SNOW

I woke up this morning to find lots of snow on the trees and the cars. It snowed until about 10am and then stopped - very pretty and unusual in Verona. Bloody cold most days but snow is rare. They save it all for the mountains and ski resorts nearby.

Oh and that is my Xmas tree!!!

Christmas is coming

Well we are mid December and it is fair to say that Christmas is on it's way. I have spent far too many hours today baking biscuits and making chutney as gifts. It will all be worth it though as I have gifts for 20 people and have spent less than 10€. Bargain.

Today is Santa Lucia in Italy. Today it is traditional for children to receive gifts. A bit like an early Christmas really, but they seem to celebrate that too. As an adult I don't quality, but I did buy myself a nice new pair of shoes yesterday, so I'll say they were from Santa Lucia and feel less guilty about it.

Last weekend we went to our lovely friends house for an early Christmas dinner. It really helped us to get into the Christmas spirit and I was pleased to leave feeling a little bit tipsy and certainly as though I'd eaten too much.

As for me, I don't finish work until 23rd December and then I'm racing across Italy to fly home.

Dentist

To be honest I can't believe that I haven't started this thread sooner!

When Simon's parents were visiting back in September I broke a filling on a piece of pizza. I thought that I'd got away with it, but after a day it was so rough that it was cutting my tough and was quite painful. An Italian dentist was required.

Fortunately, the English Speaking Happy Hour that I attend (rather sporadically now) has a whole host of useful people, one of whom is a dentist. I swiftly organised an appointment with Enea and got my teeth ready.

It was a bit embarrassing really. Firstly, I should add that I hate dentists and as such I've only been for emergency appointments since I was about 13. I hate needles most of all. I think Enea nearly died when he looked inside my mouth. I know I did when he stuck a camera in my mouth and show me my teeth on a big TV screen. That is cruel and almost guarantees that you'll agree to any treatment.

I've not been three times for a deep root clean and scale. (Yes I did say three times - very dirty) I have also had to have a new filling. He is now talking about gum surgery!!! So far I haven't paid a penny and I have not idea of the current balance. Think I might need to re-divert some of the wedding money!

Dentist is not as bad as I once thought and I will go back for regular cleans now, but I still hate needles.

I thought that I would see if I could be modern and groovy!!!

Day in Malcesine in photos

Busy bee

I have been receiving complaints that I haven't blogged for ages, so here goes. I am shattered and I am so busy that I simply haven't had time. I should really be emptying the bins right now, but I will bow to popular pressure.

Since my last blog we have had several visitors and we have been all over the place. Firstly my grandparents came to Italy with Caravan and dog in town and decided to visit us. For me the most exciting part of the trip was the arrival of a food parcel, which might sound a bit mean, but you have no idea how much I miss my food!!!!! It was obviously good to see them too. We showed them around the town and then went to our little restaurant on the Torricelle. Always a winner because of the fabulous views.

Our next guests were Simon's parents. It took us a while to tidy the house to mother in law standards but I think we passed. They seemed to have a lovely time with us and were happy to follow us around. I even took them on one of our monthly hikes, which turned out to be a bit of a disaster but fun all the same. See pictures.

Simon then jetted off to India for two weeks and I think that he had a great time. I used the time to hibernate and acclimatize to the weather.brrrrrrrrrrrrr.

After the Darren, the best man came for a weekend and I went to England this weekend. HECTIC or what?

Now we are free to relax and await the joys of Christmas. Safe in the knowledge the the wedding is less than 9 months away, but that I have bought my dress!

Disaster

I don't have photos yet, but I will!!!

My brother and sister in law came to stay last week and we decided to go to Garda for the day. As is usual we hired a little motor boat to play around on the lake. If you remember there are pictures from a previous visit. Unfortunately this time we somehow managed to run over a rock in the lake and break the boats propellor. Needless to say, we lost our deposit of €150 and it turned out to be a very expensive hour of fun. I have kept the propellor so I'll snap it at some point.

Fortunately the rest of their holiday was less eventful and hopefully memorable for all the right reasons. Now we have a few days to clean up before the next arrivals, my grandparents and then 3 days later, Simon's parents. Busy busy busy.

Somehow during all this we are still finding time to plan a wedding!!