MarkRD

He'll be at the Internazionale conference weekend in Ferrara next month so I'm going to try and speak to him and give him a damn good talking to!

HADENOUGHPIZZA

So when we've been here 30 years we'll feel like foreigners in the UK and Italy ? We'll need a whole new section of the forum for '' OLD EXPATS '' where we can moan about how things used to be !

HADENOUGHPIZZA

He needs friends .. get him to join the Forum so we can all insult him .. ooops maybe he's already a member ?

Domino

same here Lorna ! !
many of our "pedestrian crossings" are invisible being covered in dirt, melted road and melted tyres.
and the vast majority don't have a warning sign Xmetres before hand, infact they don't have any sign even at the crossing.

and many drivers will drive behind you whilst still walking on the crossing.

MarkRD

Actually there is something in that ... when I left the UK, Thatcher was in full swing, Top Gun was the biggest film and I used to have to queue up athe SIP to make phone calls home, plenty of gettoni on hand ...


..ononno?

PAT M

I have lived in Italy on and off (mostly off) for 41 years, personally I don't understand how anyone could or would want to become italianizzato, to me personally, it would feel like a betrayal of my roots. One of my sons lives here and his mentality is very Italian, the other two live in London and Belgium. Getting into his car my "Italian" son told me not to bother wearing my seat belt in town, what's the point, he said. The "English" son looked at him askance and said "are you mad?". Town or not, I'd prefer not to plaster my face to your windscreen thanks was my reply.

duffer

Don't be silly Pat, the windscreen is there to help you. If it weren't you'd go flying out of the car and ruin your barnet.

ononno

Well, I could almost mirror Pat M's post. I've been here on and off (mainly on) since 1961. I have 1 son born in UK, but came here when he was 6 months, now lives in Ireland and has Italian, GB, and Eire passports. He's very British. Two sons born in Italy, have GB passports, but are very 'Italian'. Personally I remain, and proudly so, 'British' and an ardent supporter of all that is GB. Over the years I travelled frequently to the UK both for business and pleasure. I had the good fortune to get to know London very well; because that's where most of my business contacts took place; and then when VFR it was Yorkshire Dales, Lake district, North Wales, and Galway. Of course I have seen dramatic changes both there and here. For various reasons travelling is less of an option these days. I feel quite at home at either end in any case. However, sometimes one does suffer waves of nostalgia; exactly for what hard to say. Just been watching a programme called 'Wartime farm' and that really brought back my childhood and teenage years.
ciao for now,
'o nonno

MarkRD

I suppose the up-side to is is that you can feel 'comfortable' in both places.

In fact the downer comes when you feel like a 'foreigner' in either place.

It's complicated.

PAT M

Pecora Nera

Pleeeeeeaaaasssseeee send me a link to the blog

HADENOUGHPIZZA

MarkRD

Pecora. http://www.internazionale.it/opinioni/lee-marshall/

he writes for Internazionale but I don't know if he has his own blog (in English..) I see he does quite a bit of travel writing too.
http://www.travelintelligence.com/tr...s/lee-marshall

"He went there (Rome) straight from Cambridge to avoid getting a serious job; the avoidance continues to this day."

HADENOUGHPIZZA

well I can't be easy for him , constantly travelling about to rate luxury hotels , trying out new eateries , keeping up the banter must be exhausting . I guess it all depends on what you consider a serious job ...

MarkRD

Well you know these Cambridge types . ."serious" job means civil servant, research fellow, something at some ministry ... No chance of any of those in Rome I suppose.