Little Italy 25

[Rosa]

Greetings, Ciao , Welcome , Benvenuto

Finding decent medical care on the ASL for problems like backache is a nightmare here too.
I have already moaned on here how frustrating it is to get an apt with my dottoressa della mutua, I miss my surgery in Exeter!!! I have to say that since I came back 5 yrs ago, the whole system seems more incasinato than it was... complimen ti mr Formigoni (who claims that the lombardia health system is the best in europe... )

Awww, Hawaii...

Ok 2013 meeting for Little Italy in Hawaii its decided....
This morning dd refused to get up saying it was still dark and therefore not day time ! Today its cold it spat a bit of rain this morning now its just cold and windy butthey have chucked salt on the bridges which is a good thing, just ruins your shoes ! Ordered too much stuff from Next but dd has grown upwards and outwards and nothing from last summer fits.....

Yes, lets!!!!!!
Freezing here too... Mind if I join you in fuerteventura?

No the more the merrier......its a bigish hotel and I hope that it is not brit dominated IYKWIM. It has a spa and we will be there I hope at least once as we have a free entry with the room rate!!!! Am counting the days ..

Even the spa!!! Che bello!

Rosa, I've no idea if it will be Brit dominated but I'm quite sure it will be Scot-dominated.. I don't know if that makes a difference for you (for Scots it does because many of them get offended to be called Brits ). Fuerteventura and other warm localities are promoted all over the place up here, so I guess someone is tempted to come over.... LOL

2013 Little meeting in Hawaii could be a temptation!! Mind you, I could also have free accommodation.. Don't know if I can convince DH though!

Franca, I think I wasn't going to say that in my life...But Tuscan ASL health services are way better than any of the GP practices I found here in Scotland... I don't know about England, never lived there but in the years I spent in Scotland everywhere, I didn't find a decent doctor... they even caused me a damage to my metabolismo giving me some medication that ruined my thyroid. A total failure! :(

Merlin, to be honest, I think that in general in Italy it is easier tp find better medical care than in the UK, but the basic structures here are suffering from money cuts.

Therefore, my medico della mutua has 1.000 and more patients, but she only works like 3 hrs a day () and it'd be much better if they established surgeries like in the UK where you have more than one gp so there is always someone who can see you (and a secretary who answers the phone). Or maybe we got lucky in Exeter, as it wasn't such an over populated area.

For serious stuff, here it is probably better (though of course it depends on the area), plus here they do more preventive medicine than the nhs does.

I agree with what you said in the last sentence. Prevention in Italy is a lot better than in UK, let alone Scotland

Yeah I remember, I think my medico della mutua has probably as many patients as yours, and they work forr 3 or 4 hours a day and it would be great to have sort of a UK GP surgery too, although a few elderly people would refuse to get visited or tested by another doctor (my grannie was one!).

Rosa, I had missed the spa part!!

The question is, will the Italian health system survive the recession, cuts and general corruption?

That's a good question Franca. I think we've to wait and see, after February 24th :(

Some things I like about Italian Health care though the pg tests and measures etc were really good. The hospital care after birth and then if you wanted extra help it was there once a week ( my lifeline). I don't like the constantly going from A- B to get ricette , esame , back for results etc when in the Uk you can do in one place. Also I find that when its an emergency or need fast consultant appointment the system does work in Italy. But when you need scans or non urgent x rays you have to hunt round for an appointment when all the immediate local ones are full ....Cat scan for dh was 6 mths waiting. We called a USL clinic in Padova got it in 3 days but we had the means to get there...lots don't. in the Uk its waiting for letters and follow ups and back to the GP. I don't think our sanita can be cut more apart from closing the hospital. They have thought and threatened a few times but until a generation has died they can't ..... The elderly just can't get to the Mainland despite trains etc its just too much. Foul day rain rain rain ,damp and more rain.... More forecast as well for the week..yippeeee.

Yes, I totally agree rosa.

Crap weather here too, grey, wet, foggy, cold. Buhuuuu. We ate like pigs at db and sil and then we watched Indiana Jones and the temple Of doom.

Snowing here... grr hate winter (LOL and I live in Scotland Muahahaha)

I like it when it snows though!

The bloody bread machine is not working, today, that for once I wanted to make bread! Grrr

Yucky crappio damp foggy weather and kids all round us are going down with flu or intestinale. Just hoping they either get it now or they don't as please no sick children this year on holiday last year was bad enough... Merlin Scotland has snow in the winter..its almost guaranteed!!!!

No fog no rain I cannot get any more washing out ..have even used the communal lines as well as my own.... It better bloody dry or its going to be a chinese laundry in this house!!!! Schools full of flu not touched us yet just hoping it misses us . Dd1 gping iceskating later which hopefully will be fun I have every intention of staying fixed to the vin brule bucket ..or hot chocolate with rum in it. Fur boots out its going to be a cold afternoon!

Oh, iceskating is lovely! And so is the vin bruleé!

Pale sunshine here too and not as cold as last week, I am making ragu for tonight's pasta al forno. I feel very homey, if that is the word.
I am also addicted to Ruzzle at the moment, I fear for my sanity

I totally feel homey too ladies!! Yeah Rosa, I guess Scotland has a particular clause for getting snow anyway, in all winters LOL Although a few people told me that the last three winters have been a lot stricter than in the 90ies...

Now... iceskating, vin brulee... I get winter holiday sick Franca!! :D

Ok... rant of the day, because there's a debate between me and my DH... he says I'm intolerant, I say I don't want to get abuse from anyone, anymore.

I might have to do a bit of explaining before getting to the point but please be patient...

I've an Italian friend of mine who fell in love with a guy in November. This guy swept her off her feet and she was over the moon for one month, then she started to be quite unhappy because he was going out with a friend from 10-11 pm and then back in the middle of the night. It didn't stop there and he started showing feelings of control and jealousy. After 2 months of this routine, the first week of January she asked him to have a clarifying chat (it needs to be mentioned they live in 2 separate flats on 2 different floors in the same building. During the relationship he was sleeping at hers).
He told her he had never been in love with anyone and he didn't love her. He also told her he had lived with a gf for two years and didn't leave her because he didn't want to throw her arse in the street because she was poor (WTF?!?!? Merciful....).
Despite the chat, she didn't want to lose him anyway and she thinks she will be able to make the relationship work in the end, even though she's the only one who fell in love in the couple.

I volunteer to support many DV/rape victims and survivors (having been myself one, in dark times) and offered some advice.
Unfortunately, instead of saying' thank you' because friends are trying to support her, she started giving grief to others.
She also started to become abusive to me when I started implying that unreturned love can become a problem and yes it is also the twisted main source of abuse, because it feeds the other person's need for control and manipulation, even though it doesn't appear so at the beginning.
Unfortunately this translated for her in someone who beats her up or rapes her because she can't get abuse isn't just that, it can be emotional or psychological too.

First she went straight to attack my relationship with DH ("oh well you could find out that your DH never loved you in 10 years and it was fake" UH?? ) then she came out last night saying "Stop speaking about abusive relationships because I'm not that stupid!". I didn't let it rest and replied that in that case she thinks I'm stupid too because I let someone manipulate my life and abuse me, blinded by the love I felt for him and lived in denial of it for a long time... I never replied to her since and i already cut her off from everything.

My mum, this morning, commented on it on skype "If she wants to be blind, let her be but don't take her crap and state that in capital letters".

What's your opinion?
To be honest, I did what I could but it ended up she shot the messenger. To my DH who said I was being intolerant I said that after what I went through in my life I promised myself that all the negative and abusive people will stay out of my door forever ;)

For me Merlin as you mum says she is blind and only hearing what she wants to hear. she doesn't want to hear the truth or anything that will ruin her ' fantasy picture'. If it was me I would say its your life and if its a real deep friendship say you will be there as and when she needs you when it all goes belly up. Wish her well and then butt out.... She doesn't want to be helped.
Dd loved the skating. I loved the wine but as they were doing the cake it started to rain so we came home ..dh got shouted at for leaving the half wet half dry washing in a heap on the floor...his excuse minirosa wouldn't leave him to do it. I said ' if you ask her to help she will ' she is good at passing socks!!. Still raining so much for a dry spell.

Rosa, thanks for your lovely advice!! Yes, I emailed her, without any fuss or harsh words, and said it is your life, wished her well and butted out... ;)

Happy Merlin again :)

I'd bet your dd loved the skating.. used to enjoy that too until I grew too old LOL

No snow today but temperatures are arctic... BRRRRRR

Yes, I totally agree with everything Rosa wrote, and I am happy to hear that you have emailed her, Merlin.

Well done!

It is sunny here today and much warmer than yesterday. Boh! ANd this morning I noticed it was a bit lighter than usual, evviva!

I need to put ds name down for the medie, and it has to be done online this year, for the first time. Apparently the website isn't working very well as it has been assaulted by lots of requests. I will wait another few days. I also haven't decided what second language we should choose, as apparently some sezioni are better than others. Che palle. I hate choices.

Gia medie..Lordy Franca time passes quickly. I feel for you as it all depends on the teachers etc etc etc . Good luck with your decision making !
Glad you have sun that means we might get it as well. In which case i will do some more washing. Have a cake to do for Sat but its nothing too wow which most likely means I will stuff it up !

Thinking about what to pack but as its all in boxes have to get it out ( and probably iron) and then decide what to take ... Plus its the 1st weekend of Carnival this weekend so I expect we will be out and about with the strega and the ape ( Dd1 and minirosa) and a ton of coriandoli !!!

which second language

It is professori and professoresse now! There are quite a few good ones in our schoo, question is... how to get them

Awwww the strega and the ape and coriandoli! Che bello!

Franca do what B does ..Bribe to get them. He does it ex premier and all that so don't see why the public can't do it as well.....
Cold and cold her today but sunny . Minirosa now doesn't want to be a bee ...vediamo domani!