pilchard's activity

wow, what's happened to it mag...a sad demise

Hellooooo, anybody there?

Hi Numero, Not in Italy anymore. P.M. us Pilch

Hi Numerouno. Long time no see. Hope all okay. Pilch

  "I've dined with Kings - and been presented with absolute slop at their table! Proof there is no accounting for taste I swear this is true."   Is this a comment about the slop they serve or the company they choose to dine with? I've dined with Queens. Far more entertaining. I swear this is true Pilch

The materials are expensive. Cannot be priced without looking at the job. It might be a difficult one or real easy peasy. I know a certain lady asked for a price on a similar job and gave up cos it was just too expensive.

I don't know how good your Italian is but I think a visit to the Chief Planning Officer, the "Tecnico", as you've been advised above, is a very good idea. I visited ours before we bought our place, just to make sure what developements I had in mind would gain approval. It's a good thing to do in the UK too & you can get lots of good advice that they would not be prepared to commit to paper. Mention names & watch the body language. So often in Italy everyone is in each others pockets but, because the Tecnico is not part of the political appointments, the risk of being given biased advice is low. Ours always gave me really down to earth & friendly advice, would occasionally drop in with a colleague to admire the view & have a coffee, became one of the mates in the local bars, even dancing with my wife at a local Festa. If your Italian isn't so good, or if you lack the confidence, try & enlist the help of a neighbour or another local & take him along with you. Take him out for lunch after. Furbezza rules in Italy, not least among Geometras who can be the scum of the earth & are famously known for viewing Britts as "chickens ripe for plucking". Watch your step. Pilch

Good luck Annec. There is no finer way of exploring the high mountains of Italy than doing a Rifugi tour. Have used lots of them in the Dollies but, alas, while we were in Abruzzo it was always a case of we can go any time we want or, if we did manage to get away from the tyrany of the orto, we'd get up there & the weather would go all wobbly. Consequently I never got to do the glorious chain of peaks that gave me an ever changing grandstand view every day. So, no in-depth advice other than if it's called a Rifugio then food & drink is always obtainable (if it's open so check in advance) but beds need to be booked. If it's called a Bivacco then it's an unmanned timber lined tin box that sleeps six at a pinch, some of them not very savory. Good luck, write it up & lets see the photos. Pilch Pilch 

  "All in all I am still at a loss to work out what triggers the flare ups every now and then. !! Who knows?"   I do! Someone needs some attention; the opportunity to shine, to beat someone else in an argument by force of intellect, knowledge, education. They pick a fight by belittling the views of another or insulting them in an attempt to impress the forum audience with their superiority. They get their victim biting back sometimes rather too adroitly, so they crank it up & before you know it, the aggressor begins to lose their grip, gets aggressive & starts making threats. The entire audience thinks “what the f**k” & backs off, sitting there wondering what it’s all about. The victim, left facing the aggressor, demands satisfaction &, if he continues to do so, begins to be viewed as part of the problem by the audience who are busy washing their hands. The victim, realizing the audience are without backbone & therefore the impossibility of any support or just resolution, bogs off. The ego has been fed & had its appetite sated, until the next time, next victim. That’s how it works. Pilch 

I've seen a shed on wheels, up in Trentino where there is a far less cavalier attitude to regulations than the Mezzo-Giorno. It was in plain sight, clearly visible from the busy main road, in a prime tourist zone. The wheels looked seriously Mickey-Mouse affairs but, I dare say that technically they did the job. Go for it. If your neighbour is some kind of architect then the fact that you have found a way to beat him at his own game will give him a case of the screaming ab-dabs. Living next door to a moron is not nice so it might be an amusing idea to take up the offer in the post above. I sympathise with your builder husband on pre-build/new-build........... not with a barge-pole. They are seriously unhealthy structures to live in. When will the Italians give up their love affair with concrete? Pilch