Buon anno...

To all my readers, fellow bloggers, and those of you who have only just stumbled across by little webspace, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Yes, I know it's a little late what with it already being the 8th and everything, but the year still feels nice and new to me. Stretching out ahead of us, full of promise and countless opportunities to explore, discover and of course, eat delicious things.

Talking of eating (which I almost always do), like many other human beings I have definitely indulged over the Christmas period. My trip to the UK was filled with family time, seeing friends, watching Sherlock and eating my body weight in Celebrations/Heroes/Christmas cake. But during the festive period, I deem it NECESSARY to enjoy yourself when it comes to food. Especially if, like me, you have 'suffered' (ahem) 5 months of pizza, pasta and mozzarella- a chicken curry and big helping of Christmas pudding are essential to break the routine a bit. As usual, I got rather snap happy with my food when I was at home in the UK, so feast your eyes upon these beauties....

I may have eaten most of what you can see here in a very short space of time....

YES, I definitely do eat my vegetables!

Coffee with a friend at Cafè Rouge (oo la la)

More coffee, this time with a nice helping of carrot cake

Best way to enjoy eggs? Benedict style of course.

No words are necessary for this.

 Although believe it or not, it wasn't all calorific indulgence.

A cold walk on Christmas day...

..plus dog of course

.

Well, when in Britain...

It had been a good few months since I'd been back home, and I have to say that I really felt the difference. Obviously the people surrounding me were no longer all chattering in Italian and gesticulating wildly, nor were they taking quick coffee shots before getting into their cars and failing to use their indicators at ANY point during their journey, but I did notice that the Brits just seem to be more controlled. Sometimes unnecessarily so, sometimes rightly so, but definitely more respectful of rules in general. This is something I both miss and have come to dislike at the same time. I have said this a million times, but living down here in the south, people are a little more 'relaxed' in all areas of life. They walk slower, take their time, don't worry about being late, eat later and don't even understand the concept of a queue. One day during the holidays, as I was standing in the queue in Boots, I found myself eyeing everyone up; ready to pounce if someone wanted to steal my spot in the line. Then I remembered that I was in BRITAIN, and we Britons know exactly how to queue. We're experts at it. Anyway, in short, I think it's fair to say that Italians and Brits are just different people. Who'd have known...

And now I'm safely back in the sunny Boot, willing to see what 2014 may bring. I don't exactly have any new year's resolutions, but I do want to continue travelling and explore this wonderful country. The political and economic situation may be troubling to say the least, and they may not have Miniature Heroes, but no-one can deny just how beautiful Italy really is.