Novara - Milano - Novara

It's seriously windy here today. The curtain on our kitchen balcony keeps trying to free itself. I would tie it back, but then I would have to contend with the fierce midday sun (that being the point of the curtain to start with.. blocking out the sun). Anyway, lots, lots, LOTS has been going on.

I bought my annual train pass which cost a mere 570E!!! That's 47.5 a month - flippin bargainous!

We also bought a floor. Yep, a FLOOR. I don't know if you remember our hideous floor tiles in the living area? (if not, scroll down for a peek) Well, we went and bought some laminate to cover it all up. Yes, it's going to mean planing/sanding the bottom of the front and balcony doors down, and in all honesty, I think it's a hassle, but the floor is really nice! It's not your average beech or birch laminate that looks exactly like what it is... laminate. It's matte and greyish in tone, Rustic Pine I believe it's called. It cost a small fortune, but no more than a couple of huge rugs would have. Bring on the new flooring!

I went to work today to sign my official contract and met most of the other teachers in our school, they are all really lovely (2 Italian, 2 American 1 Scottish). Two of them worked there last year and the other three are new. It's all exciting and scary and I'm back tomorrow for training. Eep!

I still have a lot to do here in the house. We have a family friend (who is an artist out of work at the moment) coming to stay with us from Tuesday evening and he's going to paint our flat. Before he gets here, we need to remove all the nails in the walls and fill the holes (seriously, there are at least 50 nails in the walls here), we also need to dismantle all the empty boxes and put them in the cantina, and we need to tackle anything that hasn't been put away and some stuff that has been put away, so that it's as empty as possible for ease of painting. Hey, this time next week we should have colour :D

Also, this time next week is the first day of term and hopefully I will have overcome my nervousness by now!

Anyhoo, I must get on, I am off to Cameri in a bit to pack up the last of the stuff (which is all bits and bobs, sigh) and give the place a quick clean. And then to tackle the new sound. YAWN. It's never ending!

Progress/sleeping badly

This is me hiding behind my second coffee of the morning and all I want to do is go back to sleep. I slept really badly last night, it was humid, too warm, I was scared of mosquitoes, so tried desperately to stay covered, which added to my warmth and I couldn't get comfortable all night.

Why did I sleep so badly? Because we spent the previous night at the new flat, or the new sound as we like to call it (Mighty Boosh anyone?).

Our first night in the new flat was great, we bought a bigger table for our kitchen because the small breakfast table we used in brighton was perfect for that long, narrow kitchen, but in the new flat, it just created a huge wasted space in the middle of the room. So we got a 4 person table and it fits perfectly, it uses the space well, it is bigger which is always a plus for what I think of as Italian dining, i.e. put everything on the table and help yourself, as opposed to English dining where everything is served onto plates in the kitchen and the plates are brought to the table, and yeah, it looks good.

Seeing as our electricity is still not connected, the bf bought a selection of cold goods from the supermercato, ham, crackers, insalata Russa, fritatta, focaccia and we had ourselves a little feast.

complete with screwdriver from making the table.

The light is poor because as the sun set, we kicked ourselves for not picking up some candles, but it added to the romantic nature of our first night there.

We finally slept in a real bed. Not just any bed, but a bed with a HUGE matress, bigger than our old one, which is firm and soft at the same time. I slept like a baby and enjoyed a nap after the bf had gone to work in the morning. Bliss. This is why I slept so badly in Cameri last night. The crappy mattress, the poor, unsupportive bedframe, yuk, it's done me no favours :(

Our order from UniEuro was delivered yesterday, so we now have a dishwasher, cooker, fridge and washing machine (courtesy of the bf's Dad, Mr.C), but still no gas or electricity :\ I jigged our kitchen around a little bit and I can't wait for the worktops to be fitted this weekend. It's finally starting to look like a home. Well, the kitchen is at least ;)