My bidet is leaking.  This would not be a problem if it were used for what a bidet is meant to be used for, washing the lower regions, because it would not be used at all.  I use it for hand washing and soaking my feet.  It is conveniently situated right in front of the toilet which we all know is the most comfortable place in the house to sit and read, so I can easily soak my toes while tucking into my favorite book.  Though all houses in Italy, possibly continental Europe, still come equipped with bidet, I don't know how many are actually used for their intended purposes.  They came in handy when there was no central heating and people only bathed once a week but now with modern plumbing and heating everywhere, (except Great Britain), I think bidet are only used for bathing by the elderly and whore houses.   But though it's impossible to find an apartment without a bidet, it is perfectly easy to find one without a full kitchen.  Often times "furnished" apartments are only furnished with an electric cooking top and a hotel fridge in the corner of a room and they'll call that the kitchen.  I have a colleague, a young Englishman, who does his dishes where?  In the bidet!  Why he doesn't do them in the bathroom sink is beyond me but it all reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer prepares dinner for Elaine in his shower.  So back to my leaky bidet.  For a while now the floor in the "girls" bathroom has been wet and I've been secretly blaming Grace for not shutting the shower curtain enough.  Then last weekend she was gone overnight and there was still a large puddle beside the tub in the morning.  So after days of wrestling with the shower curtain, rearranging it this way or that, this morning while wiping up yet more water, I discovered a leak.  We've had this place since 1990.  It was practically used only 15 days a year for 20 years but everything is beginning to fall apart.  We've replaced the fridge, the water heater, both showers (one the entire stall), some of the external roll-down shutters, half of the radiators and the garage door.  That's just since moving back last year and I'm sure I'm forgetting something.  I'm expecting the washing machine and the stove to go next.  Oh the joys of home ownership.  xxoo me

I'm home sick again.  Sore throat.  Half the school is ill with something.  I think we're all rotting as hasn't stopped raining in weeks.  This is winter in Central Europe.  Last year's beautiful, sunny season was all an illusion to keep me from packing my bags and escaping while I still could.  Now I'm trapped and mouldering.  Sooooooo, as I needed to get a slip from the doctor, which makes me feel like a naughty schoolgirl, I used this occasion to show him the results of my recent blood tests.  It would seem that I've been misbehaving.  Oh retrieveth your minds from the gutter.  Not like that!  (It was the naughty schoolgirl comment wasn't it?)   No, alas, my cholesterol is a wee bit high.  (Note that in Italy the ceiling is 240 not 200).  And though I'm sure it has nothing at all to do with the incredible Italian chocolate that I barely nibble or the 200 types of local cheeses that almost never pass my lips, he's cut me off and told me to retake the test in 3 months.  Son of a bitch.  Of course now all I can think about is chocolate and cheese.
My doctor is actually a lovely man though I only understand half of what he says.  I don't know if it's the vocabulary he uses, MEDICAL words and such, or the fact that he bites off the ends of his words and speaks really quickly.  I always have to lean forward and watch his lips while he's talking, and ask a lot of questions to clarify.  I'm sure he thinks I'm strange but he wouldn't be the first.  Every time I go in I get a lecture on some discourse.  Today it was beef.  Locally raised, free range beef is good.  German beef raised in "lagers", or concentration camps, and shot up with hormones and antibiotics, is bad.  There are two things to be said here.  First of all, lots of Italians still dislike the Germans, as seen by the use of the word "lagers" when describing the factory raised beef imported from the neighbors in the north.  Secondly, as I pointed out, the raising of animals in this industrial, inhumane way, probably came from the U.S..  He ignored me and continued his rant.  It's not the first time I've heard Italians blame all that's evil on the Germans.  There is a lot of resentment left over from the war, especially in the North where it was occupied for so long.  I think they'll still need another generation before the slate is wiped clean.  GP's parents were children during the occupation and have vivid memories of executions and disappearances of neighbors, of brothers being beaten and of having to run and hide in the wine cellars.  As long as their generation is alive so are all those memories.  Strange but most of the Germans I know are vegetarians.  xxoo me

It's really interesting following the news from two sides of the "pond".  I read CNN and other American news channels online and watch the national news here on TV.  I've been half watching the playing out of the Amanda Knox case.  In Italy everyone is convinced that she's guilty where in the States most seem to think she's innocent.  I watched an interview with Alan Dershowitz, (I think is was), and he said that had she been tried in the U.S., with the amount and type of evidence against her that they have here, she'd probably be on death row.  Where Americans think that she's a victim of a banana republic type legal system, she has actually been freed in the face of overwhelming evidence.  It is very difficult to be imprisoned in Italy, impossible to be executed.  While seen suffering in a cell she had weekly hairdressing appointments, (yes, they do that here), and university classes.  And on American news channels they keep using the term "double jeopardy", implying that she's been tried twice, that's actually not the case.  Her first trial, where she was found guilty, was overturned.  Then going to an upper court, THAT decision was overturned.  She was never really "retried" but judges just reviewed the original trial, facts and evidence.  The day that this new verdict came in, Friday I think, Sollicito, Knox's onetime boyfriend and co-defendant, was found trying to cross over the border into Switzerland.   Unfortunately for him he forgot to leave his very traceable cellphone at home.  Something, or should I say someone, that is never mentioned either here or there, is the man who really is sitting in prison for this crime.  At the time of the murder three people were arrested; Knox, Sollicito and an African man named Guede who was tried and immediately found guilty of assisting in her death.  I find it sad that so much attention has been paid to Knox, a young pretty, white American, and this poor guy is languishing in jail.  He was convicted not of the murder by the way, but of having assisted others in the murder.  Those "others" are still free.  No worries for him though as he'll be out in another year or so as long sentences tend to end up being 5-10 years max.  While a lot of America sees the Italian justice system as being harsh it's actually waaaaayyyyy to lenient.  Knox will never see a day of jail here and Sollicito will get another appeal that will go on for years.  You'd have to burn down a fully booked orphanage to be put away for any length of time in this country.  The streets are swarming with people who should be in jail for one thing or another.  So is the government for that matter....  xxoo me