I travelled via Belgium last week and decided to stay overnight at Dinant, where I have stayed previously and found to be marginally less bad than most towns in Belgium.To anyone contemplating a similar stop - don't.The whole of the town is being
At La Dolce Vita exhibition at Olympia this year I bought a jar of garlic cloves preserved in a pizzaiola type oil and vinegar mixture.It is just amazing for snacking, the whole cloves are really crunchy with a fairly mild flavour of the garlic an
I need to buy a tyre for my car. I googled all the usual words but came up with nothing. Back in UK I would simply go to Kwikfit, or ATS etc and it would be done on the spot.
Does anybody have a contact for a sun blind maker?Think of a conventional, rather old-fashioned roller blind with the roller fixed at the top of the window and the blind hanging vertically down.
I'm glad to see so much support for Ryanair instead of the usual carping from people with unrealistic expectations. What has not been very widely publicised is that Ryan runs the most modern fleet in the air, so when Raggio saysa little comfort is what I look for in air travel and they don’t provide it!it simply isn't true, just misplaced prejudice.Having said which, if it was my business I would want to tidy up my public relations, as it's clear they get up people's noses with the way they put across their pricing policies.
Because of this thread I specifically asked Saga about their rules for keeping the car here. The people I spoke to had not heard of any such problem so i went ahead with them on the basis that keeping the car here was not an issue. If push came to shove the conversation recording has the details, and they really do keep the recordings as part of the contract.We are not yet resident (but will be soon) and the car is on UK plates. I asked what happens if we become residents and they said no problem, so long as I still have a residence in UK.FWIW
Agreed MichaelM.I have specifically asked my neighbours what they think of Berlusconi and mostly their immediate reaction is to say "he's not ALL bad you know" as if they assume everyone thinks he is.I think the world's media give him a hard time therefore those gullible enough to take ANY notice of the world's media are convinced about him, without necessarily bothering to consider many of the facts.For me the success or otherwise of any political system (and its individuals) lies in the resulting quality of life for the majority of the people who live there, regardless of the predictable rantings of the popular press and its so-called "liberal" readership.
My understanding is the opposite - that any EU citizen can buy a new car in Italy (if you can find someone to sell you one), but not a second-hand one.I wanted a left hand drive car but on UK plates. UK dealers were not interested, quoting 6 months delivery, so I got one from Belgium & had it imported to UK. That worked really well.
For my residency application they want everything translated and Apostille - which the British Consul in Milano told me had to be done by the FCO in London. The lady dealing with my application showed me on a listing that this was absolutely required, until her equivalent in the neighbouring comune (who was helping with some translation) said a Consular Declaration will be OK. So my lady has now agreed and we can do it in Milano, while we wait, and at much lower cost.It really does seem like you need to show up and argue the toss, and that nothing is necessarily cast in stone.
I worry when I hear calls for "progress" when what they really mean is "progressing towards UK and US social values".Having lived here for just a year and a half, all I can say is that howsoever Italy became the place it is, whoever made it so is not doing a bad job. May it long continue, and maybe those who advocate major change should adopt the USA's favourite bumper sticker message "love it or leave it".Just my opinion, but then I firmly believe everyone is entitled to my opinion TK
Carl, I would go for your 30,000 option but it's only a guess.I would suggest you try to do a budget by listing out every item you spend on, then putting a figure against it. It doesn't matter how accurate the initial figures are, as you can refine them one by one as you get more information.If you ask on here for specifics rather than an overall figure, I'm sure you will get responses which home in on good average figures.
I'm going to do the Austrian route one of these times, just to ring the changes, but my one experience of the Brenner Pass was a nightmare. It was some time ago and probably in August but it was an absolute crawl. I guess in October it will be easier, but does anyone have any tips as to what day of the week, time etc to travel to miss the heaviest of the traffic, or can give me some idea of what conditions are likely to be?Terry
Comments posted
I'm glad to see so much support for Ryanair instead of the usual carping from people with unrealistic expectations. What has not been very widely publicised is that Ryan runs the most modern fleet in the air, so when Raggio saysa little comfort is what I look for in air travel and they don’t provide it!it simply isn't true, just misplaced prejudice.Having said which, if it was my business I would want to tidy up my public relations, as it's clear they get up people's noses with the way they put across their pricing policies.
Because of this thread I specifically asked Saga about their rules for keeping the car here. The people I spoke to had not heard of any such problem so i went ahead with them on the basis that keeping the car here was not an issue. If push came to shove the conversation recording has the details, and they really do keep the recordings as part of the contract.We are not yet resident (but will be soon) and the car is on UK plates. I asked what happens if we become residents and they said no problem, so long as I still have a residence in UK.FWIW
Agreed MichaelM.I have specifically asked my neighbours what they think of Berlusconi and mostly their immediate reaction is to say "he's not ALL bad you know" as if they assume everyone thinks he is.I think the world's media give him a hard time therefore those gullible enough to take ANY notice of the world's media are convinced about him, without necessarily bothering to consider many of the facts.For me the success or otherwise of any political system (and its individuals) lies in the resulting quality of life for the majority of the people who live there, regardless of the predictable rantings of the popular press and its so-called "liberal" readership.
My understanding is the opposite - that any EU citizen can buy a new car in Italy (if you can find someone to sell you one), but not a second-hand one.I wanted a left hand drive car but on UK plates. UK dealers were not interested, quoting 6 months delivery, so I got one from Belgium & had it imported to UK. That worked really well.
For my residency application they want everything translated and Apostille - which the British Consul in Milano told me had to be done by the FCO in London. The lady dealing with my application showed me on a listing that this was absolutely required, until her equivalent in the neighbouring comune (who was helping with some translation) said a Consular Declaration will be OK. So my lady has now agreed and we can do it in Milano, while we wait, and at much lower cost.It really does seem like you need to show up and argue the toss, and that nothing is necessarily cast in stone.
I worry when I hear calls for "progress" when what they really mean is "progressing towards UK and US social values".Having lived here for just a year and a half, all I can say is that howsoever Italy became the place it is, whoever made it so is not doing a bad job. May it long continue, and maybe those who advocate major change should adopt the USA's favourite bumper sticker message "love it or leave it".Just my opinion, but then I firmly believe everyone is entitled to my opinion
TK
......to respond to this little gem?
Carl, I would go for your 30,000 option but it's only a guess.I would suggest you try to do a budget by listing out every item you spend on, then putting a figure against it. It doesn't matter how accurate the initial figures are, as you can refine them one by one as you get more information.If you ask on here for specifics rather than an overall figure, I'm sure you will get responses which home in on good average figures.
So are you saying it's always bad on the motorway?
I'm going to do the Austrian route one of these times, just to ring the changes, but my one experience of the Brenner Pass was a nightmare. It was some time ago and probably in August but it was an absolute crawl. I guess in October it will be easier, but does anyone have any tips as to what day of the week, time etc to travel to miss the heaviest of the traffic, or can give me some idea of what conditions are likely to be?Terry