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A 59-year-old linguist and teacher from Cardiff, Wales, UK describes her life in Sicily.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'Daily Life'
OUT AND ABOUT AT CHRISTMAS
I hope you all like the new header because it took me from 5pm till midnight to get it on as it just wouldn't centre! In the end I had to crop it in order to increase the width but you can see the whole effect above. It is, of course, a light project...
WHEN IT PAYS TO HAVE 2 HAIRDRESSERS
When I got to Raffaele's at about 1.15 pm today the trouble was not so much the number of people waiting - there were about six of us - but what the women already being "done" were having done! Saturdays seem to bring out the luscious long locks brig...
DAILY DOINGS - 26
A day off today for the Immacolata and it's been nice just to be at home and relax. Now it's beginning to seem like Christmas, though I don't think there's much seasonal cheer at the Water Office, as the service is "sospeso" yet again. So once again ...
SATURDAY SURPRISE
It's always nice to have a freebie, especially when you are not expecting it. So I was pleased when the greengrocer threw in this generous bunch of parsley yesterday. ...
A WORKING LUNCH
Cathy and I had a working lunch at the Bar Follie a Vista today, choosing from their superb tavola calda. I can tell you that the pasticcio with ricotta, spinach and ham in the right foreground of the second photo was as light as air and delicious. I...
TWO OF LIFE\'S SMALL PLEASURES
It's the citrus fruit season in Sicily and I never tire of marvelling at the freshness of the fruit available or at being able to buy it with the leaves still attached:Last night, as Simi and I were coming home from our walk, Orazio the hairdresser c...
WHAT THE ELLE...?
I'm not usually one to rant about environmental issues but that's what I'm going to do tonight. The November edition of Elle Italia has excelled itself with all this packagingin order to give you this:What the elle do they think they're doing?...
MY BED!
'Morning, folks. Simi here!If my mummy gets new bedding with her supermarket points, it's my job to try it out, right? It's MY bed, after all, though at night I let mummy sleep in it. I must say sometimes a dog can't find room on her own bed at all t...
LUNCH FOR A WORKING GIRL
Lunch out with Gina yesterday to celebrate the publication of some of my articles in Italy Magazine.It's a while since I visited the Caffè Consorzio and I was pleased to find the cooking better than ever. We both orderedfresh taglioni with cherry to...
ANTS IN HIS PANTS
You could be forgiven, reader, for assuming that I am obsessed by male underwear, but I couldn't resist snapping these when I saw them in a shop window yesterday:...
AUTUMN ABUNDANCE
This morning I espied these lovely black grapes on sale for 3 euros a crateand this mound of chestnuts:This evening, as I strolled back from work, more chestnuts had been brought in and were being roasted: The young man's assistant pops them in a pap...
NAUGHTY, NUTTY AND NICE
A cornetto with crema di pistacchio dispels the Monday morning blues....
COSE BLU - 2
Rowena had the idea of taking the "blue" meme a stage further by photographing blue objects outdoors. Here's what I came up with on my way to work today:Blue October sky.Blue water tank on top of house. [I wonder how often they have to call for the w...
YOU KNOW YOU\'RE GETTING OLD WHEN....
.... you take your high-SPF-factor lipsalve back to the chemist's because you can't twist it up, lipstick-style. You ask,"Please can you tell me how it works?"The chemist replies,"By taking the seal off."...
SOAP, NO WATER AND PAINS IN THE NECK
Autumn has come very suddenly to Sicily and as I write there is sheet lightning in the Scicli direction. We have now had two days of nasty storms and late last night there were some quite terrifying thunderclaps.Everybody seems to be feeling low and ...
AUGURI AGLI SPOSI!
Raffaele's assistant AnnaMaria is getting married tomorrow. "Si sposa, poverina" ["She's getting married, poor thing"] joked her colleague as I entered the salon this morning. Non-alcoholic cocktails were on offer to celebrate the occasion and very g...
MARE DI SETTEMBRE
To the sea with Irma today. It was much quieter down there than it was a couple of weeks ago although it is still hot. [Sicilians, and Italians in general, like to do things during what they deem the proper "season".] The sea, which was completely bl...
POLL RESULTS - WHAT WAKES YOU UP?
Many thanks to all who voted and / or left comments. The results are these:No takers for passion or breakfast. Alarm / radio - 11, coffee / tea - 5, noise - 5, a pet - 7.In the comments birdsong and light were mentioned, as was force of habit. [I'll ...
LURCIO
The postman, who comes round for English lessons on Monday evenings, spotted it first: "C'è uno scorpione!" he cried as he bounded up the stairs and into the flat. Now, anything spider-like scares me but I bravely took a closer look [with the postma...
SILLY WEEK: CREAM TANGERINE AND MONTELIMAR
I was sitting in the Altro Posto this morning, half reading the paper and half musing upon the fact that what Silly Week needed from this blog was a "Marcello" post, when a familiar voice from the terrace called,"Buongiorno. The sun is up, the sky is...
SILLY WEEK: DRAGON FOOTWEAR
I wonder what sort of shoes dragons wear....
DAILY DOINGS - 23
The water service, I am pleased to relate, appears to be functioning after weeks of being sospeso and the delivery lorries have been darting up and down narrow streets and in and out of queues of cars like vespa scooters in their hurry to get around ...
UPDATE
Yes, I'm still here! I didn't get around to posting yesterday because I spent the whole day trying to upload the video of the second TV interview about the poetry book onto youtube.When I was first given the video file [on a memory stick] I couldn't...
ONLY IN SICILY
This chair has been tied to a lamppost on the pavement of a main road for ages. I'll leave you all to draw your own conclusions, cari lettori....
DAILY DOINGS - 22
"Patriuccia! Patri-uuuuuu-ccia! Sono io! " [It’s me!] sang a woman’s voice over the intercom earlier this evening. [ Sicilians are fond of the – uccio / a suffix as as term of affection. ] It was, of course, Lucia, who had arrived bearing yet a...
A SURPRISE FROM "LOST"
I am delighted to have recieved an award from the always interesting Lost in Sicilia. In order to confirm it, I have to write 10 honest things about myself. Hmmm - what can I tell you that I haven't revealed before?1. Unlike Lost, I'm very much an ...
MOUNTAINGIRL'S PHOTO CHALLENGE - FENCE
It's Friday and time for my friend mountaingirl's Photo Challenge. This week's theme is "fence".This is the Altro Posto's fence, alongside which I have sat many times, sipping a drink or enjoying lunch in the sun:As I've mentioned before, I live in ...
TICKET TO RIDE
myspace glittersI saw Marcello this morning. Very early, I had stopped off at the Edicolè bar for a coffee on my way to meet Rosa at the market and there was Marcello, buying a paper. For newer readers, Marcello is a friend who insists on speaking...
AND THE WATER SAGA CONTINUES....
It just had to happen in the July heat, didn't it? Yesterday afternoon the condominio's water supply ran out yet again, and when I phoned our water lorry driver [a gruff but kindly man] he said that the earliest time he could deliver would be this mo...
ICE CREAM OF THE WEEK
Well, I thought I'd order one that would coordinate with the tablecloth today.... Only kidding - it just turned out that way with this melon and banana gelato at Bar Scivoletto, which has a pleasant garden to sit in:...
