If like me, one of the few things you miss in Italy is a decent department store, in particular John Lewis, you may be interested to know that they now offer international delivery for £7-50.
Does anyone have a phone number for Telecom Italia that can be used from UK? We started trying to cancel our landline/ADSL contract with them last October - following their instructions to the letter.
After 10 years in Italy, the last 7 of which have been in Le Marche (Macerata province) for family reasons we now have to return to UK for at least a year.
were sold, along with many other herbs, in our local Italian supermarket. I think I have also seen them for sale in LIDL. They were on a stand, mixed up with flower and vegetable seeds so could easily be overlooked.
We scrapped a UK reg car in Italy about 4 or 5 years ago, so assuming it is still the same process, it should be pretty straightforward. It was such a simple process we kept feeling we must have missed something, but no, it all worked out and was quite painless. The scrap dealer will do all the official paperwork for you and provide you with copies to send back to DVLA. If I remember rightly we had to show him the DVLA paperwork to prove ownership, he then did the necessary form filling, proof of identity etc and that was it. There was a fee, but not much. Maybe be worth checking with DVLA as to what docs they require before you do the deed, just in case things have changed.
Here is the link to the ryanair site - looks like there are cancellations especially on the 23rd - there are links to the lists of flights affected, hopefully not yours! http://www.ryanair.com/en/notices/gops/100921-FRENCH-ATC_23SEP-ENG-GB If you are not flying R'air, presumably other airlines have something similar on their sites.
We were told that before the passport can be issued there has to be a confirmatory blood test 6 months after the actual vaccination, we did not have 6 months. We are now living in a matchbox of an appartment completely unsuitable for a dog and are due to move to the Far East within a year. It was therefore felt that the kindest thing for the dog would be to find a new home locally to us in Italy - which we thought we had done! (Perhaps I should add for clarity that when we first had the dog and he received the usual jabs, rabies was not included as the vet advised against it as there is no rabies in the area. At that stage we had no intention of returning to UK, so we agreed. As he has never received the rabies jab he is not covered and would have to start from scratch. So, my tip to any British dog owners in Italy - make sure your dog is vaccinated against rabies so that if the unexpected occurs and you do have to suddenly return to UK, taking the dog with you remains an option.)
Hello again! We are now, sadly, back in the UK, but unfortunately the problem is ongoing. We thought we had found someone to adopt the dog, via a friend of a friend, but for some completely inexplicable reason the lady who took him thought it was to be for 3 months max. As we will probably have to relocate yet again to the Far East in a years time we really do need someone to adopt him on a permanent basis. So if you know of anyone looking to adopt a lovely friendly dog please let them know about him and get in touch. Very many thanks.
Has anyone else in Marche been bothered by an invasion of midge type insects with a vicious nip? Fortunately we have not been too badly affected, at 500m perhaps we are too high, but lower houses have been plagued to the point it is not at all pleasant to sit out in an evening! They are tiny midge like things, silent but violent leaving a large red wheal and very itchy. Everyone keeps saying they are a new phenomenon! Our Italian friends have been using that coloured alcohol cleaner available in supermarkets to treat the bites - apparently it stops the itch.
Would entirely agree with Alan - we have lived in Italy for 10 years, 2 adults, 2 children and have never had more than a 3kw supply and have NEVER had a problem. Sure, we cannot put on washing machines etc if the oven is on, but you soon learn to work around it and you survive! The children have grown up knowing that they have to switch things off when not in use, but is that really such a bad lesson to learn? We have never had a problem with hair driers or kettles as we consider when we use them, and to be honest, in the height of summer, no- one wants to use a hair drier anyway! To be fair, we do not have under floor heating or a swimming pool and we do not have 'paying guests' - if we did we might have to review the situation, but for a normal family, 3kw is fine for us, just as it is for the vast majority of Italian families!
To give another comparison - on July 13th we transferred £8500 (approx) ie it was €10,000 that arrived in our Italian bank account via HIFX so no fees and the rate was 1.1737 HIFX always used to say they would refund any bank charges (from receiving end) if the transferred amount was below €12000, not sure if this continues and we never put it to the test
To find out the last missed call it used to be 400 but is now 42400. 42405 (previously 405) will give you the numbers for the last 5 missed calls. There is a charge for both services - I suspect full details will be on www.187.it, the telecom site.
No personal experience but they do certainly exist albeit on a fairly minor scale - in our bank (Banca delle Marche) they always have a list of available properties for sale at auction with all relevant details, ie auction date, who to contact etc. They tend to be repossessions and instances where someone has died without known heirs - according to our local bank manager, good for buyers, not for sellers. Not sure how you would find out about one, other than through a bank, but perhaps they are advertised in the local press - have never looked so don't know. If you are looking to buy, you may be lucky but if looking to sell I gather the traditional 'agent' route is much better.
Comments posted
were sold, along with many other herbs, in our local Italian supermarket. I think I have also seen them for sale in LIDL. They were on a stand, mixed up with flower and vegetable seeds so could easily be overlooked.
We scrapped a UK reg car in Italy about 4 or 5 years ago, so assuming it is still the same process, it should be pretty straightforward. It was such a simple process we kept feeling we must have missed something, but no, it all worked out and was quite painless. The scrap dealer will do all the official paperwork for you and provide you with copies to send back to DVLA. If I remember rightly we had to show him the DVLA paperwork to prove ownership, he then did the necessary form filling, proof of identity etc and that was it. There was a fee, but not much. Maybe be worth checking with DVLA as to what docs they require before you do the deed, just in case things have changed.
Here is the link to the ryanair site - looks like there are cancellations especially on the 23rd - there are links to the lists of flights affected, hopefully not yours! http://www.ryanair.com/en/notices/gops/100921-FRENCH-ATC_23SEP-ENG-GB If you are not flying R'air, presumably other airlines have something similar on their sites.
We were told that before the passport can be issued there has to be a confirmatory blood test 6 months after the actual vaccination, we did not have 6 months. We are now living in a matchbox of an appartment completely unsuitable for a dog and are due to move to the Far East within a year. It was therefore felt that the kindest thing for the dog would be to find a new home locally to us in Italy - which we thought we had done! (Perhaps I should add for clarity that when we first had the dog and he received the usual jabs, rabies was not included as the vet advised against it as there is no rabies in the area. At that stage we had no intention of returning to UK, so we agreed. As he has never received the rabies jab he is not covered and would have to start from scratch. So, my tip to any British dog owners in Italy - make sure your dog is vaccinated against rabies so that if the unexpected occurs and you do have to suddenly return to UK, taking the dog with you remains an option.)
Hello again! We are now, sadly, back in the UK, but unfortunately the problem is ongoing. We thought we had found someone to adopt the dog, via a friend of a friend, but for some completely inexplicable reason the lady who took him thought it was to be for 3 months max. As we will probably have to relocate yet again to the Far East in a years time we really do need someone to adopt him on a permanent basis. So if you know of anyone looking to adopt a lovely friendly dog please let them know about him and get in touch. Very many thanks.
Has anyone else in Marche been bothered by an invasion of midge type insects with a vicious nip? Fortunately we have not been too badly affected, at 500m perhaps we are too high, but lower houses have been plagued to the point it is not at all pleasant to sit out in an evening! They are tiny midge like things, silent but violent leaving a large red wheal and very itchy. Everyone keeps saying they are a new phenomenon! Our Italian friends have been using that coloured alcohol cleaner available in supermarkets to treat the bites - apparently it stops the itch.
Would entirely agree with Alan - we have lived in Italy for 10 years, 2 adults, 2 children and have never had more than a 3kw supply and have NEVER had a problem. Sure, we cannot put on washing machines etc if the oven is on, but you soon learn to work around it and you survive! The children have grown up knowing that they have to switch things off when not in use, but is that really such a bad lesson to learn? We have never had a problem with hair driers or kettles as we consider when we use them, and to be honest, in the height of summer, no- one wants to use a hair drier anyway! To be fair, we do not have under floor heating or a swimming pool and we do not have 'paying guests' - if we did we might have to review the situation, but for a normal family, 3kw is fine for us, just as it is for the vast majority of Italian families!
To give another comparison - on July 13th we transferred £8500 (approx) ie it was €10,000 that arrived in our Italian bank account via HIFX so no fees and the rate was 1.1737 HIFX always used to say they would refund any bank charges (from receiving end) if the transferred amount was below €12000, not sure if this continues and we never put it to the test
To find out the last missed call it used to be 400 but is now 42400. 42405 (previously 405) will give you the numbers for the last 5 missed calls. There is a charge for both services - I suspect full details will be on www.187.it, the telecom site.
No personal experience but they do certainly exist albeit on a fairly minor scale - in our bank (Banca delle Marche) they always have a list of available properties for sale at auction with all relevant details, ie auction date, who to contact etc. They tend to be repossessions and instances where someone has died without known heirs - according to our local bank manager, good for buyers, not for sellers. Not sure how you would find out about one, other than through a bank, but perhaps they are advertised in the local press - have never looked so don't know. If you are looking to buy, you may be lucky but if looking to sell I gather the traditional 'agent' route is much better.