the UK, it's just that if you look around as you're waiting for the lights to change, there's barely a person NOT on the phone!
Firstly, we picked up our 'compact' car from the airport. (1) it's NOT a compact - it's quite large. (2) It's an automatic - I've not driven one of those since Dan had his Chrysler Crossfire!
So we set off around the car park for a couple of goes until I got the hang of it. I kept trying to put my clutch foot down on the brake!
OK so we got out of the car park and because we'd requested a car with the sat-nav, I was quite happy to follow all the instructions, even though I'd got the route sorted from the airport to the hotel (basically one long road, once you've escaped the airport's clutches), so that was OK! I think Chris was somewhat relieved that I could actually drive on the other side of the road! I only put him in the gutter twice on the 1st day!
We still have a couple of issues though....
What's with the 'turn right on red'? I have done it a couple of times now I'm getting brave (makes me feel quite naughty!) but the effect is that as you're approaching the lights, and you have a green light, you can see cars trying to creep out to see if they can see a gap, and you get the feeling that they might just leap out at you.
The law about not talking on your phone unless it's handsfree hasn't kicked in yet (I think it's due soon) but EVERYONE is on the phone, one hand up clamping it to their ear. Now I suppose the fact that the majority of cars are automatic means that you only need one hand to steer, but it IS still quite disconcerting. Not that people *don't* do it in the UK, it's just that if you look around as you're waiting for the lights to change, there's barely a person NOT on the phone!
27 Jan 2009
Going back in time - Last weekend,,,,
...I was in London with Jackie Lee, another culture vulture like myself. We'd been planning a weekend like this for quite some time and finally the time had come. The plan was to 'do' London in a day, on the train, with 2 exhibitions. A little ambitious, I agree, but we were game!The weekend started on Friday night at Jackie & Dave's newly refurbished home near Scunthorpe. Dinner was an excellent curry cooked by Dave. Yum! This was followed by a lovely half hour or so when Jackie serenaded us on her new (old) Steinway grand. A real treat!
Saturday morning saw us up at 5 and out the door just after 6am on the way to pick up the train at 6:55 at Retford. We were booked in 1st class and so breakfast was served en-route but honestly we hardly had time to settle in as the train actually arriv
ed at 08:40! So at 9am we were at Buckingham Palace!After taking some pics and getting a lovely cappucino, we got to the Queen's Gallery (down the side of the palace) in time for our 10:30 timed ticket. The current exhibition is 'Breugel to Reubens' and was a fantastic view into the Flemish masters. The collection included a gorgeous picture of a little boy looking out of a window, and a harrowing scene of the massacre of the innocents, somehow made worse by the fact that the slaughtered children had been, at some point, painted over with bundles and animals and were therefore only visible on x-ray. Anyway the collection was fabulous and the commentary was fascinating.
After the queen's gallery, we walked accross St James' park to Picadilly and went to Burlington house,
the home of the Royal Academy of Art. (And the courtyard societies) They have an exhibition on Byzantium. It couldn't have been a better choice for me! Ravenna, near Forli, is one of the best examples of Byzantine art in Italy. Fabulous! So I was extremely tuned in!
There were huge amounts of people in the exhibition but as Jackie is a member we had lunch in the members' lounge. Very exclusive! Th exhibition itself focused alot on Icons and iconography. Again it was absolutely fascinating and the audio guide was brilliant.
In the evening we did a quick zoom around Fortnum and Mason and then headed to King's Cross to wait for our train at 7:30. We were off the train at 9pm (how quick!) and back to Jackie and Dave's by 10! A long day, but a lovely one!
25 Jan 2009
Safely in the USA; no delays, no cancellations, no drama!
Well in a remarkable twist of fate, the journey went about as smoothly as it possibly could! The flight from Leeds to LHR took off on time, and arrived so early we had to circle for 10 minutes before touching down 5 minutes before we were scheduled to.
The luggage came in 5 minutes, and the transition between terminals 1 and 3 took about 10 minutes (at a brisk pace!) and when we checked in there wasn't any queue and we went straight through to departures in a flash! I bought a bottle of perfume and we were sitting waiting for them to call the gate by about 10:30 - we'd only landed at 9:05 and our Raleigh flight wasn't until 11:55! Once they announced the gate (one of the furthest away) we set off and were there before 10:45. They started boarding us at 11:10 and we were all sat on board ready to go at about 11:40! Amazing that we actually took off early too.
The flight was scheduled for 9 hours 15 and it actually took 8hrs 30 and we both got through customs in a flash, so all in all it was a super early experience!
After picking up the hire car and zooming round the car park a few times to remind myself to stay on the right and that, no, that's not the handbrake, that's the window handle....we headed off to the hotel - a mere 5 miles, and approximately 10 minutes away. So, by about 5:30 we were settled into the hotel and unpacking!
The luggage came in 5 minutes, and the transition between terminals 1 and 3 took about 10 minutes (at a brisk pace!) and when we checked in there wasn't any queue and we went straight through to departures in a flash! I bought a bottle of perfume and we were sitting waiting for them to call the gate by about 10:30 - we'd only landed at 9:05 and our Raleigh flight wasn't until 11:55! Once they announced the gate (one of the furthest away) we set off and were there before 10:45. They started boarding us at 11:10 and we were all sat on board ready to go at about 11:40! Amazing that we actually took off early too.
The flight was scheduled for 9 hours 15 and it actually took 8hrs 30 and we both got through customs in a flash, so all in all it was a super early experience!
After picking up the hire car and zooming round the car park a few times to remind myself to stay on the right and that, no, that's not the handbrake, that's the window handle....we headed off to the hotel - a mere 5 miles, and approximately 10 minutes away. So, by about 5:30 we were settled into the hotel and unpacking!
21 Jan 2009
Some kind comments from Dan's friends.
Obviously there have been some kind comments from concerned friends and colleagues given his recent traumatic experience.
On hearing that Dan was safe at home....
"Tell him not to touch any matches"
~ Atilla
After being told that Dan had left his sunnies in the car....
"Well if it was his old pair, they probably STARTED the fire"
~ Richie
After being told about the accident....
"Thank god they didn't breathalyze him !! or was it the alcohol fumes that caused the problem in the 1st place? "
~ Chud
With friends like these.....!!!
On hearing that Dan was safe at home....
"Tell him not to touch any matches"
~ Atilla
After being told that Dan had left his sunnies in the car....
"Well if it was his old pair, they probably STARTED the fire"
~ Richie
After being told about the accident....
"Thank god they didn't breathalyze him !! or was it the alcohol fumes that caused the problem in the 1st place? "
~ Chud
With friends like these.....!!!
An interesting journey - part 2
Please read the 1st 2 parts to this story first if you haven't already.....
After about 5 minutes a brown people carrier drew up next to me on the hard shoulder. A bloke was driving it and shouted out of the window if I was OK, and if I needed any help. I told him I'd already called the fire bregade, but he offered to wait with me until they arrived. I got in and we sat and chatted while he put the heating on full to warm me up as the outside temperature was quite chilly. There was snow on the ground. It's nice to know there are some kind people out there still!
After another 10 minutes or so, the fire engine arrived and slowly and methodically they put the flames out. The police arrived, and my kindly stranger went on his way to work. I sat in the back of the police car whilst they were doing some checks on me (good job I had my false identity papers with me!) and then the Motorway Patrol guys arrived and they went to see the state of the car with the police. In the meantime I sat in the Motorway Patrol car and started calling Leaseplan to sort out the recovery details.
After about an hour the recovery vehicle came to scoop the remains of the car from the side of the motorway. The guys had some trouble getting all of it from the hard shoulder because it was burned into the road. I went with them to a secure compound where they locked up the car for evidence. After a cup of tea to warm up, the recovery guy dropped me back home.
It had been an interesting journey!
Only 1 thing for it. I dialled 999 and got the fire brigade on the case. I tried to call Li, but as usual she was blanking me so I stood beside the road and took a couple of pics of the flames licking out from every part of my ex-vehicle.
After about 5 minutes a brown people carrier drew up next to me on the hard shoulder. A bloke was driving it and shouted out of the window if I was OK, and if I needed any help. I told him I'd already called the fire bregade, but he offered to wait with me until they arrived. I got in and we sat and chatted while he put the heating on full to warm me up as the outside temperature was quite chilly. There was snow on the ground. It's nice to know there are some kind people out there still!
After another 10 minutes or so, the fire engine arrived and slowly and methodically they put the flames out. The police arrived, and my kindly stranger went on his way to work. I sat in the back of the police car whilst they were doing some checks on me (good job I had my false identity papers with me!) and then the Motorway Patrol guys arrived and they went to see the state of the car with the police. In the meantime I sat in the Motorway Patrol car and started calling Leaseplan to sort out the recovery details.
After about an hour the recovery vehicle came to scoop the remains of the car from the side of the motorway. The guys had some trouble getting all of it from the hard shoulder because it was burned into the road. I went with them to a secure compound where they locked up the car for evidence. After a cup of tea to warm up, the recovery guy dropped me back home.
It had been an interesting journey!
20 Jan 2009
An interesting journey - part 1
So, as Li said, I was just pootling over the M62 towards Manchester. Unusually I was in the outside lane (!) when a very loud noise started coming from the engine compartment.
Very loud.
NOT GOOD I thought to myself.
I moved into the middle lane, and was signalling to get into the inside lane when the oil light came on. I started looking for somewhere to pull over. The next junction was quite far away and so I was looking for the next roadside phone. I put my hazard lights on.
Next thing I knew was that all of the lights on the dashboard lit up at once, and a message I've never seen before flashed up; 'Engine management system failed'. Something told me that this was bad news! The power failed and so did the brakes, not an ideal situation as I was still in the middle lane and going about 40mph.
A lorry was coming up on my inside, so I let him undertake me and I manage to coast over and get on the hard shoulder.
As I pulled the car to a stop with the handbrake (something I've always wanted to do - eat your heart out Starsky & Hutch), thick white smoke started billowing around my feet. After analysing the situation for about 0.004 of a second, I determined that the situation wasn't improving so I thought I'd better get out of the car (after grabbing the tom-tom, but not the charging cable, or the tom-tom case)
There was loads of smoke coming from under the bonnet but I still had time to get my thinkpad (a brand new one I only got on Thursday) and my ski-jacket (it was very cold) from the boot.
Just as I was walking away from the car, I saw flames start to come out from under the bonnet! This was getting SERIOUSLY BAD!
Very loud.
NOT GOOD I thought to myself.
I moved into the middle lane, and was signalling to get into the inside lane when the oil light came on. I started looking for somewhere to pull over. The next junction was quite far away and so I was looking for the next roadside phone. I put my hazard lights on.
Next thing I knew was that all of the lights on the dashboard lit up at once, and a message I've never seen before flashed up; 'Engine management system failed'. Something told me that this was bad news! The power failed and so did the brakes, not an ideal situation as I was still in the middle lane and going about 40mph.
A lorry was coming up on my inside, so I let him undertake me and I manage to coast over and get on the hard shoulder.
As I pulled the car to a stop with the handbrake (something I've always wanted to do - eat your heart out Starsky & Hutch), thick white smoke started billowing around my feet. After analysing the situation for about 0.004 of a second, I determined that the situation wasn't improving so I thought I'd better get out of the car (after grabbing the tom-tom, but not the charging cable, or the tom-tom case)
There was loads of smoke coming from under the bonnet but I still had time to get my thinkpad (a brand new one I only got on Thursday) and my ski-jacket (it was very cold) from the boot.
Just as I was walking away from the car, I saw flames start to come out from under the bonnet! This was getting SERIOUSLY BAD!
A scary phone call
As I was leaving for work this morning I looked at my phone and realised that there was a missed call from Dan. He was off to Macclesfield this morning and frequently calls on his way over the top of the M62 to ask me to do a "traffic watch" to see why the traffic is slow.
The call had come about 15 minutes before so I dialled him up and waited for him to answer.
'Hello hon, I saw you'd called me, everything OK?'
'I'm just sitting in a police car' he said.
At this point I have to admit I had an uncharitable thought with regard to Dan's penchant for travelling at speeds faster than legally authorised!
'What's happened?'
'I'm having a bit of a morning' he said. 'My car is has burned to a crisp'
I pressed my earphones tighter into my ears. I can't have heard right.
'Say that again...?' I replied.
'I'm sitting in a police car at the side of the motorway because my car caught fire' he said.
I HAD heard right. I was in shock! I could hardly believe what he was saying.
After having made sure he was OK - my priorities reasserted themselves. The Blog! So, my next question was
'Did you get any pictures?'
Needless to say - here they are
The call had come about 15 minutes before so I dialled him up and waited for him to answer.
'Hello hon, I saw you'd called me, everything OK?'
'I'm just sitting in a police car' he said.
At this point I have to admit I had an uncharitable thought with regard to Dan's penchant for travelling at speeds faster than legally authorised!
'What's happened?'
'I'm having a bit of a morning' he said. 'My car is has burned to a crisp'
I pressed my earphones tighter into my ears. I can't have heard right.
'Say that again...?' I replied.
'I'm sitting in a police car at the side of the motorway because my car caught fire' he said.
I HAD heard right. I was in shock! I could hardly believe what he was saying.
After having made sure he was OK - my priorities reasserted themselves. The Blog! So, my next question was
'Did you get any pictures?'
Needless to say - here they are
11 Jan 2009
Piggalino
Well Happy New Year!By way of starting the new year in the way we'd like it to continue, we went to the farm at Yorkshire Meats to pick up our little pig.
"What pig?" I'm sure you're asking. Well, 6 months ago we put a deposit down on a pig at the farm. This week we were told that the pig was going to the abattoir and the meat would be ready at the weekend.
So, off we went to the farm - just outside of York - and met Duncan, who was expecting us. He initially took us to meet the 3.5 month old pigs out in the field.
They came racing out to meat us and as we stepped in to the field they were snuffling around our legs and leaving little nose prints on our jeans! They were SO cute, but the most surprising thing about them was that they were ORANGE! No pink here, or at least not much. They were all shades from a pale peach to a dark orange!!! The breed is called the Oxford Sandy and Black. The breed description reads....
- Medium to large pig
- Lop or semi-lop ears
- White blaze, feet and tassel are characteristic
- Head moderately long with a slightly dished muzzle
- A good sandy coat (ranging from pale sandy to rust) with random black patches
Dan made a particular friend (as you can tell by the close-up!) as he was knelt in amongst the little creatures. They were all snuffling around him and eating his shoe laces! Very cute!
So then we went to have a look at the 2 sows. Both of them had had piglets in the last month. They were adorable!!!
The photo doesn't really do them justice as the warming lamp was making the light a bit wierd in the pen. Here are pics of another of the sets of piglets from the website --> piglets. I wanted to nick one and put it in my bag....I liked the little ginger ones the best!
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