Sofia

February 20th, 2015

Due giorni fa mia nipote ha dato alla luce una bambina. Si chiama Sophia e pesa 3.5 kg.
sofia with freddie

Ora ho due pronipoti. Roberto chi ha sei anni e ora Sophie. Roberto è il figlio di mio nipote Billy e Sophia è la figlia di mia nipote Sinead. In luglio ci sará un’altra aggiunta alla famiglia perché la mamma di Roberto è incinta. Non sappiamo se Roberto avrá un fratello o una sorella.

Home Park

February 12th, 2015

Ogni mattina facciamo una passeggiata con Tristan e di solito andiamo a Home Park che è una parte del Palazzo di Hampton Court. Questo palazzo era di proprietà di Enrico VIII (1491-1547). Home Park si trova dietro il palazzo. C’è una parte curata con il “Long Water”, un lago artificiale che fu costruito da Carlo II nel 1660. È lungo 690. L’altra parte del parco è meno curato con laghi, pascoli e un branco di 300 cervi. Sono sceso dai cervi che erano gi&adrave; qui all’epoca di Enrico VIII. Il parco è stato aperto al pubblico nel 1894 e è molto gradito ai cani e ai loro proprietari.

Long Water

Long Water

Un lago in Home Park

Un lago in Home Park

Tanti cani sono senza guinzaglio ma abbiamo dovuto legare Tristan perché una domenica ha deciso di cacciare i cervi. Per un’oretta abbiamo provato a catturarlo ma era troppo veloce e eravamo troppo lenti. Le guardie ci hanno detto che dovevamo catturarlo altrimenti avrebbero dovuto ucciderlo. Le cerve erano incinte e se sono cacciate possono abortire. Fortunatamente Tristan era stanco dopo un ora e con le loro jeep le guardie hanno bloccato la strada e hanno catturato Tristan.

cervi in Home Park

cervi in Home Park

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Tristan sulla neve

February 6th, 2015

Martedì mattina ci siamo alzati e abbiamo scoperto che durante la notte era nevicato. Senz’altro non era niente in confronto alla neve a San Giorgio tre anni fa quando mi ricordo che aprendo il portone, ho visto un muro di neve e ho dovuto scavare un sentiero per arrivare alla strada. Quest anno siamo stati piu fortunati perché c’erano solo 5 centimetri di neve. È stato molto  bello fare una passeggiata con Tristan. Siamo andati lungo il fiume e poi attraverso il parco. Era la prima volta che Tristan vedava la neve e si è divertito molto.

Tristan in the snow Tristan in the snow
Tristan sulla neve. Tristan in the snow

Monday morning we woke up and discovered that it had snowed during the night. Certainly it was nothing like the snow in San Giorgio 3 years ago when I remember opening the front door, seeing a wall of snow and having to dig a path up to the main road. This year we were more fortunate as there was only 5 centimetres of snow. It was really great to take Tristan for a walk. We went along the River and then through the park. It was the first time Tristan had seen snow and he really enjoyed it.

Kingston upon Thames

February 1st, 2015

Quando sono ritornato a vivere a Kingston ho deciso di abbandonare il blog “Living in San Giorgio”. A distanza di quasi due anni voglio migliorare il mio italiano scritto e perciò ho deciso di ricominciare il blog ma con un titolo nuovo “Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston”. Scriverò in italiano e in inglese e forse qualche gentile amico italiano correggerà il testo o anche suggerirà miglioramenti.

Kingston upon Thames è solo quindici chilometri da Londra. È un paese antico dove, nel nono secolo, sette re anglosassoni furono incoronati. È anche un paese moderno con molti negozi, cinema ecc. Il paese è situato vicino al fiume Tamigi (Kingston on Thames – l’indizio è nel nome) und di recente la riva del fiume si è sviluppata con appartamenti, ristoranti, bar ecc.

 

blog kingston centre blog thames at kingston
Kingston centre/centro River Thames (Tamigi)

When I returned to live in Kingston I decided to stop the blog “Living in San Giorgio”. Almost 2 years later I want to improve my written Italian and therefore I have decided to restart the blog but with a new title “Living in San Giorgio di Pesaro and Kingston”. I will write in Italian and English and perhaps some kind Italian friends will correct the text or even suggest some improvements.

Kingston upon Thames is only 15 kilometres from London. It is an old town where, in the 9th century, 7 anglo-saxon kings were crowned. It is also a modern town with many shop, cinemas etc. The town is situated on the River Thames (Kingston on Thames – the clue is in the name) and recently the river bank has been developed with apartments, restaurants, bars etc.

Getting away from San Giorgio 2: Montefortino

July 1st, 2012
antico mulino Montefortino Montefortino

Moving into summer every Italian village feels it has to put on “events”. Being old and grumpy it seems to us that “events” tend to be over amplified rock or pop music. San Giorgio is no exception and so two Saturdays ago in the middle of a heat wave permission had been given for the Osteria Casa Mina to have an evening of Brazilian music while the sports field were having the “best of rock bands” competition. As our house is half way between the two we decided to go away for the night. Our friend Alba suggested an Agriturismo in the Sibillini mountains in the south of the Marche. It was called Antico Mulino and was near the  small town of Montefortino.

On Friday evening we booked a room and Saturday afternoon we set off. We had been warned that the entrance to the agriturismo is a bit off putting as you pass by a bottling factory but once inside it is a very lovely place with beautiful landscape, in the surrounding area. There is the central tower with some other small out buildings providing extra accommodation around it. The place has been beautifully restored and comes complete with a covered swimming pool. Our room was in one of the outbuildings and was clean and simply furnished but with the extra bonus that our windows overlooked a lovely mountain stream.

The price was 100 euros for the night. This included dinner (four courses with wine, water and coffee), breakfast and an evening without loud music. Well worth the trip.

Virgin Caipirinha

July 1st, 2012

 caipirinha

The hotel in Berlin had a nice bar and so one evening before dinner we decided to have a drink. I opted for a Virgin Caipirinha. I had never heard of a Caipirinha never mind a virgin one but apparently a Caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail and is now very popular in Germany. It is made from  cachaca (sugar cane rum), sugar (preferably raw sugar) and lime.

The Virgin Caipirinha is made from brown sugar, lime and ginger ale. Simply add a teaspoonful of brown sugar to the bottom of a glass. Cut up half a lime and add to the sugar. Muddle or mash the lime so that it mixes with the sugar. Add crushed ice or ice cubes and fill the glass with ginger ale. It is very simple and very refreshing.

Getting away from San Giorgio 1: Berlin

June 30th, 2012
pergamon museum pergamon museum
pergamon museum carlottenburg palace

Before coming to Italy we had planned to travel around Italy a lot. However, San Giorgio is so alluring that it hasn’t happened. Now in 2012 we are starting to travel within and without Italy. So at the end of May we went with Pam and Michael from Tavernelle to Berlin.

Hotel: great. We stayed in the Hampton by Hilton hotel. It is located in Charlottenburg which is the shopping area of Berlin. The hotel was very comfortable, good size rooms, very good staff and excellent breakfast inclued in the price of about 100 euros for a double room. The rooms has airconditioning which was great as:

Weather: was very hot. 30 degrees and sunny. Promised rain and cooler weather didn’t materialise and we realised that we had brought the wrong clothes. This meant we had to stop for cool drinks which was easy as the Berlin is full of nice bars and cafes and all reasonably

Priced. We were surprised how cheap it was compared to Italy. A prosecco in the hotel bar was 2.50euros a glass. This is the same price as our beach bar at Torette.  Eating out was good value and meals were “substantial”. Eating out also gave me an opportunity to practice my

German: I had practiced my responses to normal questions such as: “are you ready to order”, “would you like red wine or white wine”. My hopes of impressing Pam, Michael and Bill were dashed when the first question asked by the waitress was ” do you want me to light the candles”. That phrase wasn’t in my text book and so the waitress seeing my distressed look switched to perfect English. Of course my confidence in my spoken German has already been dented when the taxi driver from the airport to the hotel hadn’t understood the address even when I repeated it 3 times. Fortunately to enjoy Berlin German isn’t really necessary as some

Museums etc: leave one speechless. The highlight for me was the Pergamon museum complete with reconstructed Greek, Roman and Bablyonian buildings. We also got to see the Charlottenburg palace which was worth visiting for the pleasant gardens. Unfortunately the “must see” part of the palace was closed on the day we visited.

Cherry harvest

May 19th, 2012

In Italian these is an expression “Non c’e due senza tre” – there isn’t two without three. In English we say “things happen in 3s”. Our cherry tree has proved this to be true. Having planted the tree about 4 years ago we have never had a single cherry. This year we had a few flowers and now we have 3 beautiful red cherries to look at.

cherries 1 cherries 2

We’re in the wrong job.

May 14th, 2012

The Guardia di Finanzia are cracking down on tax evasion. Last week they had a go at lawyers, doctors etc in all of Italy. One case highlighted was a lawyer who declared a taxable income of 10 euros a year but was driving a 60,000 euro car. More evasion was highlighted at the weekend when the local paper told us about a 68 year old women from Rimini. Her local bank was suspicious that she was paying large sums into her account every month and informed the authorities. They discovered that the women had 2.5 million euros in the bank and was also claiming 450 euros a month social security. She denied that the large sums of money regularly deposited were part of a money laundering scheme but claimed it was her earnings from prostitution. Obviously clients pay well in Rimini.

Man’s brush with fashion in San Giorgio

May 11th, 2012

john in shirtsleeves

After the rage within the UK of the statement “Does my bum look big in this…”San Giorgio has been swept with “Are my sleeves rolled up to the same length” .Fashionista John Roscoe has spent many an hour asking his wife and others this very question. When asked why this was so important, JR is reported to have responded “That gentlemen never show more than four to five inches of bare arm flesh, as more might inflame a ladies passion”.

Contrary to JRs view most Italian men seem to be earnest in their desire to show as much of their arms and other parts of their bodies as is humanly possible. We await JRs showing on the beach this summer with interest. Will he continue to lead and others follow? Will the knotted handkerchief be displayed on Torrette beach this summer?