wor jackie

Me and HP went to the Cats Protection League on Saturday and chose a kitten. He’s a brown tabby and HP has named him Jack after this painter, because I got to name Miles. But to my mind, Jack is named after someone else completely.

He’s not at home yet. I don’t want to miss out on any fun so they’re keeping for him another two weeks until I move back to the UK.

wynjer

There’s a buzz of excitement today among Rush fans as last night the band kicked off their 30th anniversary tour in Nashville, USA. I am not one of the silly european fans who are trying not to know the setlist before the UK shows in September so here are my thoughts.

The set is something of a mixed bag. Yes, there is Between The Wheels and some other seldom played tunes making an appearance (some only in one of the medleys). They are also playing 4 songs from their forthcoming album of covers. I’m not overjoyed about that but it’s tolerable if it means they’re enjoying themselves. But why must they continue to play songs like Working Man and Roll The Bones and ignore the likes of the majestical, The Camera Eye? Not to mention not playing anything from their Presto album.

It will be interesting to see if/how the set evolves as the tour progresses.

jolly cars

My car was towed away again this morning. Last night I parked in the small square at the end of my street and this morning there was a market there to celebrate some saint or something. There was a sign stating not to park there today – I noticed it this morning – but it was positioned in a place that was impossible to see from the route I took into the square. I’m not really bothered; I’m going home soon!

This being the second time this has happened, I knew exactly where to go. The compound is on the way to work anyway so I was only around 10 minutes late.

arrivederci

Good news. I’m going home to the UK next week. For good.

It’s quite strange. Last week I was working in the UK and had a chat with my department director about coming back; what I would be doing, etc. Nothing was really decided but I said I’d start the ball rolling at my end. I had envisaged weeks of pestering the relevant people to get it all sorted out. And then this afternoon my boss came and asked for a quickword. He told me I was being repatriated next week to continue working on the project in the UK.

I’m amazed. Delighted too but mainly amazed at the moment. A little suspicious too. There may be some politics behind this.

Now I have the logistical nightmare of moving all my stuff back. I’d planned doing it gradually: each visit home I’d take some more stuff until I was only left with a suitcase-full and the stuff I’ll have to send via a courier.

I was just about to save this when I was copied on an email from my italian boss to my UK boss. It seems a chance comment by me has been misunderstood and things have spiralled from there.

what a show

The Peter Gabriel concert in Pesaro on Wednesday was fantastic. I took a lot of photos and will hopefully put some up online this weekend.

and the toys…

I’ve only ever worked for one company so I’ve never experienced working a notice period before. It must be something like I’m experiencing now. Due to a combination of the project being in-between phases and me departing for the UK in (hopefully) under two months, there’s very little work to do. Mentally, I’ve already left too. I know it’s unprofessional but, well, bollocks! I don’t care.

Christ it’s boring though. Aimless surfing is much more fun when it’s illicit.

return

I’m going home today. Yay! I’ll leave the office in an hour…

Good news yesterday when HR here at HQ gave in to HR in the UK and OK’d me to go back for more training. Even better news when I said it would be a better use of my time to stay and work in the UK for the whole week. And they agreed! Woo!

feeding the rhythm

I’m off up the road to see Peter Gabriel in Pesaro next Wednesday. I’ve bought one of the special VIP tickets so I will be at the soundcheck and get a goody bag full of, uhm, goodies! Yay!

I like PG. Not a die-hard fan but I know he puts on a spectacular show so I’m really looking forward to it. Plus I’ll get to see Tony Levin who is uber-cool. I hope he wears his “funk fingers”!

making plans for herbert

I’ve begun to make plans for when I return home from Italy. First thing I’m going to do is get broadband installed. Then a wireless LAN is in order so I can surf from the lounge or garden (I get jip from HP on the amount of time I spend at my computer so this should help). Herbert, my home PC, donated some of his bits to Frank, my PC here in Italy, so he will have to undergo a full change and mutate into Maude, HP’s machine. Frank has a better spec and case than Herbert anyway. The existing Maude will become sort of server probably and I’ll have to think of a suitable strange name for it… “Aubrey” perhaps or something like that.

Also on the shopping list are a DVD writer and one of those wicked Logitech bluetooth keyboards. Actually that last one is more a wish-list item as it’s so damned expensive. Cool though.

Once I have broadband I’ll be able to replace Media Player 9 with iTunes. MP9 is OK from a functional point of view but it looks shit!