MN Little Italy 21

[BananaGio]

Ciao tutte!!

Or do a course for a few months.

Again don't mean to be patronizing, I'd prob be in pj all day watching day time tv and long for London.

LOL at Heidi in a play Rosa! I'll try that one next

Pippi there are no cool things such as nice gyms with cafes and creches. in Geneva. It's like a million years backwards compared to London. It's exactly things like this I miss (can you believe there is only ONE soft play cente in the whole of Geneva, and only 2-3 kids libraries? I had everything on my doorstep at Swiss Cottage...) I think there's a Holmes place in the centre but it costs a million and it's only for corporate types.

I am trying to get off my arse a bit. will be more positive i promise.

I didn't have any kind of male interaction at work, because I used to work in fashion and there weren't many males around, apart during fashion shows, when we (me and my friends) used to flirt with the parrucchieri
But, I've always had lots of very close male friends and I missed them like hell when I moved to the UK. I missed all my friends in general, so I suppose it's a different experience.

Lol at branding yourself as the new heidi.

Ah and rosa about the carnevale party. did mil behave?

Ah, I've just seen that there is a new vichy "essential" line paraben free.

I finally got DD in to school at 12, after the snow kept stopping and starting. She was totally traumatised by thinking she'd missed the party, finding the gates closed and then not finding her class (they had gone to lunch), I had to hand her over to the teacher in tears. Anyway she hadn't missed the party so worked out ok.

Then we came home and decorated the fairy cakes we had made in the morning in an effort to distract her. I have to say they look fantastic and taste delicious, we used honey instead of sugar. DD got a Pooh Bear cookery book for xmas and we have been working through it this week to try and cheer her up in DH's absence.

Ah bless her, I'd have been as apprehensive about missing the party.
And the fairy cakes sound delicious.

Mm if it makes you feel any better we have ZERO soft play centres, in fact any kind of play centre for children in Venice. We have 2 parks with ancient swings , lots of zanzare and dog poo. 1 park with no play activities but less dog poo !!!!
I used to like Vichy will investigate further!
Well done at making it in Sputnik and yummy fairy cakes. My rice paper disney princess cake topper arrived from the Uk today - well impressed. ( and so cheap !) BUt it says lay on hard icing and pipe round using hard icing so presume Royal . I am trying to find Glucose syrup to make fondant icing but again not a hope so am asking mum to get in the Uk !!! Gio what did you do as I remember you had a Thomas one for ds ?

I was definitely chanelling you today Rosa! I even browsed the Lakeland site a bit, not sure what's got into me.

With the glucose syrup can you not just make it with sugar and water? I have vague memories making syrup to feed the bees sometimes, if you boil it the sugar inverts. You probably know more about it than I do though.

Surprised at lack of indoor play places in Geneva. There aren't any in Rome that I know of, but there are some semi outdoor (ie they have some covered parts) ones here.

It's half term next week and I'm unsure what to do, go out of Rome and freeze and possibly get snowed/rained on, or stay here and try to entertain 2 kids in 80 mq. At least DH will (probably) be back.

Tee hee Lakeland as well Sputnik I want to spend oodles of money on there but some of the 'time saving ' things will just end up as clutter!
My problem is that on my gas rings they either boil things hard or hardly not at all. I find it very hard to simmer anything thick without it burning. Mum has said she will look into getting some and posting it over or I have spotted some on a cake shop on Ebay for about £4 inc postage.I do have one place that I want to call when I can remember the name of the shop on the mainland it sells lots of interesting cooking things and might have it .
Dh is on the Wii then he is going to watch Lost I don't have a book ( as I have no idea what is going on there) . Might just goto bed .....

Hi all, just skimmed through all, need to catch up! Welcome Spaghettina! I am a Brit living in Rome with Roman DP and 3 year old DS and a twat of a FIL down the road who who you will often hear me moan about
Well we went to see a private specialist for DH today as FIL has gone so matto this week re GPs that understand nothing and his insistance that DP was on the way out!! So we said fine, you pay, we'll go private so he did and we went to see a lovely German specialist who I warmed to immediately as we snorted about how pathetic that 2 hours of snow crippled Rome this morning then moved on to kids being kept off school with alleged swine flu when in reality it was just parental hysteria (her words). Anyway to get to the point, he has something, she thinks is TB related-doesn't know if new or old so needs a CAT but said def not the Big C and def not anything that can't be sorted. So feel like I can breathe.
Coming back today I had to wait 45 mins for a bus (bear in mind I can take one of 6 which normally pass every 5 mins) AND DS's school was closed due to snow and the heating breaking down. and

Gio LOl at introducing your twat FIL !!! And like I said dh's lump was old TB scar tissue etc and he never knew he had it. Boh!

MM, A friend once told me she was taken to one in geneva by her friend who lived there. I assume there were millions like here.
It is beyond me why there are no soft play centre in Italy. Actually maybe I know - there was one in PG but I never got to see it because it closed down fairly quickly. Lots of friend of mine didn't go because "i bimbi si prendono le malattie!" .
Wouldn't they be popular? I cannot see why not. I find they are a god sent at times, even though they can be horrific at the wrong times. From what I saw with my italian friend's children when I took them to one they'd love it. boh!

And no Gym like that in Geneva? FGS there's a Virgin gym like that in Ass End PG!!! I am shocked!!!

off to keep playing with DD1, it is our night tonight.

ciao

That's great about your DH, so glad your mind has been set at rest on that one.
I think everybody used the snow as excuse not to go to work, I have heard people say about a million times that when it snows here Roma si ferma. And so it does.

It is heaving with gyms here. At least 1 I know has childcare attatched. Wish I could afford it.

Right, off a Wiring, notte

wow, MM, I thought Geneva would have been like a "clean and posh" london (never been obviously).

pippi, try ebay, I had a look but nothing at the mo a part from torn mags pages advertising it for 6 Eur!!!! and to think that til last year mine was in perfect condition, box too, it'd be worth a fortune!!!

everytime the weather people say that it might snow, everyone is "... if I can get in to work"

rosa, mum was in venice today for the carnevale and said it;s been the best year she'd seen, maschere-wise

gio, good news about DH, and lol at introducing FIL!

been teaching DS scopa and "cava camisa" today, thought it was time he should be initiated into the art of cards... obviously a bit of competitioon between DP & I will be inevitable as I promote carte trevisane and he pushes for napoletane

Camo! Just discovered you and I have a FB friend in common! The Lovely Shelly? I have sent you a friend invite....fear not...I am not a hairy arsed (well, that's about the only thing that isn't hairy) trucker..... You'll recognise me from my "I heart Bertolaso" status

Gio'- good news from doctor, hopefully FIL will now chill and leave you the feck alone.

We have soft plays down here. They be divil-spawning-ground and I am so looking forward to dd being a teeny bit older so she doesn't like them anymore. We only go when it's a party though. (very similar to English ones 99% of the mothers sit and network and compare their Monclers, 1% do the helicoptering thing for bacteria, leaving the sane 1% (in which I include myself) who keep an eye on things (mainly on the vile thug children harassing the little ones) and the other eye on the clock.....

I love Lakeland, and also have kitchen full of "essentials" from there, potato bags, cheese bags, soup freezer bags (they are very useful actually)

Boden 20% off till tomorrow if anyone is interested. LN3S at checkout. I ordered dd's spring capsule wardrobe (ie t-shirts)

Feck! Have just had complete mental block! Maybe it isn't Cam I've just sent an invite to.....it's one of you....that's for sure.

I wish it was me Buch but I don;t know any Shelly .

Yes perfect universal description of soft play area. There's always an evil child isn;t there whose mother looks lovingly toward while he kicks and strangles all others.

amo if this doesn't take you back....

Camo

Buch, no, not me, don't know any Shelly!! but if you go back a few pages (maybe previous thread) you can find me on FB through address (actually, should probably get that post deleted as that's my "proper" address )

pippi, I also had a macchina del caffe' tipo bar, where you'd put nescafe and then pour hot water in the top, pressed the buttons and voila', can't find a pic for it though... (btw, all these were gits from wealthy childless relatives from Milan, my parents would never have spent so much!)

back to childhood going throught the list...

dd has now got my mon cicci (handed down to me from cousin), always wanted a grillo parlante, can you imagine how backwards and disappointed it'd be for our DCs now!?!?!

disappointing

I am on FB but without giving you all my RN bloody hard to find me !!!! Striscia but with a T ( the English name ....spelt with sh in the middle)and the bit that goes after Amazing in the true brit song... I then have a funny Italian surname afterwards ....
DD vomitino last night only the once and violent poor thing. Today she is full of febbre and dare I post it ...I gave her a supposte ( thing its it hasn't worked much so waiting until later and might try something else !)She was soooo sad when I said no pallestra as today she was finally going to wear her fairy ELC costume that she loves and wears regularly round the house. She has even learnt the days of the week and knows that today is saturday. I felt so sorry for her but she only made it off teh sof to play with lego for 15 mins so she wouldn't of coped.
Carnevale yesterday was a great day after a Giovedi Grasso so bad . DH went out for pizza/ cena thinking they wouldn't find a space and they walked straight in and was told that as it was so quiet the cuoco had gone home so it was pizza only.
I haven't and won't get to San Marco but apparently is quite well organised.
In my area they had lezione di cucina in a tenda and local products on sale...Really well done for a change ( bet Cacciari is charging rent as he for sure wouldn't give them for free!)