Workmen gone, snow coming, 2 wet dogs.

The electrician, plumber and burglar alarm people were wonderful. If you have doubts about coming to live in Italy then don't be afraid of the standard of service and knowledge from the craftsmen here. They are every bit as professional as any of their peers in Germany or France. Our builder introduced us to his colleagues and we have been looked after wonderfully. The dark side of living in Italy is the bureaucracy. ENEL the electric utility to give them their due were efficient, they repaired the broken feed within two hours of it being reported but left it to us to discover that the power was back on - a call would have been nice. The inspector who came to make sure the boilers had been installed correctly spent two and a half hours filling out a form , he insisted on coming inside to do it as it was to cold outside ! Naturally, the requirements are that we install a sign on the front door saying that we have two boilers and providing a map to show where the extinguisher, fire blankets and other safety features are located. How many houses have you seen with a sign like that on their front door? Pure madness.

It has now started to snow. After a perfect day the temperature suddenly plummeted around four o'clock this afternoon and the first snow showers arrived half an hour later. The boyz are looking very dishevelled.