That time of year is soon upon us (me)...Ravello baby!!

MAP SHOWING RAVELLO

I shall soon be back in my father's home village of Ravello, in the Campania region in Southern Italy.  I have been visiting family and friends in Ravello for most of the years of my life. It feels like my second home.  Ravello sits on top of the mountains along the Amalfi Coast and has some of the most fantastic views and scenery in the whole of Italy....the whole of the world infact.  The Amalfi Coast, or Costiera Amalfitana, is nicknamed the Jewel of the South for obvious reasons.

VIEW FROM RAVELLO

Ravello is amongst one the famous tourist destinations in the area.  Others places include Amalfi, Positano, Capri, Sorrento and Naples.  Whatever anyone says about Southern Italy and its small villages is true - typical wrinkled old lady wearing black and along with matching headscarf, 100 year-old old men still carrying sacks of cement, shopping, or both.  The list is endless.

Ravello is most famous for it's creation of the very famous alcoholic drink Limoncello.  This "a pair of teeth" or aperitif has now been copied by all and sundry which I feel has ruined its uniqueness.  Whats makes Ravello's Limoncello different are the lemons.  Ravello's lemons are the best, end of!

PIAZZA VESCOVADO, RAVELLO

May I also remind readers amongst you, that know or do not know, that many famous people have married in Ravello.  People including England football legend Gary Linekar, Blackadder star Tony Robinson, and also Italian footballer Alessandro Nesta.  My sister was married in Ravello too, but she's not famous.
I would urge any travellers, friends and colleagues visiting Italy to pop into the village and just spend at least a few hours sitting in the Piazza, sipping on a hot espresso (or limoncello) whilst munching on a freshly made Sfogliata as you watch the world go by.  May I suggest you visit the family bar called Bar Calce which is situated in the middle of the square. 

Feel free to mention my name!

Movie Review - "Insidious"

Well, what can I say.  I waited and waited and waited to see this film, following copius amounts of reviews from colleagues and friends, who all (might I add) said it was "creepy", "scary" and "messed up".

For those who dont know me I am a BIG fan of paranormal reality shows, such as Ghost Adventures, Most Haunted, Ghost Hunters and My Ghost Story and have a very big interest in the paranormal.  After sitting through films such Paranormal Activity 1 and 2 (1 is better!), which I thought was quite realistic, shocking and most importantly diverse compared to every other Hollywood slasher movie, at last I had found a film that would at least scare me equally or more than the above.

Well, first of all the film is enjoyable and at times quite freaky, but I felt personally felt it got a bit stupid towards the end.  What starts out as a film about a boy that is haunted by a various evil demons, who show themselves in various scary ways,  quickly turns into a film about ghosts who look like the extras from Michael Jackson's Thriller music video.  I felt the end was a tad bit rushed and turned into a B-grade/SyFy type horror movie in the end.

Regardless of this I did enjoy the film and did let out a little wee at some of the jumpy scary parts.  I feel that the hype made this film less than I was expecting.  I give this a 7/10.

Click on the trailer above!  There is a full movie summary on IMDB along with other reviews and comments - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095/

Great film, great fight scene - Donnie Yen in Sha Po Lang

This is an excellent bit of choreography from 2 world famous Chinese Martial Art Movie Stars (Donnie Yen with the asp and Jacky Wu with the knife).  A great fight with a great sound track too!

Here is the movie link on IMDB for more info - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478024/

Enjoy!

Recruitment Agencies.....arrrrghhhhh

Having recently lost my job, ok I resigned, but anyway...I registered at 6 recruitment agencies.  In the last 2-3 weeks I have had contact from.....none of them.  Some choose to ignore my bi-daily emails asking for them some sort of evidence of life or if they remember me?

I am now starting to get strangely paranoid, believing that every agency in the UK have met up in an undisclosed location and have shared my details and CV around like a cheap slut and that they have all secretly but unanimously agreed to ignore my emails, just to annoy me.  Well, ITS BLOODY WORKING!!!  I find myself shouting at my inanimate laptop...

I have now started contacting companies myself and have found that to be more successful.  Though this is true its hard to believe that 6 agencies, so 6 individual people who are trained and employed (and paid more than I care to imagine) to find people like me a job.  So what does this say about recruitment agents if I, an ex-fleet manager, can do better on my own!

This is not to say all agencies should be tarred with the same brush, but the ones I have met should be tarred and set alight!

In all fairness one of the 6 agencies has been more honest and forthcoming than the others and has sent me the odd job link their name.  It seems that my ex-colleagues who are also in the same boat unfortunately share my sentiments and experience?

Discuss!!! (please be gentle this is my first post/blog!)