Remembrance Day

A day to remember those who lost their lives in war. On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 the guns of Europe fell silent. After four years of the most bitter and devastating fighting, The Great War was finally over. The Armistice was signed at 5am in a railway carriage in the Forest of Compiegne, France on November 11, 1918. Six hours later, at 11am, the war ended. That is why on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month we observe a 2-minute silence.

Olivia takes part in a Remembrance Day march every year with the Badgers and Cadets from St John Ambulance. I stayed and watched this year. We arrived at 10 am along with hundreds of other cadets from various organizations, British Legion etc. It was lovely turnout. The march was scheduled to leave at 10.30. At 10.30 the heavens opened, sods law! Thankfully it only lasted about half an hour but it was long enough for some of the children to be soaked through. We then had a service at the war memorial where Olivia and another Badger laid the St John poppy wreath, which was a very touching moment.

So Proud

Both of my girls have made me feel sooooo proud today. Youngest daughter was celebrated at school today for “being such a kind, helpful and friendly member of the class”. You get a certificate in assembly and have to stand up in front of the whole school to collect it. It brought a tear to my eye when I read the certificate in the school playground.

Eldest daughter is having a poem she wrote published in a book. I entered her poem in the Young Writers competition ages ago and completely forgot about it until I got a letter in the post this morning. Of course I will be buying a few copies of the book. The poem is as follows-

Dolphin Dolphin

Dolphin dolphin swim in the sea
Dolphin dolphin sing with me
Dolphin dolphin wiggle your tail
Dolphin dolphin swim like a whale

Chi Sono?

Sono musicista. Sono Americano. Il mio marito e Inglese. Ho una figlia e due figli. Sono molto bella. Io abito in centro di Londra ho tanti casi in tutto il mondo. Sono la ragazza di materiale! Chi sono?

The above is my Italian homework for this week. I feel so pleased with myself. However I cheated a little and got OH to help me when I got stuck. I will have to read it out in class tonight and see if they can guess whom the famous person is. It will be sods law that OH gets held up at work and I miss my lesson.

New Kit On The Block

OH is very disappointed that Bella our cat is not a lap cat and wants to spend most of her time with Olivia our eldest. So as a surprise I am buying him a Main Coon kitten for Christmas and birthday present. He is a little boy at the mo but the breeder thinks that he will grow to be a big boy. Look at the size of his feet!! How cute is he? He is 7 weeks old in the pic. I am sooo excited. I am going over to the Isle of Wight on December 10th by hovercraft to collect him. I am hopeless at keeping secrets and am fit to burst. I do hope that OH has no idea to what is going on. The breeder is Kassoro www.kassaro.demon.co.uk We got Bella from the same breeder, who is lovely and very helpful.

Viva Italia Show

The Viva Italia Show is currently on at Olympia in London. OH managed to get the day off, so we spent the morning there. Mother in law had Luca while the girls are at school. We have never been to this show before so was not sure what to expect. It was much smaller then La Dolce Vita show that is earlier in the year. However it was fantastic. The new Fiat 500 was there, which OH quite fancies. He has said that he only wants to buy one that is left hand drive and the correct plates i.e. Italian! I forgot to take my camera, which was a pain. The food was gorgeous and the people welcoming and friendly. We found a stall selling Italian vegetable seeds and bulbs, so we treated ourselves to some. Sounds sad but I cannot wait to try our own produce. I have never grown my own food before. I know the kids will enjoy the whole process. At least it gives us a bit of practice before the move, as we hope to grow plenty out in Italy. I also discovered a fantastic company called Piral that sell the most gorgeous cooking dishes. I managed to come away with one! Oh and the cheese, don’t get me started on the lovely cheese! We went by bike and the panniers were straining under the weight of all our shopping!

Shattered Dreams……..

Our house is not selling (sniff). Since we put it on back at the beginning of August we have had three viewings. I am not impressed. The market is not good at the mo. We have even dropped the price by 10k and still that has not generated any interest. So we have decided to take it off the market and put it back on in the spring next year. By doing this it will give us a chance to decorate a bit and hopefully the market will pick up. However it also means that we will not be moving in the summer of next year. I do believe that things happen for a reason (so I keep telling myself!). So we plan to move into our new completed house (yet to be found!) the beginning of summer 2009. It sounds such a long time away. Doing it this way also means that we can sort out middle daughters health before the move and also it might mean that OH can sell the business before the move so that we can all relocate together. So I am trying to put a positive spin on it but it is hard when you have set your heart on being in Italy next summer. Life is never easy…….

First Day

Amber started big school today. My little girl is growing up. Poor thing was ok for the first few minutes but then started to cry, which then started me welling up, followed by OH. He said that it was the worst thing he has ever had to do. He took it worse then she did. I collected Amber three and half hours later, hop, skip and jumping her way out of school. She said that she had a lovely day (phew!). Lets hope tomorrow goes well =-)