6, 7 /4: DIY - Do It Yourself

The 6th and 7th of April we have been working intensively in our new home.
We received an invaluable support from Bonamico family, to whom we are very grateful.
On Friday Anna Maria and me were painting the lounge and dining room, on the while Katia was kindly looking after the girls.
On Saturday Mastro Alberto and me were installing the floor in the two rooms of above.
That task was much more difficult than expected because of the particular kind of floor brand, which apparently has a patented technology to make the installation easier, but it is actually more complicated for various reasons.
However, after a long day, we did it!
We are now ready to move in.

In the picture: "Bob the builder, can we fix it?".

5/4: we got the key

The big day has finally come:
We got the key for our new house!

In the morning our solicitor called us saying that everything was fine and so we are now owning a new house!
In the afternoon I shown up to the agency and got the key (*)!
And we went all there!
The kids were excited as well and Agnese didn't want to leave it.
We have to make some minor works and decoration and then we can move in.
In the picture a Roman empire KEY.

(*) it is actually quite hilarious that having never seen the agent but just talked with her by phone and mainly by email, I shown up at the agency and said: "I'm Michele" and they give me the house key straight away. On the while when you buy any thing else on line, like 30 pounds worthy of computer memory, they ask you for a proof of identity and a bill to prove that you are resident where you declare to be....

27/3: We are purchasing an house

After a relatively long search (we have been visiting 17 houses), we have found the one we liked and the one we think is the best compromise for our needs and taste, location, price, etc.
Visiting that house we thought immediately that that was the one to be bought.
The seller told us that there were already two couples offering the asking price. We offer the same, but we were in a better position since we are cash buyers, while the others should sell first.
By the same evening another couple (according to the agency) saw the house, said that they were as well cash buyer and were ready to pay the asking price.
The seller was very nice with us and was happy that another family with kids was going to live there: so they said that they were happy to give their house to us.
But then the agency had to figure out if we were capable of paying the asking price and there I was in a very bad position, since in UK we have no credit history... It may be an impression but I had the feeling the agency was a kind of reluctant towards us: I understand this, since we are foreigners, they know nothing about us and they could loose other potential customers.
Therefore I went to the bank asking them to sign a commitment letter for a mortgage and I fax that together with the act of sale about our previous flat in Finland to the agency (in Finnish!)... and suddenly everything changed!
The agency called me saying: "Hello Mr Marchetti, actually... should I call you Doctor?".
I laughed - could not resist - thinking how easily someone could change opinion!
That was the end of January and it was just beginning. Yep, the beginning since the way that the system works here in UK is so crazy that everyone could loose money on the attempt of purchasing an house: we paid (partially) the solicitor, the technical survey to be done for the bank and the more technical one we wanted to have for our peace of mind and yet the seller could tell us: "sorry we changed our mind, we don't sell it any longer".
That happened to several people I know and happened once to us, but at that time we didn't pay yet for anything.

But today we had the exchange of contract, which involves a deposit from both of the sides, and makes the thing more serious: now there is something written.
We expect to complete the transaction and get the keys very soon...

20/3: Arrivederci nonna Annetta!

Today, the 20th of March 2007, my grand mother Anna passed away after a long and painful agony.
She would have been 98 next summer and she was still self sufficient.
She was the root of five living generations, 2 sons, 2 daughters and 28(!) between grandsons, grand daughters and great-grandsons.
We are quite happy that we manage to talk to her when she was spending her last days at the hospital: it was absolutely exceptional that all of us could talk with her by phone, since she was almost hear impaired and since long time ago we gave up about trying to talk with her if not in person.
Everyone of us (meaning the extended big family) was loving nonna, each one in his/her way. I was very tied to her, since she was living with us and I spent my life with her since day one.

Of course now we are all sad, but we are conscious that we will meet again.
As St Paul wrote (1 Corinthias 15,13.14): "If there is not resurrection of the dead, then neither has Christ been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty too your faith".

See you again nonna!

****

Oggi, 20 Marzo 2007, mia nonna Anna e' deceduta dopo una lunga e dolorosa agonia.
Avrebbe compiuto 98 anni la prossima estate ed era ancora autosufficiente.
Era la radice di cinque generazioni, due figli, due figlie e 28(!) tra nipoti e pronipoti.
Siamo contenti di essere riusciti a parlarle durante i suoi ultimi giorni di ospedale: e' stato veramente insolito, perche' era quasi sorda e da molto tempo avevamo smesso di provare a comunicare con lei se non di persona.
Ognuno di noi voleva bene a nonna, ognuno nel suo modo. Io le sono molto legato, poiche' lei viveva con noi e ho trascorso la mia vita con lei sin dal primo giorno.

Ovviamente ora siamo tutti tristi, ma consapevolu che la incontreremo di nuovo.
Come San Paolo ha scritto (1 Corinzi, 15,13.14): "Se non esiste risurrezione dai morti, neanche Cristo è risuscitato! Ma se Cristo non è risuscitato, allora è vana la nostra predicazione ed è vana anche la vostra fede."

Arrivederci nonna!

4/3: Science Museum, London

We spent a very nice day in London, Science Museum.
For Anna Maria and me it was the second time we were there, and having or not the kids behind (or better ahead) makes a huge difference!



However, it was enjoyable and interesting for them too: we were together another family of friends and all the kids were enjoying most of the attractions.

In the picture Agnese is attempting of making the biggest bubble ever...

18/02: Carnival party

Following the success of last year experience, when she organized a "Festa di Carnevale" for kids in Kivenlahti - Espoo, Anna Maria and her friend Katia proposed a Carnival party for children.
This year the party happened in Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, about 2000 km away than last time (this clearly makes Anna Maria a Party Manager with international experience).


There were 10 families and 19 kids, which is not bad at all considering that the first invitation was sent just 4 days before!
There was good food brought by everyone, the kids had fun and I guess the parents had more free time in the very same evening, since I expect that like our daughters did, every child was in bed earlier....

4 / 02: the winter garden

In a sunny Sunday afternoon of February we were randomly driving to get Agnese and Rachele fall asleep.
Usually we have cheaper ways to achieve the same goal, the car is just for desperate situations. It was one of these... As always it worked in a time range between two and five minutes.... for both of them.

We ended up again in the Anglesey Abbey. It was the third time, but the first one during winter.
We had no expectations, since in winter you don't usually fancy anything about a garden....

We were really surprised!
Beside the fact there there were quite several kind of winter flowers, the composition they arranged with the naked trees and other kind of plants were really enjoyable.

No need of waiting for the spring to admire the nature!

Ryanair: touching "the ground of the bottom"

We have been in Italy for Christmas holidays, as we always do.
We travel with Ryanair and this time there was an interesting new policy.
Ryanair doesn't number the sits. But so far families with kids were allowed to board first, so that they can sit together.
Instead, from a recent time on, you have to pay 2 GBP (or 3 euros) per person, per way if you want to board first.
That means 2x4x2=16 GBP for our family.
It is not a big deal, but why would I? Beside we didn't know about that since when we bought the tickets (last July) this silly policy was not in place.
I will never pay this (I think), I mean: if I cannot sit beside my daughters, they will bother someone else than me, not too bad after all :-) !
Or possibly they will cry for two ours, which is the flying time... but again they will bother someone else...
But it was on the way from Ancona to London that Ryanair gave their best picture: people who bought the right to board first, were led to the aircraft BY BUS; the rest of people (let's call them the "poor people") were WALKING there!
(Note: the distance from the terminal to the aircraft was about 100 or maybe 150 meters....).

The worst thing is that to "the worst" there is never an end...

In the picture: the new Ryanair sits: maybe less comfortable for passengers, but surely cheaper!

Merry Christmas!

We wish you have
a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful new year!

Michele, Anna Maria, Agnese, Rachele

(yes, the picture is one year old)

11/12: Our flat in Finland is sold

We don't own any longer our flat in Finland!

We are very happy that the deal is finally closed.
On the other side, we feel a bit nostalgic about it...

That house was the first one we owned as couple, the place where Agnese and Rachele were born, the place where we spent almost 4 wonderful years (out of five) of our marriage.


We have a lot of memories in that place, lot of great moments. And we had really nice neighbors, with whom we are still in contact.
We enjoyed so much living there! It has been really a good time.

I would like to thank our friend Juha who toke care of the whole transaction process on my behalf.

18/11: First friends visiting us

This weekend we had the first couple of friends visiting us: Mario & Rosa Elena.

Unfortunately they were just passing by and they could stay just for 1 day but we had really a great time together.
We have been in the city centre enjoying the autumns colors, which are spreading all around us.

17/11: Fun Run

As company we toke part at the Cambridge Fun Run, a sport event to rise money for children in needs.
Every team was composed by 4 runners, each one of whom had to run one mile and survive after that.
We had three teams called "Chilly Mountaineers", Blow 1, 2 and 3.

The story is curious: often on Friday we go at the pub to have a lunch together and since a long time ago, probably since the beginning, NemeriX employees used to order "Chilly mountain", which is a blow of potatoes, beans, meat, cheese and a lot of Chilly paper.
Once the pub renewed the menu and the Chilly Mountain was cut off.
NemeriX employees stopped to go there and they officially complained, until the Chilly Mountain was back in the menu at the price that NemeriX employees asked to be!

After the run we went at the pub and looking at the shirts the host was not believing that...
so they wanted to take a picture of us... and here it is.

12/11: Ickworth

We visited Ickworth park & gardens (the house is closed during winter time).
It is another National Trust place, less than 50 Km far away from where we live.
The gardens and wood were beautiful with autumn's color starting to appear.
There was even an area with deers, which was the most interesting attraction for Agnese and Rachele.
Autumn is spreading nicely around.

11/11: King's College

We visited for the first time King's College, founded by Henry VI in 1441.
It is a beautiful building and it is very often shown as symbol of Cambridge: probably it is Cambridge most famous attraction.

Inside the chapel (the biggest building) there were Choir rehearsal and Agnese and Rachele looked very interested in that kind of music.
A bit less about the University: Agnese said she is not going to study there, but since she is 3 and half she has some time to change her mind.

26/10: Universita' di Camerino - Career Day

Time ago I was invited by the professors with whom I worked for my final project at Camerino University (where I studied) to have a talk at the Career Day, which opens the academic year.
So the 26th I was glad to be there.
I had the talk in the "Palazzo Ducale", in a room called "sala Muta" (Mute room), which I have to admit is not the most sensible name I've heard for a room used for giving lectures.

Whatever the name, the room was plenty of people, the majority of which were students.
I had a talk about my working experience at Nokia first, at NemeriX later with mention of how the University Experience is supposed to help for such a kind of Career.

It looked like my speech was appreciated and I was glad to be back there, and to have the chance of giving back something to an institution (The University of Camerino), which gave me a lot.

21/10: Silk Wedding / "Nozze di Seta"

The 21st of October we celebrated 5 years wedding anniversary.
We just got to know that it is called "nozze di seta", "silk wedding".

This time just flown!

We have been living in two different countries, three flats (hopefully we will move soon to the forth one),
visited many places, met a lot of people, got a great number of fantastic friends.
But most of all, we have been gifted by Agnese and Rachele!

So, we have many reasons to celebrate: thanks to all of these, somehow, have been part of our life!

Michele & Anna Maria

PS: I had a personal great achievement. Gaining in Finland, lost 5 during the international moving, today my weight is the same that when I married Anna Maria! The saying that a man earns 1 kg per year after wedding failed in my case :-)

30/9: Anglesey Abbey

We visited Anglesey Abbey, a country house made up on a convent.
The older part of it is dated about IX-X century, but it has been extended and improved until few years ago.
There is an impressive garden all around (about 400.000 square meters), where the kids had a lot of fun.
We should come back to enjoy the autumn colors.... later on.

17/9: Wicken Fen

We have been to Wicken Fen, a natural reserve.
There are a lot of different birds and animal, that one could see and hear if two noisy kids wouldn't make them run away before even approaching them....
It was anyway a pleasure to have a walk in the country side.

2-3/9: a real vacation

We have been in Italy for a short while. Anna Maria and kids staid longer and had the chance of enjoying quite a lot the sea side. The weather was great when I went there as well and swimming in the sea during September was still very comfortable. Though once in the water I've notice there were just Germans...

During this time Anna Maria and me went away for a bit more than 24 hours: the first time since Agnese was born!
We went in a a B&B at Sant'Ippolito (PU): Le fontanelle, which is a very relaxing place that I recommend.
First afternoon we were there swimming and reading books. It was so weird not having kids around breaking up the peace every 5 minutes! (OK let's be realistic: every two minutes).
I felt old having such a kind of "wanted" total relax vacation.



The day after we have been to la Gola del Furlo: a really astonishing canyon.

To end the day we went to Urbino, a renaissance university city, very interesting from the architectural point of view and now included in UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.




PS: all pictures are from the web. Because of the hand luggage restriction, we didn't bring our camera along.

22/8: potential terrorism

Look at the picture: what is that?

It is not what it looks like....
It is definitely not BABY FOOD !

At least according to Stansted airport personnel.
It may be a dangerous item, or some component that could potentially be used to make a bomb...
who knows...
but it is not baby food.
So they thought at the airport, and I tried to reply to the nasty woman at the inspection: "if it is food for adults, why don't you eat it?".
She then specified: "it is not CLASSIFIED as baby food".
Poor Rachele! she had to fly without food...

There I laughed, but what made me pissed of was a bit of envy: that woman has a quite crap job, still she was so passionate!
So energetic!
There must be some satisfaction related to the possibility of exercising power, no matter how logic or intelligent the decision is.
But really, looking at her, it was like seeing that she was so proud of having avoided a possible terrible accident, because she was so careful to avoid that that food entered to the airport!
Amazing!
A lot of people I know, and some time even myself, should have one out of ten of her motivation factor at work: results would be much better!