Weekend in Ravenna

These photos are nothing special - I am not the blogger who always has a camera to hand (and even when I do I'm not particularly good) - but I do have a phone so last night when the boys were off to a beach party I got a photo of them in there 'I Love Sotto' t-shirt - Robert has kindly informed me this can be interpreted in 2 ways - as Thomas's mum I am choosing to believe it is "I love Sottomarino" - the beach bar they go to for these parties (and if you want to know the other meaning you'll have to look in a dictionary and then use your imagination) .....they had of course had t-shirts made for the whole gang but Thomas left them at home - way to go Tom!


You can also see Leo (plus flat cap) - looking quite refreshed (and clean) after an afternoon at scouts - they were there putting the finishing touches to the raft that today they took here to the lagoon near Ravenna .......

.....when I went to pick him up it was seriously hot - July hot - but it was lovely - and the photos really do not do the place justice - I have already told Robert that when we eventually pick up the kayak from the beach - one of those things I try not to think about because I get p****d off - long story - we have to go kayaking here - so lovely....... oh, and here is Leo looking not quite so refreshed and clean.....but he does have a different hat on!!!

A boy on a mission.

Thomas has a problem. He is worried about us. He is worried we don't get out enough. He does, he's 16, he goes out regularly - all good clean teenage fun (I am SURE!!). But now he's worried about us - he had a conversation with his dad last weekend who told him that maybe things didn't work out between him and me because we didn't have much of a couple life - that isn't why things didn't work out - not at all - but it has got Thomas wondering, and worrying,- Robert and I don't go out a lot, evening life in Italy starts so late, the cinema doesn't finish until gone 11, if you go our for a drink after dinner you don't go until well past 9, if you do any sort of activity (dancing etc) that agian doesn't start til way past 9 - and I am just too tired. I can't do it. After a day of work etc etc it is just too much. and the same goes for Robert. But now work has calmed down a bit, I am not collapsing on the sofa at 9 each evening, Robert isn't travelling all over the north east of Italy and sleeping away 3 nights a week, and the summer evenings are already upon us .....so Thomas will have his wish - we will be going out more, we already are - roll on summer is all I say..
And on a completely different note.... Leo - he made it into the paper!!!!! He has no idea how happy he made me - my Italian son in my old local paper - it means more than he will ever know (although I have to say I wish they hadn't used the photo of him in his flat cap.......)

Go Canaries!!!!

Leo is a Canaries supporter (as I may have mentioned once or twice in the past) -he has never been to a match (we picked the wrong weekend when we went over to Norwich in February) but he did get to see the Stadium, Carrow Road, where they play .....well you can imagine his joy now that they have been promoted up to the Premiership (it won't last long but hey, why spoil a small boy's pleasure....) - to celebrate we went into Ravenna yesterday and took a load of photos of him in the shirt reading The Pink 'Un (Norfolk's local sports newspaper) - by all accounts every Thursday they publish photos of readers around the world - who knows, maybe he'll get in....... we had a laugh taking them anyway!!!
....outside Dante's tomb.......

.....outside San Vitale.....
....on the steps of Garibaldi's statue......


...and then there is this .....he has just come back from his school trip to France....with the one souvenir he bought himself.........doesn't everyone who goes to Provence by a flat cap???? or is it just him???

Happy Mother's Day....

....to me - thankyou boys xx

Time for a new Chancelor me thinks.....

In Via Saporetti 27 anyway - Leo has gone on a school trip - 4 days in France - obviously we have already stumped up the money etc but lunch isn't included so along with his spending money he also needed money for lunches etc. It has to be said that Leo is good with money - he is the one in the house who always manages to buy what he wants but he always has a stash of cash somewhere (and for any burglars reading this forget calling in - he also has a nifty safe which although it looks like a crap piece of plastic not even his brother can break into it - and yes he has tried.......) - well, he was all packed on Tuesday night - €60 in his bag and another €40 elsewhere (so if he lost one lot he would still have the other - remember this is Leo we are talking about) - 5.30 Wednesday morning we go off to put him on the coach.....6.45 I go in to 'tidy his room and find €60 sitting happily on the desk - so although I had seen the 2 wallets he had with him one of them was infact empty....... fortunately they were stopping in Imperia on the way to France go to some museum - and it is on the coast with a Coast Guard Station - his dad is an officer in the Coast Guards so he called up the Commander (an old friend) and asked him to send someone down to the museum where the kids would be to give Leo €50 - I knew Leo would be ok without the extra money but having to pay for lunches would have eaten up most of the €40 and this is his first big school trip so I would have beeen sorry if he couldn't buy any souvenirs or knick knacks - and he would never have asked anyone for help - anyway, when I spoke to him later in the day instead of getting a grateful child (as in fact I had foolishly expected) I was told "what was the problem? I still had €40 - I could live for a month on €40!!" - and I'm afraid to say I think he's probably right - maybe he should start managing our family budget..........