I Am Off To Italy!

I will see you when I am back.

Don't miss me too much

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy

Having a bad hair day? My Bug List for the week!

• "Drop and go" lane means "DROP AND GO" not get out the car and spend 6 minutes getting junior out of the car, adjusting uniforms, chatting, etc etc then waiting till they are almost in the classroom before driving off. There is parking if you wish!

• When you pay HUGE money for a hairdresser, and his assistant does all the work and only then does he appear, blow dries your hair, and cuts your fringe and makes it wonky so you need to sort it out with nail scissors at home!

• Son 1 who thinks it is OK to be rude to the mama because he gets too much homework - I dare you to talk to your teacher that way my boy!

• My kitten who likes to catch baby birds and torture them! BAD BAD Max!

• The Visa company who tells me I will be collecting my visa and passport AT THE AIRPORT just before I board an international flight - way to get the stress levels up

• My beloved dad who tries to be helpful but does not like to commit to time! It is hard to pick up the kids at 3ish! They (the school, oh and the kids) frown at that!

• Schools who plan things when I am going to be away so makes the planning for the trip more complicated! A field trip, a uniform change and a grade certificate assembly not to mention two grade 4 tests and a book report! EEK Good luck granny!

Is it Wine o'clock yet?

Ciao Baby!

At last a reason to be thankful for the amount of overseas travel that the hubby does! The next trip to Italy includes ME - Thanks to Voyager miles and a birthday. But it leads to the crazies as I need a visa as I am a South African passport holder! So a few calls to my long suffering Travel Agent and throwing myself at her feet while in begging mode I get her to find me a Voyager flight which is like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack! Mel, you are a star!

Now a Schengen Italian visa requires you book and pay for your flight, you need a trillion Euros worth of travel insurance, ALL hotels need to be booked, e-mail confirmation from the hotels is required:

(DEAR SIRS/MADAMS  I AM CONFIRM YOU WITH PLEASURE YOUR BOOKING RESERVATION OF 1 DOUBLE  ROOM FROM  FOR 2 NIGHTS AT THE RATE OF EUROS x PER NIGHT INCLUDED A RICH BUFFET BREAKFAST AND PARKING UNTIL AVAILABILITY.RESERVATION NO IS BEING XYZ IN OUR SYSTEM, RESERVATION IS BEING ABC

WE WAITING TO WELCOMING YOU AS OUR BEST GUEST WE REMAIN FOR THE MOMENT WITH OUR KINDEST REGARDS MARCO)
as well as needing everything bar a blood test and my bra size - THEN you may apply to reserve a place to have your visa reviewed! And I have 24 hours to do it! But at least I will be the best guest - thank you Marco!

I am now an expert on the various cities in Italy that we are visiting, the proximity to landmarks and train stations (Oh yes I have to CARRY my own luggage - *GASP*) Hotels range from the flea pits we can afford, to the luxury we desire and about a bazzion in between - so I put a pin in the computer screen (which is never a good thing for the computer screen) and book us the lower-mid-range-pray-for-no-fleas-and-more-than-a-stodgy-roll-for-breakfast Hotel and pray. But I think HEY it's ITALY is there such a thing as a bad hotel? Dodgy, sure but bad? Anywhere in Italy is going to be wonderful (such an optimist!)

But I do these things along with finding passport photos that vaguely resemble me, to getting out my passport with a photo that is so hideous that I just hope that the immigration staff just think I REALLY need a holiday, to booking hopefully undodgy hotels, to getting a flight to.....the list goes on along with looking after the offspring, having the hubby overseas for the 27000th time this year, having some in-laws arriving and having my two kitties "fixed", baking for a cake sale, booking hair appointments and seeing a dear friend out from the USA - oh yes and having to organise the kids for the time we are away remember, I got the crazies and said to the hubby "Shoe! But this is stressful!!" to which he replied from the comfort of the 5 Star hotel in which ever city he was in at the time "Oh this is supposed to be fun, so relax!" 

I may be speaking to him by the time we board for Turino!

Water water everywhere . . . . .

3 weeks ago:

"Hello, I would like to report a leaking water meter"

"blah blah blah - here is your reference and someone will attend to it within 48 hours"

2 weeks ago:

Ding Dong

"Hello Mrs W, this is your neighbour. Do you know you have a leak coming from your water meter?"

"Hello, I would like to report a leaking water meter"

"blah blah blah - here is your reference and someone will attend to it within 48 hours"

"I have a reference from last week"

"Ah yes I see they came out and repaired it then"

"Well I never did see them and it is still leaking, actually it is pouring out!"

"blah blah blah - take down your reference and someone will attend to it within 48 hours"

1 week ago:

"Hello, I would like to do a follow up report on my leaking water meter"

"According to the reference the plumber came out and they sad it was rain wate

"Well it must still be raining as it is still pouring out"

"blah blah blah - here is your reference and someone will attend to it within 48 hours. Can we confirm it is number 22?"

"No we are number 27!"

"Aahh well they have fixed number 22's water meter"

"There is no number 22 in our road!"

"blah blah blah - here is your reference and someone will attend to it within 48 hours"

Saturday night - 8pm

Ding Dong

"Who is it?"

"It's the Plumber - we have come to fix the pipes"

After the job was completed it was great to hear these words

"The water leading into your house has been contaminated by dirty groundwater and it is technically not fit for domestic consumption!"

FABULOUS!