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.
You could try www.mondoffice.com we have used them in the past, value for money varies from item to item, but orders are generally delivered by courier within 48 hours. Make sure you look at their 'gift' page! If orders reach a certain amount you can often claim a free gift, quality varies but we have been very lucky in the past! Here is a link to one of their 'contenitori' pages but there may be others http://www.mondoffice.com/magazzino/arredo-magazzino/contenitori-multiuso
Have never heard of them - perhaps I am just too cynical but having had, an admittedly very quick, look at their site, I would be reluctant to trust any company that does provide named contacts and 'proper' means of contact ie address and phone number. I am always suspicious when the only contact provided is via the website. Where are they based? Who are they? How relevantly qualified are they? etc etc, looking quickly I could not find these answers.
Having worked in Italian hospitals I would fully concur with the above. The only time I would consider suggesting a translation of medical notes is if you suffered from some particularly rare or complex medical condition, in which case I would question the sense of moving away from the specialist treatment you would require and into a competely different health service. Fillide is absolutely corrrect. All medical journals of international reputation are in English and as the cost of translating from English into Italian the more reknowned and weighty medical tomes would be extortionate for such a limited market, it simply does not happen, therefore most of the Drs, certainly at registrar and consultant level, do speak (but not until pushed!) and understand a high standard of medical English. I would however take a copy of any prescriptions and any patient information leaflet provided with the medicine itself to provide the Dr with the generic drug name and of course dosage. Whilst the brand name will probably be different, the generic drug name will be the same. Good luck with the move.
Can but try writing again but I'm afraid we have little hope of it getting anywhere, even with the threat of a lawyer. Previous letters sent recorded delivery have been scanned, along with proof of receipt and a copy of the envelope, into the 'correspondence' section of our account, but then nothing. Knowing how costly it is, and how slowly the Italian legal system moves, I'm not sure the threat of a lawyer will have much impact, but we may yet be surprised! thanks anyway.
We had wanted to do something similar but were told by our geometra that it was now illegal to buy old railway sleepers as they had been treated with some substance now deemed to be carcinogenic and as such all old ones were being removed from the tracks and and replaced with concrete. Apparently they are meant to be destroyed. New or untreated ones were not available as there was no longer a requirement. Having said that, a local restaurant used old sleepers to edge their extended car park, when we queried it we were told a relative had worked for the railways and had 'obtained' them before the ban! To build retaining walls you can get those concrete blocks in various styles and colours, which interlock and into which smallish plants can be planted, although not especially attractive at first, if planted with trailing plants they do look ok once the plants are established.
In many dictionaries they list both 'porcospino' and 'istrice' as the translation for porcupine with 'riccio' being a hedgehog. Outside the dictionary we never came across 'porcospino', to our neighbours and friends a porcupine was always an istrice and a hedgehog always a riccio - as in the all the childrens' schoolbooks, when both were common features especially when the exercise was to break the word down into syllables! As Maninmarche queried the possibility of their charging I assumed he was referring to a porcupine rather than a hedgehog!
Some favourites of ours are : La Vita E Bella, Cinema Paradiso, Ladri di Biciclette, La Dolce Vita and Mediterraneo. I am sure there are plenty of others but these are the ones that instantly come to mind.
Comments posted
http://www.italymag.co.uk/community/post/going-indian whilst not quite Macerata, at least the recomedation is in Le Marche!
You could try www.mondoffice.com we have used them in the past, value for money varies from item to item, but orders are generally delivered by courier within 48 hours. Make sure you look at their 'gift' page! If orders reach a certain amount you can often claim a free gift, quality varies but we have been very lucky in the past! Here is a link to one of their 'contenitori' pages but there may be others http://www.mondoffice.com/magazzino/arredo-magazzino/contenitori-multiuso
Oops, apologies - was trying to be too quick and only clicked on one of the 'contact' links!
Have never heard of them - perhaps I am just too cynical but having had, an admittedly very quick, look at their site, I would be reluctant to trust any company that does provide named contacts and 'proper' means of contact ie address and phone number. I am always suspicious when the only contact provided is via the website. Where are they based? Who are they? How relevantly qualified are they? etc etc, looking quickly I could not find these answers.
Yes it is true, unlike this (check the release date!) http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/child-free-flights-from-october-2011 The £2 levy per passenger is in effect their insurance to cover losses incurred by R'air when having to pay compensation under the EU directive for delayed or cancelled flights, in which they had no control, apparently they often paid more in compensation than were receiving in fares! It took effect from 4th April. http://www.ryanair.com/en/news/ryanair-to-introduce-eu261-compensation-levy-of-2-euro At least they have not introduced fuel surcharges, yet, unlike BA et al!
Having worked in Italian hospitals I would fully concur with the above. The only time I would consider suggesting a translation of medical notes is if you suffered from some particularly rare or complex medical condition, in which case I would question the sense of moving away from the specialist treatment you would require and into a competely different health service. Fillide is absolutely corrrect. All medical journals of international reputation are in English and as the cost of translating from English into Italian the more reknowned and weighty medical tomes would be extortionate for such a limited market, it simply does not happen, therefore most of the Drs, certainly at registrar and consultant level, do speak (but not until pushed!) and understand a high standard of medical English. I would however take a copy of any prescriptions and any patient information leaflet provided with the medicine itself to provide the Dr with the generic drug name and of course dosage. Whilst the brand name will probably be different, the generic drug name will be the same. Good luck with the move.
Can but try writing again but I'm afraid we have little hope of it getting anywhere, even with the threat of a lawyer. Previous letters sent recorded delivery have been scanned, along with proof of receipt and a copy of the envelope, into the 'correspondence' section of our account, but then nothing. Knowing how costly it is, and how slowly the Italian legal system moves, I'm not sure the threat of a lawyer will have much impact, but we may yet be surprised! thanks anyway.
We had wanted to do something similar but were told by our geometra that it was now illegal to buy old railway sleepers as they had been treated with some substance now deemed to be carcinogenic and as such all old ones were being removed from the tracks and and replaced with concrete. Apparently they are meant to be destroyed. New or untreated ones were not available as there was no longer a requirement. Having said that, a local restaurant used old sleepers to edge their extended car park, when we queried it we were told a relative had worked for the railways and had 'obtained' them before the ban! To build retaining walls you can get those concrete blocks in various styles and colours, which interlock and into which smallish plants can be planted, although not especially attractive at first, if planted with trailing plants they do look ok once the plants are established.
In many dictionaries they list both 'porcospino' and 'istrice' as the translation for porcupine with 'riccio' being a hedgehog. Outside the dictionary we never came across 'porcospino', to our neighbours and friends a porcupine was always an istrice and a hedgehog always a riccio - as in the all the childrens' schoolbooks, when both were common features especially when the exercise was to break the word down into syllables! As Maninmarche queried the possibility of their charging I assumed he was referring to a porcupine rather than a hedgehog!
Some favourites of ours are : La Vita E Bella, Cinema Paradiso, Ladri di Biciclette, La Dolce Vita and Mediterraneo. I am sure there are plenty of others but these are the ones that instantly come to mind.