14/7: starting at Airvana

Today I started a new working experience at Airvana.

Obviously I was a kind of nervous and excited at the same time... like before the first day of school.

From the technical point of view the job looks very interesting and it is very much in line with what I previously said I wished to do in an 'ideal position'.

Of course now everything is new and it may take some time for me to settle in.
But to be very honest, I must say that today I missed the NemeriX atmosphere.

11/7: leaving NemeriX

Today my NemeriX experience comes to the end.

A bit more than two years have elapsed since I joined (16/5/2006) and doubtless it has been a great time and it was a very good experience. I've learned a lot of things and I had mostly a very nice time in the company.
I am sure I will miss very much my colleagues, who since first day made me feel at home and who helped us - as a family - to settle in UK.

For these and other reasons it was very difficult for me to resign. But sometime one has to be brave and make some steps towards the unknown...
They say that "you regret only things that you don't do" and that "changes bring good sleeps".

I leave NemeriX with gratitude and although I was in through difficult times, I am sure shortly in my mind there will be room only for nice memories.

I miss already my colleagues...

8/7: Paolo's first week

Paolo is already one week old.
The impact of his presence at home varied with time: at first Agnese and Rachele were over excited!
They have been waiting such a long time for him than when the morning of the 1st of July - few hours after he was born - I told them that mum was not at home because she was in the hospital with a baby, they started screaming of joy and celebrating.

Few days after he came at home the enthusiasm slowed down: tha baby is mostly sleeping or crying, so no much use of him for two sisters who are waiting to play...


Generally Agnese accepted him more naturally: she is looking for him, wants to hold him, gives him the dummy and she is very happy when she succeeds to make him stop crying.
Rachele was a bit more reclutant to have a contact with him: she didn't want to hold him and she didn't like at all the umbilical cord he has. She is _just a little bit_ jelouse.

Paolo himself is becoming quite good, but the first nights were terrible.
Now he still stays awake at least one hour in the indecent portion of the night (around 3). But it looks like he is improving... slowly actually, but he does.

Anyway, we are happy and celebrating, as the last picture shows.

1/7: WELCOME PAOLO !

The 1st of July, at 1:05 a.m. PAOLO was born!
He weights 3.45 kg (7.6 pounds).
Everything went and we are all very happy!

A Warm welcome from Michele, Anna Maria, Agnese and Rachele

29/6: Histon feast - parade

From the 27th of June up to the 5th of July our village hosts the Histon Feast.
On Sunday the 29th a parade took place.
All associations and groups of Histon and Impington villages organized vans to go around the village in a line opened by a musical band.
The purpose of this is to rise money for all the groups activities.


As pupil of the 'Lady Bird playgroup', Rachele was in one of the vans.

In the picture she is taking the most out of the sun shine.

30/5: Agnese is 5!

30/5: Agnese's birthday!

Agnese turns five... and as written for Rachele, she has been growing a lot.

Few days ago she was chatting through Skype with me a work and I was amazed.

Of course there were errors in the sentences, but yet they were making sense.

We had a birthday party for Agnese & Rachele, with friends and school mate.

The main attraction was surely Emil the Magician (or the Juggler, as Agnese called him).

Our friend Emil came to visit us from Finland and since we remembered he mentioned he was an illusionist we asked him to prepare something for the kids... we submitted this request like 10 minutes before the party started, and he was simply amazing!

Maybe the show was more astonishing for parents than for kids, because at that age the kids really think: 'He has done a very funny magic! He is really magic!'.

At the same time all the adults were asking themselves: 'how did he....???? that's amazing!'.

A mother asked me how much did he cost us.... well you know, he came all the way from Finland! ;-)

The party went well and the weather hold the rain. We realized at the very end - with disappointment from Agnese - that we just forgot to play all the games we prepared beforehand for the possibility of an indoor party... it will be for next time.

18/5: Rachele is 3!

18/5: Rachele's birthday

Another year has elapsed for Rachele, who is three now!

She is completely another girl comparing to the one very calm and quite we knew as far as she was... two.

For her birthday she was proud of getting rid of diaper during night... just few weeks after the dummy went to the dummy-fairy. 

So now she has reasons to claim that she is really a grown up.

In the afternoon we had a double party: we celebrated Inter 16th scudetto.

5/5: Melford Hall

In UK they don't have a bank holiday on the 1st of May, as in other countries, but the first Monday of May (which is cool, because there is no chance that a bank holiday is going to happen on Sunday).
The 5th was a real summer day! 

We went for a day trip to Melford Hall. We spent most of the day in the property's garden, but we also visited the house.
And there I found a nice surprise: the land lord use to be admiral Hyde Parker, about whom I have read in O'Brian novels series! He was one of the characters that just appeared in one or maybe two stories, but still it was a kind of... 'being in real touch' with the novel. (It is the series that inspired the film Master & commander).
Obviously I had some questions about the admiral and I tried with one of the guides of the house... who also happened to be a fan of O'Brian and had read all of 20 books!
And he knew quite a lot, like: 'did you see these vases on the stairs? these were taken by the admiral when he captured a Spanish vessel in year...'.
Quite entertaining really!

The rest of the day was just as good the first summer day can be.

Two years were elapsed since we first landed in UK (2nd of May 2006).
Many things have changed since then... and more news are coming. Stay tuned!

19/4: to the theater: last time out for... how long?

Saturday the 19th we have been to the theater.
This is going to be last time Anna Maria and me going out alone for... quite a long while we believe.
We went to theater to watch 'South Pacific'.

It was the first time for me I saw a live musical in English, and the second time we went to the theater in Cambridge...
We'll go again... maybe in 2010 or so!?!?

Special thanks to our friends Bonamico, who made this happen by looking after Agnese & Rachele.

12/4: Histon fun day

Histon's shop owners organized the Histon Fun day.
It was a very nice village event, with several attractions and activities.

We first went to visit a wind mill, where the owner explained many details about it (considering the date since when it was first invented, it is a fantastic piece of engineering).
Then we went to meet the fire fighters: Agnese and Rachele could visit the lorry and see what it looks like.

Then we met some friends from the village and we went to see africans bugs... spiders, giant snails, a very big scorpion... (all quite disgusting for me, but not for the kids).

Finally the most important child event: face painting.

A very nice day in the village.

9/4: one year home anniversary

The 9th of April we celebrated... (actually it would be more accurate to say: we realized the very last minute) one year at the current home!
Time really flies!
It seems yesterday that we were excited about contact exchange... then decorating... moving... all in a big rush!
So far we have been in one home for 18 months on average (4 places in 6 years).

This time we hope it would be longer... much longer!
But it looks like that... by nature, we are a kind of prone to the change!
You never know...

23/3: a White Easter

Happy Easter to everyone!
(Or should I say Christmas?).

We awoke with a surprise: snow everywhere!
Until I saw it I didn't realize how much I was missing the snow.
There was none this winter and even this one didn't stand longer than few hours: still, quite nice.

Apparently one of the traditions for Easter in UK is that parents hides chocolate eggs and kids have to find them in the Easter morning. Agnese, having heard this at school probably, wanted the same arrangement. Fair enough.

So at 5:30 she came into my bed asking: "can we go looking for the eggs?".
I can't recall much beside the '5:30' on the watch, but I guess I said politely 'no, is too early'. She must have tried few other times until 6:00. After that, she asked every 5-10 minutes.
(That reminds me of Shrek 2, when Donkey asks: 'are we there yet?').
At 6:30 for some reasons she decided to go without asking, but of course first she awoke Rachele.
At that moment I really appreciated this Easter tradition!
And why search for chocolate eggs silently?
So every 2 minutes one of the two was back, asking for hints.
"Check in the living room".
"Check in the window of living room".
"Check properly the window of living room. For example the curtains".
"Check under the curtains of the window of the living room".

But the real question is: why these traditions (chocolate eggs, Christmas and birthday presents) involves events that ALWAYS happen in the morning of a bank holiday, when other people tell me they 'are going to relax and rest'?

A nice Easter otherwise.

The aXe

March 2008.

It has been a while since I wrote last time.

Everything is fine but last month was quite 'depressing' in a way.

My company is going through a reorganization and half of the people working in Cambridge are going to be made redundant.

The selection process was done very professionally and it took one month to complete.

People were grouped into pools of competences and each one was evaluated by considering a list of skills needed by the company future plans. Everyone of us had three interviews, to be sure that the evaluation was fair.

During this while it was very sad to stay in the office: the mood was lower than ever, and it was very difficult to focus on actual work, since I (as many others) didn't know if I was affected or not by the cut.

Every now and then someone said something about it, and everyone went to listen his/her point of view: uncertainty led to a lot of conspiracy and theories about what and how was going to happen. The result was always a total confusion and nothing more.

This week the process was over and in a way was a relief for everyone.

I am spared by the axe: I am still part of the Cambridge team.

In the picture how the axe works: the cut comes from the top. One piece of wood fall in one side and one in the other. If you are a piece of wood, you cannot do much to decide in which side to fall off.

6,7,8/2: Lugano

I've been to Manno-Lugano, for three days for a business trip at NemeriX head quarter.
Previously I passed by Lugano ten years ago, and slept there one night.
I remembered it as a beautiful place, but not as such an astonishing be autiful place!

You reach it crossing valleys and looking at the Alps and suddenly you are driving beside Lake of Lugano.... that you eventually cross...
The landscape is as beautiful as it could be with mountains covered by snow at the tops, houses climbing on the hills, the clear water of the lake reflecting the sky.
In the office I felt continuously attracted by the mountains view, with the snow getting pinkish during sun set (yes, and my colleagues asking me to pay attention at the topics we were discussing inside the office :-).

Simply beautiful.
On Monday I was back at Cambridge office.... not a bed view neither: in one side of the building we have the rump-up exit from the A14 high way and in the other side a parking spot... all flat...

In the picture, someone well known for her love for the Alps.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

(Click on "comments" to leave a greeting message).

21/10: VI years of wedding (@ Oxburgh Hall)

The 21st of October we celebrated VI years of wedding anniversary.
This is the second time we celebrate it in UK.


We visited Oxburgh Hall, an estate looking very much as a castle, in Norfolk.
Between all the rooms, there was one to be considered as a modern "study room". The amazing thing is that the desk is facing the window with a wonderful look on a wide section of the garden and water on the middle (the wall palace is surround by water).
I wish my office to have the same view!
(Maybe at the moment I could just change desktop background to improve my 'view').

A very nice place, for a nice and relaxing sunny afternoon.

5/9: Agnese goes to school!

The 5th of September was a remarkable day: Agnese begins her school life!

Here in the UK they starts school quite early (in the month of September after the child turns to four).
The first here is called reception and it is essentially an "advanced Kinder garden", where the pupils play but where they also learn how to read and write.

I had a short break from work to assist at the entrance... but it was very quick since Agnese greeted us quickly and run inside the classroom!

She was looking forward to it since months and especially much more in recent time, when her uniform was ready inside the wardrobe.

This morning, Sunday, Agnese was sad... asking why I got this answer:
"I'm sad because today the school is closed".
How long she will keep this enthusiasm?
Mail me to bet!

27/8: Hedinhgam Castle

We spent a lovely sunny afternoon together with a family of friends at Hedingham Castle, a medieval Norman building from XII century.
There was a special event in that evening: "Jousting Knights".
A company of brilliant riders was entertaining the crowd with a middle age tournament play.
They were clearly having a lot of fun, but honestly they were not the best actors I've seen (=polite form).


After the play we went inside the castle, where Agnese e Rachele were appointed ladies by Queen Matilda, who named them: "lady Agnes" and "lady Rachel".
At the end of the ceremony Agnese had a crown in her head and Rachele a woman veil.
Then Rachele asked for the crown and her small head slippered quickly inside it.
(I would like to promise to publish a video about the ceremony, but I know that it won't happen in a decent time).

10-11/08: Derbyshire

We went for a two days trip to Derbyshire, having a look around the National Park of that region.
The weather was wonderful and the surrounding landscape was beautiful too.
The first half day we visited Kedleston Hall, an old mansion with a big garden and park. Unfortunately the house itself was closed for a wedding, but it was very pleasant to have a walk around there.

In the afternoon we visited Matlock Bath, a very nice village placed inside a narrow valley crossed by a river. I was really captured by it.... well, I really miss the mountains! :-)

Finally we went to the B&B we booked the day before: Manor Barn, which turned out to be in the middle of nowhere, surrounded just by sheep and close to a lake. It was absolutely lovely, highly recommended.

The day after we went to Ilam Park and then we had a walk in Dovedale, a site of the national park where it was possible to have a long walk beside the river. Since it was warm and sunny, it was really crowded. Still, it was beautiful to be there.


The most enjoyable part was probably the "stepping stones", a kind of path - of stones - to cross the river. All kids where enjoying it (as Agnese in the picture) and several had fallen in.

Finally, with half destroyed kids, we took the way home, but not the most sensible one: we decide to climb up the hills to admire more that landscape. We were surrounded by fields limited by fences made of stones (a kind of Brave hart scenario).

It has been a really lovely trip!

12-19/7: Alghero

After a very stressing period at work (let's also why there were no posts for a long time), we had one week of vacation in Sardinia.
It was the kind of vacation that you don't dream about doing, until you have kids :-)
We spent most of our time at the beach and we were really happy to have such a lot of time only between ourselves.

We have been dwelling at Hotel Mistral, and we were happy about the choice.
It was very warm during the whole time and for 8 days we didn't see a single cloud!

Agnese and Rachele had a lot of fun on the beach and Agnese learned to swim by herself with the help of the inflatable arm supporters (who knows how they are called!).

Alghero is a pretty lovely town, with a lot of Spanish influence, well kept walls and other old point of interests.

We have also been by boat to Neptune Caves.

It was a very nice excursion and Agnese and Rachele were really curious about their first experience in a cave. These were discovered during XV century and therefore are quite damaged or, better said, dead, meaning that the stalagmites are not growing any longer.
But they were really beautiful.

And clearly, as probably in any place in Sardinia, the sea water is fabulous!


We had a wonderful time!

First picture: sun set in Alghero's harbour.
Second one: Neptune Caves.
Last one: a coast landscape.