It may be Berlusconi's birthday today, but for all of you who say to stop complaining about Berlusconi, he's been democratically elected, should read this:
Hi Antonietta,Just to add my mustard... We've lived in the La Spezia area for for 5 years, 1/2 hour from the 5Terre, which we avoid during the summer. We love it here, neighbours have been extremely kind and helpful, however we live well below the poverty line. We left Surrey because of long working hours and high living costs. Here we work a plot of land to supply us with basic foods and srape by with a bit of English teaching (my wife), and organising some wine tastings for tourists http://users3.jabry.com/tuscanytipple/. However, another reason for our move was psychological problems of my wife, due to brain damage sustained from an accident. The lifestyle here, no pressure and plenty of physical excersise, helps her, the only drawback is that, also as a result of her illness, she can't learn Italian and therefore not find the correct medical help for her condition either. But talking about health, the national health service here is considerably from what we were used to in the UK!If you want to know anymore about our life here, check out my blog: http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.com/Good Luck
There is a lot of rubbish written about the benfits of wine. I have a large folder and a few books on the subject. The consensus these days is, that wine, both red and white in moderation is beneficial, as are other alcoholic drinks to a greater or lesser extend. Now moderation is a term that can be bent in all sorts of direction. For a start women can generally take in less with harmful side effects than men. Sorry girls, fact of life. It's to do with a greater proportion of body fat storing the alcohol. The body also takes in alcohol at different rates, depending on how you inbibe and when and with what. It is generally true that alcohol taken in with food is absorbed more slowly into the body. Hence the practice of binge drinking in the UK is worse than drinking a similar amount over a long extended Italian meal with numerous courses.There is some evidence that red wine (a glass or 2 a day!) has beneficial effects on the heart, but the same is true of Whisky for example or brandy. Alcohol in general (again in moderation) has a stress reducing effect. In the Middle ages wine or beer was served to sick patients, mostly because the water was so bad. The great thing about wine is that no organisms harmful to human health have any chance of surviving in the acid and alcoholic environment. However many modern wine makers have a list of other additives, both legal and illegal, which can have a negative impact on health.On problem I'm still working on is, how come that, when you've been drinking alcohol all night, you wake up the next morning and are still thirsty?????
I'm aware of the facts, but still don't know why I'm not allowed to vote in national elections. Decisions of the government do affect me. In the UK I always found it ironic that any member of a Commonwealth Country or Eire is allowed to vote, but not me as a European national. Modern links surely are closer between the UK and Europe than between the UK and say Kenya. I know I digress from the subject.
I am in the unfortunate position that I have never been allowed to vote in national elections, just because I insist on hanging on to my Dutch passport but have spent all my adult life outside the Netherlands (Germany, Usa, India, UK and now Italy). Why am I not allowed to vote? I am a legal resident here and what the government does has direct implications on my life. This obviously not an Italy specific thing, but highly undemocratic in my view. In the UK I was even a co-founder of a political party (the Green Party of Northern Ireland, which still exists), but could not vote for them. Anyone can give me a good reason why?
Rather than using a translator, we used an English speaking Lawyer. One of her favourite phrases to us begins with: "In Italy there is a law...". As we were buying our piece of agricultural land, the discussion came up that our land might be bought back from us by any neighbour whose main activity is agriculture. So the meeting was adjourned for a week, so our Lawyer could check out the circumstances. But the most amazing thing was that we were sitting in a room and our lawyer, the notaio, the vendor and the estate agent calmly discussing what price to put on the contract for tax-saving purposes. €1000 was finally agreed on to be a reasonable price, but we handed over €11000. We weren't even asked if we wanted to defraud the tax authorities!
We haven't got a lot of trees mind, about 15, and aren't expecting a huge harvest after last year's bumper harvest. However you could stay with our next door neighbours who have a private B&B and are the nicest people you are likely to meet. I'm sure some of the old codgers in the village wouldn't mind a hand with their harvest too. Some are trying to sell their land, because they're just getting to old for this sort of thing. When you say autumn though, harvest with us on the Liguria / Tuscany border starts November at best and gets into full swing December / January. Autumn is the time for grape picking really.
Any party that puts out an election poster with a picture of an American Indian in full feather headgear with the line: "they did not control their immigration, now they live in reservations" is highly dubious to me. Are they suggesting that Italians will soon be living in reservations? Italy is now the country with the lowest birth rate in Europe. Who'll be paying their pensions if their weren't immgrants?And Berlusconi is in league with them, he strikes as more of a clown as 'W' and that's something. You'd expect a reasonably serious statesman from one of the main players in Europe.
I'm not very technical either, I don't even know what skype is, but as for the set up it goes trough a regular phone line which they apparently rent off Telecom. How they manage to be cheaper than Telecom beats me, but there you are.
Comments posted
Hi Antonietta,Just to add my mustard... We've lived in the La Spezia area for for 5 years, 1/2 hour from the 5Terre, which we avoid during the summer. We love it here, neighbours have been extremely kind and helpful, however we live well below the poverty line. We left Surrey because of long working hours and high living costs. Here we work a plot of land to supply us with basic foods and srape by with a bit of English teaching (my wife), and organising some wine tastings for tourists http://users3.jabry.com/tuscanytipple/. However, another reason for our move was psychological problems of my wife, due to brain damage sustained from an accident. The lifestyle here, no pressure and plenty of physical excersise, helps her, the only drawback is that, also as a result of her illness, she can't learn Italian and therefore not find the correct medical help for her condition either. But talking about health, the national health service here is considerably from what we were used to in the UK!If you want to know anymore about our life here, check out my blog: http://pathtoselfsufficiency.blogspot.com/Good Luck
There is a lot of rubbish written about the benfits of wine. I have a large folder and a few books on the subject. The consensus these days is, that wine, both red and white in moderation is beneficial, as are other alcoholic drinks to a greater or lesser extend. Now moderation is a term that can be bent in all sorts of direction. For a start women can generally take in less with harmful side effects than men. Sorry girls, fact of life. It's to do with a greater proportion of body fat storing the alcohol. The body also takes in alcohol at different rates, depending on how you inbibe and when and with what. It is generally true that alcohol taken in with food is absorbed more slowly into the body. Hence the practice of binge drinking in the UK is worse than drinking a similar amount over a long extended Italian meal with numerous courses.There is some evidence that red wine (a glass or 2 a day!) has beneficial effects on the heart, but the same is true of Whisky for example or brandy. Alcohol in general (again in moderation) has a stress reducing effect. In the Middle ages wine or beer was served to sick patients, mostly because the water was so bad. The great thing about wine is that no organisms harmful to human health have any chance of surviving in the acid and alcoholic environment. However many modern wine makers have a list of other additives, both legal and illegal, which can have a negative impact on health.On problem I'm still working on is, how come that, when you've been drinking alcohol all night, you wake up the next morning and are still thirsty?????
I'm aware of the facts, but still don't know why I'm not allowed to vote in national elections. Decisions of the government do affect me. In the UK I always found it ironic that any member of a Commonwealth Country or Eire is allowed to vote, but not me as a European national. Modern links surely are closer between the UK and Europe than between the UK and say Kenya. I know I digress from the subject.
I am in the unfortunate position that I have never been allowed to vote in national elections, just because I insist on hanging on to my Dutch passport but have spent all my adult life outside the Netherlands (Germany, Usa, India, UK and now Italy). Why am I not allowed to vote? I am a legal resident here and what the government does has direct implications on my life. This obviously not an Italy specific thing, but highly undemocratic in my view. In the UK I was even a co-founder of a political party (the Green Party of Northern Ireland, which still exists), but could not vote for them. Anyone can give me a good reason why?
Rather than using a translator, we used an English speaking Lawyer. One of her favourite phrases to us begins with: "In Italy there is a law...". As we were buying our piece of agricultural land, the discussion came up that our land might be bought back from us by any neighbour whose main activity is agriculture. So the meeting was adjourned for a week, so our Lawyer could check out the circumstances. But the most amazing thing was that we were sitting in a room and our lawyer, the notaio, the vendor and the estate agent calmly discussing what price to put on the contract for tax-saving purposes. €1000 was finally agreed on to be a reasonable price, but we handed over €11000. We weren't even asked if we wanted to defraud the tax authorities!
BRAVO!
I'll send you a pm
We haven't got a lot of trees mind, about 15, and aren't expecting a huge harvest after last year's bumper harvest. However you could stay with our next door neighbours who have a private B&B and are the nicest people you are likely to meet. I'm sure some of the old codgers in the village wouldn't mind a hand with their harvest too. Some are trying to sell their land, because they're just getting to old for this sort of thing. When you say autumn though, harvest with us on the Liguria / Tuscany border starts November at best and gets into full swing December / January. Autumn is the time for grape picking really.
Any party that puts out an election poster with a picture of an American Indian in full feather headgear with the line: "they did not control their immigration, now they live in reservations" is highly dubious to me. Are they suggesting that Italians will soon be living in reservations? Italy is now the country with the lowest birth rate in Europe. Who'll be paying their pensions if their weren't immgrants?And Berlusconi is in league with them, he strikes as more of a clown as 'W' and that's something. You'd expect a reasonably serious statesman from one of the main players in Europe.
I'm not very technical either, I don't even know what skype is, but as for the set up it goes trough a regular phone line which they apparently rent off Telecom. How they manage to be cheaper than Telecom beats me, but there you are.