Buon 2010!

What can be said in New Year rhymes,

That's not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go,

We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light,

We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings,

We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed,

We wreathe our prides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,

And that's the burden of a year.

(Ella Wheeler Wilcox)

End of year

Hi, I’m back in the UK. Hope you had a lovely Christmas and ready to "slide" into the New Year. We spent a few days in Italy with my parents, friends and family. It was nice but short and terribly cold. Freezing cold! We had to come back earlier as duty called. VAT, and of year account etc. cannot be completed if we are in Italy enjoying ourselves. The problem is that it's getting more and more difficult for me to leave Italy and above all my parents. They are not getting any younger (who is after all???) and I always leave them with a heavy heart. But we are back here now and all we have got left are a few photos to remember ....

The snow...

My "bestest" friends ...

The town music band in their festive attire...

The Town Hall "wrapped up" ...

A festive shop window ...

Some of my crazy family ...

No time

(My daughter's decorations made with felt and other recycled materials)

No time for anything. Time has passed so quickly from the beginning of autumn and now we are almost at the end of the year. I would have like to shared a lot more things with you before Christmas, but tomorrow (actually today! HELP!) I'm leaving for Italy and I realize there is no time left. The snow has caught me unprepared today and hopefully we will manage to get to the airport and catch our flight tomorrow (or today, whatever!) on time. I wish you all of you a wonderful Christmas together with your families and friends. I won't wish you a Happy New Year yet as I will be back home before then. All the best. Ciao.

Life is a bitch

The other evening I came home from work in a terrible mood. I had a stressful day. Nothing went the right way. My train was late both ways, I couldn’t find the test centre for my interpreting assignments and I got totally wet running around in circles, the candidates weren’t prepared so they didn’t pass the tests (although not my fault, it was still a bit upsetting). My son lost the house keys and my husbands forgot to pick up my daughter from football training etc etc. When I got home I was ready to explode and then it happened. My husband told me that our neighbour and friend whom we’ve known for 15 years had just discovered he has pancreatic cancer, probably not operable anymore. He’s 51 years old, he’s got a teenage boy and another son who’s just started working. He’s never smoked, took drugs, drank heavily or had an unhealthy lifestyle. He is actually quite sporty and is always been helping everybody. A nice person. His wife left him and the kids 18 months ago to go and live with someone else. Nobody knows exactly where she is now. She’s never got in touch with them again. On the surface she was the perfect wife and mother but deeper she was a different person. We spent the last 18 months trying to help him picking up the pieces of his life and now this. I know I do not need to tell you this, but I say it anyway: Life is a bitch. Awful and unjust.

Slow Down

In this very frenetic and hectic world, everybody needs to slow down a bit every now and then and this is what an arty group called the Cracking Art Group thought of to visualize this idea.

Twelve enormous pink snails have moved in to Milan city centre for a new outdoor art installation designed to encourage the fast-living residents of the Lombardy capital to slow down. Three metres long and two metres high, the huge molluscs are currently circling Piazza Scala in front of Milan's famous opera house, La Scala, and the nearby square in front of the Chiesa di San Fedele.

(Photos taken by my friend Giusy in Milan)

After their time spent “at the opera”, the snails will start moving (slowly of course!) towards the square in front of Milan's Palazzo Reale before making their way in single file to the central train station in January.

Stop Aids. Keep the Promise

1st December - World AIDS Day - "Universal Access and Human Rights"

Held on December 1st each year, World AIDS Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV. World AIDS Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and improving education. It reminds us that HIV has not gone away, and that there are many things still to be done.

Every 15 seconds someone in the world dies of AIDS-related illnesses, but even more often a person living with HIV is discriminated against, judged, excluded, whispered about, fired from their job, arrested, beaten, or thrown out of their house.

The red ribbon is an international symbol of AIDS awareness that is worn by people all year round and particularly around World AIDS Day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment.

There is no one official AIDS ribbon manufacturer, and many people make their own. It's easily done - just use some ordinary red ribbon and a safety pin!