I’ve just heard about the second lot of bombs on the London Tube. Just to be clear, Olivia and I are okay. I am currently in Udine, Italy having a wonderful time with my uncle and his family. Whilst Olivia is still in Scotland and will be for another couple of weeks after this one. One of the bombs is a little closer to where I live than I’m totally happy with, but really, all you can do is to tira avanti (go forward) as they say here in Italy. I just hope that incidents such as these don’t occur often enough to warrant me setting up a template for these “we’re ok” posts. For those who know them, Dave Calello is okay as is my cousin Sophie who is currently on the Amalfi coast of Italy.

On a more pleasant note (F sharp), I have truly loved my first few days in Italy. Arriving on Tuesday evening I was given a wonderful welcome by my uncle Toni, his wife Fernanda and my supermodel cousin Tiziana. I hadn’t seen them in 10 years but the strong sense of family was definitely there. They put on a fabulous spread, and the thing I noticed was that whilst the food was exquisite it was extremely simple. Penne with tomato sauce, plates of salami, prosciutto, bresaola, funky cheeses and lots of salads. I was pleased to discover that my uncle is something of a cigar afficionado, so that certainly rounded off the evening nicely. I am trying to be as little of a pain as possible – letting everyone go about their daily business and enjoying their company of an evening. Seeing that we plan to be in Europe for at least a little while I’d like to be able to come back here without having them sigh “oh shit THEM again”… It’s all good, very good in fact.

Last night we took a 40min drive and crossed the border into Slovenia to eat fish (as one does). I got to sample a local delicacy called “datteri” which are essentially like mussels but much smaller, and very very yummy. Apparently it is illegal to sell datteri in many countries because they are overfarmed and supposedly close to extinction. Thanks to the Slovenians I got to try them. I certainly feel uneasy about the ecological issues associated with my dinner – but this meant a lot to my uncle and aunt and I wasn’t about to offend them. Please friends let’s leave it at that. It was a great night. I drank grappa infused with blackberries which had actual fruit in the glass – delicious. I’ve always thought that grappa was a bit like drinking metho, but I know realise that most of the grappa I’ve had back in Oz was backyard produce which may as well have been metho. The good stuff si just that.

Tonight I’m going to the birthday of someone I am yet to meet. It’s a relative of my cousin’s partner. I’m sure that it will be a hoot.

Am pleased to report that my Italian is holding up a treat. For those of you who have studied a bit of Italian, I’m even managing to throw the odd use of the subjunctive tense… This to me is no mean feat.

The gelati here is truly awesome. Like really.

Battersea is one suburb over from where we are living in Clapham. I found myself walking there to get a bit of exercise and to drop off the mail of the previous tenants. No I didn’t have to do that, I just felt like a wander. … and boy was my good deed rewarded. I found myself in Northcote Road in Battersea and was immediately mesmerised…

Battersea has:

• a real, live fish monger.
• An Italian delicatessen with real live Italians, and a great assortment of salami, prosciutti and other great cured pork products. Finding a supplier of vongole (baby clams) made my day as I’ve had a hankering for them since I’ve been here.
• Possibly the best cheese shop I’ve ever seen. Am really excited about trying an array of new and interesting styles. Tonight it’s an English soft goat’s cheese. Mmm, can’t wait to get stuck into that.
• A honey shop. It’s a lot more interesting (and expensive) than it sounds. Any place that has an actual hive in the shop (behind glass of course) has got to be cool.
• The fabulous Spanish tapas place where I had lunch today. Complete with Italian waitress and chef. It was easily the best non-home cooked meal I’ve had since I’ve been over here.

and the great thing it’s only a longish walk or a short bus trip away. I’m feeling very happy about all this.

In other news, I spent much of yesterday morning on the phone to various relatives in Italy. I’ve arranged to see a variety of people ranging from my uncles/aunts, my parents’ cousins, to some people my mum went to school with. Am pleased to report that my Italian has held up remarkably well over the years. I’ve surprised both my relatives and myself. Looks like it’s going to be hot in Italy, with daily temperatures ranging from hight 20s to low 30s. Just as well I have a good supply of shorts and t-shirts.

Last night I had dinner with Charles Neave and his wife Shanaj. For those of you that know Charles he is thriving over here and seems very pleased with the life he has carved out for himself here in London. It was nice to have an opportunity to get to know his wife a bit. Shanaj is lovely, and makes a mean curry. And the baby…. oooh she’s a cutie. She even has her own miniature Melbourne Football Club guernsey and scarf. I took some photos which I will put up as soon as I have a computer setup at home. It was a really fun night for me.

Off to have my trout from the fishmonger…

Hi Everyone,

I have a few bits of news today, so let’s get straight into it…

Olivia does Scotland.
Today Olivia has flown to Stirling in Scotland to work for the next four weeks. She is both excited and nervous about the stint. The job is in Geriatric Medicine which I understand is not at the top of the list of most stressful jobs a doctor can do, so hopefully it won’t be too taxing on her. Going out to Heathrow was a bit sad for both of us as for reasons I will explain below we won’t actually be seeing each other during her stint there. After I dropped her off and was halfway back home Olivia called to say that her flight had been delayed by two hours. Bugger. Luckily she had a copy of “Lord of the Rings” on hand to help pass the time. She is due to land in Glasgow any minute now… I think Olivia is very brave to take on a job like this, but I know that once she sees the beautiful countryside, the apparently wonderful castle at Sterling and gets stuck into some fine single malt whisky her worries will just fade away. Well at least I hope they will.

ver.ba.tim adv. In exactly the same words; word for word: “repeated their dialogue verbatim”.
I am very excited to announced that I have found permanent employment over here. It looks as though I will be repeating employers verbatim. That’s right, just under a month after I packed up my desk and left the fine people at Verbatim Australia (except you John, you know what you are), I’ve managed to land a role with the equally fine people at Verbatim Europe. My role will be a newly created position which will in effect be that of Buyer of a certain range of the company’s products. I am really pumped as to me this will be a natural extension of one of the things I was doing back in Melbourne. I believe there will be some travel on the cards as part of this role. Unfortunately I won’t be dealing with any suppliers back in Oz, but it should mean that I get to see a few interesting countries from time to time.

The thing is… my boss to be is about to go on his summer holidays, so the position will not actually commence until the second week of August. Meaning that I now have a month to kill in London. I must admit the thought of this was not terribly exciting to me. So I’ve come up with what I think is a fabulous and far superior Plan B….

Plan B – Go to Italy.
I figure that once I actually start work my personal travel opportunities will be somewhat limited, so now is a great time to tool around “the mother country” and hopefully mooch off the relatives a bit. I have been wanting to return to Italy ever since I last left there in 1996, so I am totally hanging out for the opportunity to see the sights and practice my now very, very rusty Italian. I will be leaving on Tuesday week, so I have a few days to formulate a bit of a game plan as far as travel is concerned. I will be basing myself in Udine with one of my uncles, so I will be well placed to pop into Slovenia or Austria for a couple of days should the urge strike. One thing that is certain is that I will be venturing across to Padova in the Veneto region and make a pilgrimage to the very house in which my mother was born. In case you’re wondering, this house is in the village/town? of Palu. I’ve not been to Palu before, so it should be quite emotional if nothing else. Am looking forward to giving my digital camera it’s first real workout. I’ve already got some ideas on a companion set of photos to go along side my Parmesan collection from 1996 – let’s see how things pan out.

Just a short post to let you know that Olivia and I were sound asleep when the London tube system was bombed this morning. Thankfully the few people we know who are over here are all okay. It’s all a bit scary really. Am very curious to see what news emerges over the next 24 hours.

Olivia is going to Stirling, Scotland for 4 weeks of work starting Monday.

FYI, my mobile number over here is +44-79-1462-1298 (although this will change once I start working) and Olivia’s number is +44-79-1462-0429.