My Friday the 13th....

I stupidly boasted that as I lived in Italy I had no problems. You see 13 is a luck number here... and this is what I posted on that fact last week....

Aaaah BUT........... In Italy 13 is LUCKY - Friday is the START OF THE WEEKEND So what's to worry about? NIENTE - ZILCH - NADA

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_oM9iUApKU] >CLICK HERE<[/url]



But then Friday the 13th actually dawned - and how I wished I'd kept my mouth 'zipped' !

What a waste of time my belief in 'Lucky Friday 13th' turned out to be...

Jeez - I'd barely posted my light hearted attempt to change everyone's idea of bad luck when 'I' got 'zapped' - probably by an irate witch
Well having posted that on the forum, I had a caffe latte and prepared to go out - having several urgent errands I HAD to do before the weekend. One of which was to restock the larder...
Yeah, right! NO, WRONG!

Gather up all I need - exit and lock house, Open car - get in, put mobile phone in 'hands free' holder, turn the key..... BLO*DY ZILCH!
Not.... a.... peep, just that nasty uurgh-uuurgh you get when the battery refuses to turn the engine. HTG - I got out, and had I been able to, I would have kicked the thing, but with my luck I would have probably missed and fallen on my butt!

So - reverse everything. Back indoors (the mutt now reckons I hate him 'cos his 'ride' never got him beyond the gate (Huh...tough titty mate!). Phone local 'officina' (garage) - quicker than emergency services I think. The car only needs a jump start. Mechanic's wife answers the phone - "He's on a call - should be back soon. I'll get him to call you. Is it urgent?" I explained that while I had a lot to do, it wouldn't take him more than five minutes to get the car going, and I added that I was disabled... "OK" she says "I'll get him to call you after his lunch - he can easily pick up a new battery for you!"

WHAT? New battery??? NO, NO, NO... I don't need a new battery! This one was only put on 2000 miles ago! I just want a jump start...
So I watched a bit of tv and fell asleep.. woke up at 3.30pm... mechanic's 'after lunch' has now been and gone! Phone garage again - 'assistant' mechanic answers this time... "The 'Boss' had to go on an urgent breakdown". Yes - I know... it was me and I'm still waiting for him to call me. This time another promise that he would phone the 'Boss' and get him to call me. Yeah, right...

At 5.30 I give up and decide to call Emergency Breakdown Services after all... But their garage is in Lecco - 25 miles away. "Be right there - don't worry. Stay in the warm!" .... WOW - That's a bit more like it. She (yes a lady breakdown mechanic) arrived 25 mins later. Hooked up the cables and in 5 mins it was all done and dusted. Blo*dy male garage owners!

So, I took the car (and the mutt) for a good run to charge up the battery, only did my shopping and NO OTHER errands and finally arrived home at 7pm. All the shopping still to be put away, supper to cook. The mutt by now is laying on his back with his legs in the air trying to convince me that he'd died of starvation (it was 30 mins past his feeding time), and me wishing for - perhaps the first time - that Italy had fish and chips, Indian or chinese take aways.


And, just to round the sad story off... My phone rang on Saturday morning at 11.15 and the garage 'Boss' from yesterday asked if I had managed to get the car going?

Yes I'm MAD - aren't you too?

Well we've certainly had to cast aside our happy faces and joined the 'Deep Thinkers Club' over recent days haven't we?

Sad really, but hey - who's NOT worried at the moment? Being able to realise that others are in the same boat - for me - is maybe not reassuring - but definately comforting. If we need to drown our sorrows or celebrate our good fortune, what better place than among friends?

I think I've been careful enough and my past plans will carry me through any bad days that might lie ahead. But I'll have to be careful and think very carefully about spending on any NON essentials for a while. I'm not going to sell the few shares I've got, they're already too low to make much difference, and at least they don't eat anything, so I'll just do without any dividend that they might have paid for a while.

I had been 'thinking' about a new baby car - but now I'll stick with the Vectra. Had it since new (1999) and I know it's service history. It has JUST reached 100,000 on the clock and STILL goes like a dream!

Two weeks ago, following a loooong talk with my 'cardio', I DID splash out on a treadmill... This is because I am finding walking (outside) increasingly difficult and winter is nigh with icy pavements etc. and with my stick, rough surfaces and arthritis I really am a good candidate for falling on the floor! More of that later though...

So now it's back to frugality for a while - well, been there, done that more than once - AND I've survived, so it doesn't frighten me. My biggest fear though is that I'll have another heart attack if I hear much more about some of those greedy finacial bast*rds, who have caused all these problems, sunning themselves and eating caviar in the Bahamas with OUR MONEY! How come 'we' have to bail 'them' out? They should have their money confiscated like they do to drug barons and Mafia bosses - and THEN be put in jail - forever! Goddammit - some of them earn in a day what I have to live on for a YEAR!

Oh - and I'm not sorry if certain football clubs are billions in debt - serves 'em blo*dy right! They've fleeced their fans for FAR too long!

Yeah, yeah - OK, I'll get off... but you know how I love it up here

__________________

Off to Las Vegas soon

Yes this is 'Number 1 Son' - aka Sergio - and Serge and a variety of other names too, if truth be known! He still lives in England as his business is based there, but his work involves a bit of 'globe trotting' too. (Lucky 'whatsit').

His 'lady' is Lyndsey a lovely girl, but I don't know how she puts up with him most of the time...

They don't get many holidays due to his work load, but in a few days time he's taking her off to Las Vegas (last New Year it was Osaka and Tokyo and they both fell in love with the country).


They hope to 'do' the Grand Canyon flight/visit during their stay. I think my stories about my flight and visit spurred them to do the same. For those of you who have done it, I think you'll agree - they won't be disappointed.

As I mentioned - 'he' is one of my favourite people. We don't live in each other's pockets, but he remains, not just my only son, but my best friend too. Gone are the days when every time he phoned I would wonder 'how much this time'....(sound familiar? hahahaha). But all parents go through that I s'pose. It's a risk we all take. We've now got to the stage where he phones and asks ME if I need anything. Well. thank you very much...I can live with a son like that!

But being a parent these days must be a nightmare. From where I stand I see many youngsters in the UK who seem to be totally out of control. They have little or no respect for other's property or for others lives either.

I can remember when the new fangled law about not being allowed to hit your child was introduced. I found it surprising, but maybe it was necessary. As a parent I knew exactly the difference between a correctional slap and an abusive beating. But the authorities felt that parents weren't capable of knowing the difference. I clearly remember the first time I had occasion to slap (once, but heavily) my son following that legislation (he was in his late teens), and he was brave enough to answer the slap with "You're not allowed to do that - I'm going to report you, so there!" Great, I said - I opened the front door and told him to go to the Police Station in the next road and do it! Of course he didn't... But I never had need to smack/hit him again.

I had always been in favour of doing away with conscription, but the years have made me reconsider that belief... Conscription should be brought back, but for both boys AND girls above 18years of age!

PET LOVES - Debs loves Lake Como!

Now since we are somewhat on the topic of Italy, I must tell you what I think about a certain topic-Lake Como!!

I Love Lake Como...
Since our return from our wonderful visit, that's all we seem to talk about. Yes, one could say it's because it's still fresh in our minds and that the memory will soon become distant and we'll be back to our day to day grind forgetting about it all...but I'm happily afraid, that's not the case.
This recent visit was like falling in love again...we got that "feeling" again--the one that says, this feels like were we should be..where we'd like to be for the rest of our lives..it's a place that sort of haunts you once you leave it, a ghost of sorts calling you back to return to it over and over again.Sounds like I'm being a romantic I know ...but it truly is all we think it is and more.
So we need to return again for good because Joe and I have as I've said, fallen quite in love.

One more thing...without our beloved "head dork" being there,the story would have quite a different ending...

Debs, the dorkette
xo

The 'Alitalia' fiasco!

I'm not going to apologise for saying that Alitalia, it's management, it's unions and the majority if it's staff deserve all they get (or don't get).

They have treated their paying customers (of which I was one - years ago) like dirt for too long. Their attitude has always been "Well, if you don't like it - VFnC (Italian for 'go elsewhere....')!!!" - Well the public didn't like it, and over the years voted with their feet, and their anger - 'off to fly with other decent customer orientated airlines'.

This malais is, I'm afraid, inherent in the Italian psyche. Their belief is (and it's often so TRUE) that if they are a 'State Employee' they cannot be fired. They have a job for life irrespective of how they perfom that job. The unions have supported this stance for decades and now it seems that there is nowhere to go for the Alitalia employees. They've been hoisted by their own petard.

The choices they had were two as I see it:
1. To accept that a certain % will no longer have a job, but the remaining percentage % would.
OR
2. Ensure that their unions do not give in and that Alitalia is no more and dies NOW...

Well it seems that the majority have chosen option 2! The pilots and cabin crew are not willing to give up (what they finally admit exists) those 'special considerations' that were the 'perks of the job'!

Great!!! Good decision!!! (NOT!) So now not only won't you have a job, but in all probability your country won't have it's own airline either...

They should be ashamed of themselves!


But as an aside - Have you never thought why years ago the Italians began the habit of applauding when an aircraft landed safely?

It's obvious - they are thankful that at least the pilots did some work during the flight!

Nice to see you!

How do I start a new 'blog'?

Well I s'pose the first task is to welcome you. So -

HELLO AND WELCOME
(who ever you are)
TO "DORK LAND"

Well that's the preliminaries out of the way, so let's get down to the nitty gritty. I guess you're wondering why I've started this blog - right?

It's quite simple really, I have longed for a place where I can express my pleasure AND voice my dissatisfaction on the way the world treats me and everyone else!

• A place where I can voice that pleasure when something nice happens to me or out there in the world, and where others can join in too with their 'two cent's' worth.
  
• A place where I can have a good laugh at ANYTHING I find daft and which amuses me - and where others can join in the laughter and (hopefully) add to it...
• A place where I can get on my damned soap box if I want to to voice my opinions on a variety of injustices that affect me and others!
  

So that's the idea and I hope you'll add your own two cent's (or tuppence) worth too...