E DAJE ROMA! Roma-Lazio 1-0

E daaaaaaaaaaaaaaai! Grande Rome! I hope we are now finally back on track. If we hadnt won would have been second from bottom..although we are only 4th from bottom now... vabbe... we just now need to follow it with a winat Lecce this weekend.

The match started with 5 minutes of silence for Gabrielle....initiated by the Sud as it is a year since his death. The laziali started chanting 'andate in B' and had a huge B made of red and yellow balloons in the Nord: So Rude!

We obviously responded with 'undici anni in B'! Unfortunately the Derby is no longer what it used to be, with large sections of Monte Mario empty, no banners and only a few flares. Big back the old days!!!!

The first half was boring and we didn't play that well. Totti still isn't at his best ma il capitano e' sempre il capitano so they say. Vucinic didnt impress...again. Brighi was once again one of the best on the pitch and should always start. The match was quite even until Baptista managed to score. Then followed the longest every 45 minutes. As usual with Roma nothing is ever easy. Lazio have a player sent off and then nearly score (just like Napoli did against us) and missed the usual 100 chances to score and close the match. Menez had only the keeper to beat and hit it straight at him. We need to stop passing the ball and shoot the bloody thing! I was screaing so match I hardly had any voice left! We then obviously had Perrotta sent off in true Roma style but luckily managed to win!

De Rossi went mad! It means so much to him! He is the Vero Capitano!

MAGICA!!! Roma-Chelsea 3-1!!!!!!!!

GRAAAAAAAAAAAANDEEEEEEEEEEEE ROMA! I hardly have a voice left after all the screaming and shouting last night! AMAZING! Unfortunately we were only just 30,000 at the stadium. Terrible showing for a match like this but we definitely were the 12th man (although there was a section of the Curva still singing Tifiamo solo la Maglia). The Curva really got behind them when they came on for the warm up and the players in turn clapped us and from then on the support was amazing. I spent the first half complaining about my friend Vucinic and then had to put up with my friends winding me up about it for the rest of the night. Unbelievable is all I can say. Don't know how we did it. It was as if we were another team. Brighi is under rated and should always play. Cicinho ran like a mad man for the entire match and even Vucinic managed to play well. The defence is another story without Riise. Great to see the team come under the curva at the end and Danielino's face...he is the real Captiano. He is crazy! We just have to keep it up against Bologna on Saturday and against Lazio. Time to start winning in the league now.

VENESI AS ROMA

VENDESI AS ROMA, RIVOLGERSI A ROSELLA SENSI. IN OMAGGIO SPALLETTI".

Bello! (AS Roma For Sale. Spalletti included for free. Contact Rosella Sensi.

Just hope that they do sell as she is destroying Roma. Cosi we will go into Serie B. It’s embarrassing. We are now 4th from the bottom. I’m lost for words. They only time we don’t lose is when we don’t play!

Udinese-Roma 3-1 It gets even worse......

La Roma quest'anno fa schifo! What has gone wrong??? After a good performance against Chelsea mid-week what happened to the team. There is no enthusiasm. No grinta. Loria is complete waste of space. He is bad that he went off at half time and De Rossi played in defence! Insane. Vucinic only woke up for a while and I hardly noticed any of the other players... Udinese were awarded a penalty for a foul outside the area and we were only awarded 1 of 3 that we should have been given. To make matters worse Vucinic got a yellow card for falling over in the box when he was brought down, and he now misses the match against Samp on Wednesday. I'm sure we won't notice his absence but that's not the point. Rosella Sensi has announces that the team will be in ritiro straight away to show onore alla maglia e rispetto per i tifosi.... i'd rather she bought some decent players or sold the club to some one that will invest in it. It's time the Sensi went. The fans have turned and you could hear the usual 'solo la maglia' and 'andate a lavorare' chants and I have to say I agree. Today was absolutely pathetic.

Roma-Inter 0-4 Non ho parole

I just don’t know what has happened to la Roma….. So I’ll start on a positive note: Juve, in the years of Trap, after 7 games had 7 points, like us, and went on to win the title....so you never know! Now back to reality. With Juve having the same problems as us things aren’t as bad as they could be. I doubt Napoli, Udinese and Catania can keep up the pace but I think we will, however, be fighting for 4th place max. The new players still need to integrate and learn the language but I still don’t understand why we didn’t buy a striker...Can someone please explain that to me?!!! Crespo wasn’t in the list of convocati on Sunday and rumour is that was because he will join Roma in January. Ex-Laziale….I’ll take anyone at this point if they are capable of scoring some goals!

Vucinic and Aquilani manage to play like a dream in the Internationals and then like idiots in the campionato. Totti played well which is the only good thing to come out of last night. The rest of the team (except De Rossi) disappointed. Doni’s form had disappeared and I can now remember why I used to hate him so much. The defence doesn’t exist. Loria and Riise are useless. Cicinho again put in a terrible performance and was to blame for 2 of the goals. Perrotta was no where to be seen. The Curva Sud were the real winners.....they really got behind the team at the end and the singing got louder and louder (Che sarà, sarà, ovunque ti seguirem, ovunque ti sosterrem). I hope they don’t turn against the team just yet. They gave grief to those that decided to get up and leave at 4-0.

Fingers crossed for Wednesday.........................I think we need a miracle against Chelsea. Can we pleeeeeease pull off a draw!

Hospitals in Rome

Last week I had to visit the podiatrist at the hospital for the first time since living here. What an experience! It seems one hospital is as bad as the next here. Luckily I wasn’t going in for anything serious….I don’t think I’d even want to have a plaster stuck on my finger in a hospital here!

The paint was peeling off the walls, the walls were covering in writing, the place was dirty and there were minimal furnishings. When I walked into the office it stunk of smoke….someone had obviously been smoking away before I got there.

I hope I never have to go back to a hospital again in this country.

Roma-Atalanta 2-0

Roma played in front of an almost empty stadium again, with the lowest ticket sales in years. We had to manage without Totti, De Rossi, Baptista, Juan, Cassetti, Tonnetto and Pizarro. Will we very play our fist 11?! We played quite well in the first half, and just as me and my friends said Panucci should be our striker he scored! He is capocanoniere for Roma so far this season, which is insane for a defender. As for my friend Vucinic who should be scoring lots of goals for us… well he finally scored his first goal of the season.....why we keep him I don’t know... Menez went off to applause again and even Riise got a huge cheer after his shot on goal never the end of the match. Cicihno played well again and it was great to see Mexes back in the centre of our defence. Spalletti will have a tough time deciding what to when Juan is back to full fitness. How can he leave Panucci, our main goal scorer on the bench. “Vogliamo undici Panucci” (we want 11 Panucci’s) sang the Curva Sud. He gives everything, he’s a really fighter and shouldn’t be on the bench. Brighi is also impressing this year, since being given chance to start the last few games due to all the injuries.

Tomorrow we have Bordeux fuori casa – a must win match. We still have an injury crisis and they are now saying that it is the pitch at Trigoria that is causing so many injuries. With so many injuries occurring in training this could be right.

Totti etc wont be back until Roma-Inter (Cassetti even later) in a few weeks time. Baptista will be on the bench tomorrow and Juan possibly for Siena on Sunday but if they play they will have to answer their call up for the National team, which Roma don't want, so they might not play. De Rossi will be back for the match tomorrow night and we have no choice but to win... I’m worried!

Genoa-Roma 3-1

UFFA!!!!!! What has happened to la nostra Roma! What happened over the summer to completely destroy this team. The departure of Giuly, Mancini and Ferrari can't have had that big an impact. We have still not been able to play our first 11...or 10... or 9..or 8... and it won't happen for a while. Totti will miss the match with Atalanta on Sunday and is not definie for the key match with Bordeux in the Champions League on Wednesday. Juan has vannished....Baptista is out for 3 weeks, Mexes should recover for Sunday, Cassetti and Tonetto are injured and De Rossi now has a one match ban thanks to his red card last night.

Again we were unable to score. Vucinic is incapable of scoring a goal so that was left to De Rossi. Menez played well, as did Cicinho, but we missed Aquilani who was on the bench with an injury. Okaka looked good when he came on for Menez. The problem of scoring goals has still not been solved. We need to sell Vucinic for a real striker.

Panucci had a goal ruled of side when he was 3 metres on side. All we need. This would have allowed us to draw and maybe win the match as we were playing slighter better at that time. However, Roma being Roma lost their heads and De Rossi was sent off. It is all like 4 years ago. The refs against us and players being sent off. If we don't win on Sunday I dont think they will have the support from the fans any more. This cant go on.

Roma-Reggina 3-0 - Finalmente una Vittoria

I finally managed to get RB to the stadium and it seemed to bring us luck! The match started with a massive choreography for Franco Sensi, with the ultras presenting Rosella and Maria Sensi with a framed photo of the President. The Curva Sud all waved flags whilst in Distinti we all held up red cards. A huge photo-banner of Franco Sensi was then unravelled over the Curva Sud. It’s been a long time since we last did something like this at the stadium. Probably the Po-po-po-pooo choreography was the last major one 3 seasons ago.

There was also a banner for my friend's cousin who recently had a baby. He also got to go down onthe track and hold up the main banner:

There were more people at the stadium than for the match on Tuesday, however, still not enough tifosi if you ask me. Roma never announce the official numbers of attendances or season ticket holders but it seems we had less than the Laziali managed last week. Not a good sign. Aquilani and Menez played well together and I was actually quite impressed with Menez. He went off to a standing ovation. Aquilani again was one of the best on the pitch. I hope he renews his contract. He is our main goal scorer so far this season. Totti looking more like his old self and set up the goal for Perrotta. Vucinic as useless as ever and missed the usual 100 chances to score. I don't understand why we didn't sell him and buy a real striker. Great to see Perrotta back. Panucci scored again... still no goals by our strikers....... Roma are now in a press silence... not sure why. We have to beat Genoa on Wednesday and keep up the momentum.

Palermo-Roma 3-1 CHE DISASTRO!

The worst ever start to a season since Spalletti took over. We have completely fallen apart over the summer. When we have first team players out injured we are just useless. Vucinic pulled out at the last minute. Mexes, Perrotta, Totti and Juan remained at Trigoria with injuries.

De Rossi, Aquilani and Doni carried the team. Doni doesnt train during the week because he is injured but has to play matches as we have no one else. Pizarro was to blame for one goal. They were terrible. Montella did better than Okaka but still didn't score. We played so well for 23 mins and then fell apart. Taddei missed an open shot on goal. De Rossi suffered a freak neck injury and had to go off. All we need. Cassetti should have played instead of Cicinho. Why didnt Tonetto play as well. Menez was good for 10 minutes and then faded. He keeps the ball for too long and then loses it instead ofd passing it. But what do you expect when you buy 2 players in the last days before the start of the season and give vthem no time at all to gel. We are unprepared and the Sensi's need to sell before they destroy us. Inter won thanks to 2 Catania own goals. Where is our luck?!

Totti left training touching his knee this morning so we will be without Totti, De Rossi, Mexes, Juan, Perrotta and Vucinic on Tuesday. I think we will lose unfortunately.

Roma-Napoli 1-1

Not the best start to the season. Roma were terrible. Vucinic really has to go. I don't understand why he plays. All he does is miss easy shots on goal. We couldn't even beat Napoli in 10! Aquilani was great, Baptista and Menez still haven't integrated into the team. Hopefully this 2 week break will help. We stillneed a real striker. i don't understand why we don't buy one. Meno male Inter, Fiorentina and Juve drew, and Milan lost. However we are stuck with the Laziale at the top of the table for a couple of weeks.....

The match started with 10 minutes of clapping in memory of Franco Sensi and Maria Sensi laid a bunch of flowers in his seat.

Napoli fans were allowed to attend what will pobably be their last away match for some time after the events of yesterday. They could buy 1 ticket each and it was rumoured 10 000 tifosi would descend on Rome. They were allowed to come with the reason being if we can't hold Roma-Napoli how can we hold the Champions League final. The train from Naples was due to leave at 930 but the fans invaded the train without tickets so they wouldnt let the train leave. In the end the normal passengers had to get off the train and the nutters got on and it didnt leave until 1230. The train eventually arrived at 1510 and they got to the stadium for the 2nd half, which isnt really fair when theyve paid for a ticket. They rioted with the police outside the stadium, destroyed the train (500 000 euro worth of damage) and 60 000 euro worth of damage to buses in Rome. They didnt get to leave the stadium until 1930! One Naoli fan was stabbed... as usual. You can see the trouble they caused here.

http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/cronaca/treno-napoli/1.html

More complaining....

I know I complain alot but I really think I have reason this time. I moved apartment on 1 April and informed AMA, the rubbish disposal people that we pay every 6 months (with the amount paid depending on the size of your apartment and the number of people living there), via fax TWICE on 7 April. Since the next bill wasted due until July I thought this was sufficient time and forgot all about it - although since I'd paid up until July don't they owe me money?! Anyway, a month ago I went to collect post from my old apartment and what do i find? A bill from AMA for the period July to December! At which point I go mad! Why does nothing run smoothly in this place?! I go back home and look for the number to call AMA. Get this... you can't call them! You have to call the Commune (council), who call AMA, who then call you! Insane! 3 weeks later they eventually called RB back (I can't deal with these people!) and they managed to track down the fax! Phew! If only it ended there.... they then said they'd issue a bill for January to April, and RB bring RB said ok.... Obviously I paid that already in December last year. Do they not keep track of what people pay??? Could I have been getting away without paying anything if this is how they track payments?!!!! I now have to repeat the same process again to stop them sending the bill... so far I've been waiting 2 weeks for them to call RB.... what a way to run a company! As for the gas.... I've given up! It will remain in my name for ever more! This week the final electricity bill came...... only took nearly 5 months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Menez é della Roma! At last a decent signing!

Roma finally signed a good player. At only 22 he will be good buy for the future as well. Its seems ex-giallorosso Cufre helped to convince him to move to Roma. He looks amazing from what I've seen of him on You-Tube. We are only the fourth favourites to win the Scudetto according to the bookies here but I think we will be up there with them. We have made a couple of good signings and our performance on Sunday was good. Speriamo bene!

Last night the Champions League Draw was made and we drew Chelsea, which we will struggle with. We can't seem to play the English teams. We also need to watch out for Bordeaux. At least we didn't get bloody Manchester United again!

16 September: Roma-Cluj
1 October: Bordeaux - Roma
22 October: Chelsea-Roma
4 November: Roma-Chelsea
26 November: Cluj-Roma
9 December: Roma-Bordeaux

10 000 Napoli fans will be making their way to Rome on Sunday. Only 5000 tickets are available. Fans were queuing up over night at the San Paolo following last nights Inter-toto match. I hope it doesn't kick off as any trouble over the next few months and Rome will not be allowed to host the Champions League final in May 2009.

Super Coppa Final Inter-Roma 8-7 (Penalties)

Such a shame! So close, yet so far. Another defeat at the hands of Inter. We didn’t play so well in the first half but we picked it up a bit in the second half. Baptista only impressed in the 2nd half, and I have to say I was surprised with Riise. Aquilani wasn’t really on form. I have to say Doni made some amazing saves and I have to take back all of the bad things I’ve said about him in the past. Daniele scored another bomba from way out. Grande Daniele. Totti is still way off form. He came on in the last ten minutes and didn’t look good at all. He hardly touched the ball. He only managed to push two Inter players over and give them 2 free kicks. We definitely had more chances in the extra time. Okaka came on and had a few chances. He has definitely improved…although I’m not sure about the hair cut! I couldn’t watch when De Rossi went to take the penalty, but at least now he is back to scoring them! Shame the same couldn’t be said for il Capitano. He shouldn’t have taken it. Losing to Inter 8-7 on penalties isn’t such a bad start to the season. To be honest it shows we are further ahead than I thought. We desperately need a real striker. Vucinic just doesn’t cut it. I really don’t understand why we persist with him.

Only 4 days until the start of the season and Roma-Napoli! I can’t wait! Although the visiting 5000 Napoletani do worry me a bit! I could do with starting the season off quietly, not with the outbreak of world war 3!

Looks like we are close to buying Menez. Fingers crossed as he actually looks like a good investment at last.

Want to go halves?!

As I may have mentioned before Landlords here are a nightmare. They want to take your money every month but do absolutely nothing for it! They seem to think they are not responsible for anything. Here we have water heating systems that are so old I've seen them in the UK yet they are in every house here! No central heating here! I have an electric water heater with an on/off switch - no timer! In my old apartment this had to be replaced twice resulting in World War 3 breaking out between me and my landlord. He didn't care that the water heater was broken so I called a plumber, had it replaced and only when the cost of this was missing from the following months rent did he care.

After only 3 months in my new house the same thing has happened. I switch the water heater on and it tips the electricity in the house! Here we go again! The plumber came the next day and told the landlord that it is so old he should replace it so the landlord asks me if I want to go halves on a new one!!!!!!! Seriously!!! What planet do these people live on! Maybe he'll he go halves on a new car for me then, if that's how it works!!! The plumber even said it is broken from 20 years of calcium build up, not 3 months! In the end the landlord paid to repair it....some people are unbelievable!

Just look at how much calcium the plumber took out and after 3 months the landlord wants me to go halves on a new one!!! Come on!





First friendly match of the season tonight against Steaua Bucarest. Speriamo bene.... Even Totti has travelled so we might see him. Forza Roma!

Getting ready for the 2008/2009 Season

Today the draw was made for this Season and we have Napoli at home on the first day (31 August), followed by Palermo. Not the best start. First match at home with no away fans and possibly only season ticket holders isn't the best way to start a season. We play Inter at home on 19 October, Juve away on 2 November, the Derby (home) on 16 November and Milan is the second to last match on 11 January at home. At least the draw isn't as bad as last year, but at the end of the day we have to play all of the teams at some point.

The whole Mutu saga has come to an end and we are still on the look out for a striker. Will we ever get one! We need to replace Mancini as well.

Last night thieves stole Mexes' wife's car as she was returning home from a dinner in Axa. They drove the car off with Mexes' daughter still asleep on the backseat. Luckily they abandoned the car a few kms away and the girl was OK. She had slept through it all.

Here's one I made earlier.....

I went to get my Season ticket. Off I went to my local lottomatica thinking how great it was not to have to go all the way to a Roma Store.....as usual it wasn't to be so simple. As I wanted the discount for women I had to go to a Roma Store. Next stop the Roma Store in San Giovani. I filled in my form and went to pay and was told in order to get the discount I needed a photo. Why was this not mentioned any where on the Roma website???? Why do I need a photo?? Am I not obviously female????? I then had to go to the local metro station to take the photos (it's a 110 euro discount so i wasn't going to give up). I returned with the photos and finally got the go ahead! They cut round my head to squeeze my photo on the season ticket - stuck over the photo of Vucinic....it looks like something of Blue Peter! I could have made a better one myself! It looks ridiculous!

2008-9 Season getting closer....

Finally the details for next season's abbonamento have been issued! Yip hee!! Even better news is that finally Roma are giving discounts to women! I will pay 110 Euro less this season!!! Fantastic! About time too. Lazio have been doing it for a while. However, we still pay more then them... Hopefully we will be a few more this season. We need to get the fans back at the stadium.

I cant wait for the season to start. Just hope that we manage to off load Mancini for a decent amount of money and soon so that we can finally buy a decent striker. Not sure I'm so keen on the Mutu option. Just hope we manage to keep hold of Aquilani.

Customer Service??? What's that?!

OK… so I moved apartment 3 months ago and despite asking the Gas Company to take the bill out of my name at the old house 3.5 months ago nothing has happened. Obviously as with most things here this is not a simple procedure! In England they send you the final bill to your new address and revert the bill at you previous address to The Occupier.

Two months after making the request they finally call me to make an appointment to come to the house and remove the gas meter! Apparently this is the only way I can get the bill out of my name!!!! Slight problem though…. I moved out of the house and no longer have the keys! Completely insane! Do they really have to go to such extremes to change the name on the bill? Obviously in the mean time bills are arriving for gas I haven’t used.

So we accepted the first appointment, having retrieved the house keys from the landlord. Since I have to work, like the most people, RB went to wait for the gas men to arrive. An entire afternoon of waiting and no one turns up. We make another appointment. This time the landlord intelligently gives me only the apartment door key and not the one to the main street door. Obviously the Porter chooses this day not to be there so I can’t even get in the building!

I have another appointment for next Friday so fingers crossed. How can they expect people to take entire mornings or afternoons off from work to hang around and wait for them? It’s disgusting. I guess I should just be glad that they didn’t just turn up and disconnect it before we had moved out, without any warning, like the electricity company did!

Just to add to the fun the Telecom Company cut my phone off on Saturday for no reason. I couldn’t even dial the helpline! RB called from his home and was told to call back if it wasn’t working again by Tuesday evening!!! What a service!!! When I asked if I would get a refund/ discount for the 4 days service which I have already paid for, and would not be provided with, I was met with shock! Will customer service ever exist here?!

Monezza

I finally made it down to my beloved Sorrento. First time this year! I think they all thought I had left the country! I went to visit a friend in Castellammare di Stabia and witnessed the rubbish problem first hand. They manage to keep Sorrento clean for the tourists no doubt but as soon as you hit Castellammareit is shocking. The rubbish is piled up everywhere as you can see from the photo. It is about time the government sorted it out.

I recently went to watch the film Gommora which is based on the book by Roberto Saviano. Saviano is now under police guard after writing this book om the Camorra (the Neapolitan mafia). I read the book so I made RB take me to watch the film. Half way through the film a guy I know from Sorrento is in it!!! I obviously screamed out oh my god I know him, much to the embarrassment of RB! Apparently they used alot of non-actors. The majority of the film is in Neapolitan dialect and subtitled in Italian. It is definitely worth seeing. It rather disturbing how bad life and the living conditions are some areas of Naples such as Scampia. Anyway, I bumped into the 'movie star' as he works on the door of one of the clubs in Sorrento and my drunk friend (that hasn't even seen the film) asked for his autograph!!!

Italy are into the Quarters of Euro 2008! Yip hee!!

Netherlands-Italia 3-0

What a terrible start! The worst ever start to a competition for the Azzurri. As you can imagine the press here are already after Donadoni and arguing that this would never have happened with Lippi on the bench. I'm inclined to agree. The Azzurri haven't exactly been convincing since Donadoni took over. I don't understand how he could possibly leave De Rossi on the bench. Who in their right mind would leave one of the worlds best players in centro campo on the bench and then to put Cassano on instead of Aquilani... boh! Non capisco piu niente!

At least France only drew 0-0 with Romania so our chances arent completely ruined.

On the Roma front I am really starting to worry about next season. So much for fighting for the Scudetto... at this rate we will be behind Milan, Inter, Fiorentina and Juve. We need to act on the market asap. Looks like we will get Vucinic, at a price, which is I'm not sure he is worth... Mancini should be on his way to Inter or Barca soon.

Being a Brit I need to comment on the weather! What's up with all this rain!!!! I may as well be back in London! This must be the worst spring and start to summer ever! I want to go to the beach!

Forza Azzurri!

Who will own Roma next season?

Soros or no Soros? One minute he is buying Roma the next it is being denied and in the meantime we are missing out on the calcio mercato. Milan, Juve, Fiorentina and Inter are all busy reinforcing their teams while we are doing nothing... This is really starting to worry me. By the time our ownership problems are resolved there wont be anyone left to buy. We don't see to be making any moves to see Manicni either. Rumours are that we wont even take up the chance to buy Vucinic..... I have a bad feeling for next season. Montella will come back from Samp and may play for us next year. At this point i hope someone does buy us. Its about time we were able to compete with the big 3 from the north. If the Sensi stay I fear we can only aim for 4th place next year as they don't have the money to compete. We have to sell in order to buy and that doesn't help... On top of this, when Ferrari leaves we don't get a penny as his contract has expired. The city of Rome deserves a big team and if new owners can do that then I'm all for it.

Noi siamo i veri Campioni d'Italia

We are the real Champions of Italy! We beat Inter 2-1 last night with goals from Mexes and Perrotta. Mexes' goal was amazing... like a real real striker.





Sitting in the 5th row wasn't great.. the view was poor as you are so low and you can't see the pitch well at all. I was surprised that the atmosphere was so good in Tevere but I've just heard that the lower part of the Curva Sud were sitting right next to me! That explains why we had to stand up and why there were the huge flags!!


Finally we get to see Roma win at home. We have won the last two trophies in Milan. Great to see Totti there and lift the trophy. The highlight was Vucinic hot wiring the medical golf cart with Taddei and driving around like F1 drivers! There were crazy! They then grabbed the cup and drove around under the Inter fans that were trapped inside the stadium for security reasons, having to watch us celebrate!


Celebrating went on late into the night. Car horns, flags... amazing atmosphere in the city until late into the night.

Grazie Roma!

Troppo Bello!

Saw this on the asromaultras site and couldnt resist.... the lower balcony has a Inter Flag and the above balcony has a baner hanging down saying Ladri (thieves!)....

Thats all I can face for now.... im still getting over not winning the Scudetto.

Catania-Roma 1-1, Parma-Inter 0-2…..Grazie Roma….Grazie Ragazzi….

For an hour we lived the dream and were Campioni d’Italia thanks to a goal from Vucinic. Inter were held to 0-0 at Parma until the 16th minute of the second half when of course Ibra scored. He came on and scored two goals, ending our hopes and dreams and Roma seemed to suddenly tire and concede the goal which allowed Catania to stay in Serie A. As I write this 2000 Roma fans are awaiting the arrival of the team at Fiumicino airport to thank them for a fantastic year. How things have turned around in the 3 years that Spalletti has been in charge. They really do deserve to celebrate a successful year. Hopefully we can win the Coppa Italia on Saturday which we really deserve.

Obviously the day was full of violence. Inter fans in Parma celebrated by trashing a school next to the stadium and injuring 2 policemen during riots (1 badly). Upon arrival at the stadium the Roma team bus was attacked and a window smashed. I guess it was best that they didn’t allow our fans to travel there, especially if the behaviour of those pitch-side was anything to go by. When Catania scored Catania employees ran by the Roma bench and threw insults at them. Catania players had spent the entire game trying to wind up our players. Luckily they didn’t rise to it.

Again Grazie Roma…c’e lo facciamo l’anno prossima. E Daje!

Trying not to think about tomorrow.....

I'm trying not to think about tomorrow so I'll talk about other things......

RB returned from Torino yesterday full of Juve stories and most importantly with my Italia shirt signed by Buffon!! He even wrote my name on it! RB is now forgiven for going to Torino without me.

All of the Juve players were very nice and polite, except for Del Piero, who isn't well liked amongst people there. All of the Juve players have been given Fiat 500s and apparently at the training ground there is a car park for only Fiat and Alfa cars. If you have another car brand you have to park in a separate car park far away!

Next Saturday we have the Coppa Italia Final against Inter (again....) here in Rome. Since the ground is in theory neutral the ticket sales have been run by the league and hence us season ticket holders didn't get priority on tickets.

Tickets went on sale at 4pm on Thursday, so expecting loads of people I went to my local lottomatica at 2pm to get in the queue. However, it seems that here in Italy it doesn't work like that. Since I've never had to queue with the masses for big match tickets (as I'm a season ticket holder) I didn't realise that the fans create their own system! They had been giving out numbers since 8am!!!!!! At 2pm I stood no chance so after 2 hours of waiting I gave up and went home.

Yesterday morning I read that there were still tickets left so off I went again. I still needed to have a number!!! I was given umber 235!!!!! They were only at 130! Luckily most of the people didn't come back so in 2 hours I had my precious ticket! It's for the 5th row (not good) in Tevere....I hate Tevere as it's too far from the Curva and the atmosphere isn't the same. Plus I had to pay 60 euro (twice that of Distinti where I usually sit). At least I will be there..... Roma had just better win!

Daje Roma!

Life isn't fair..............

It has been decided that us Romanisti are no allowed to travel to Catania for the most important match in years! It has been deemed as a high risk match so we are not allowed to attend. It’s not the same story for our title rivals though. They will be allowed to travel to Parma which gives them an unfair advantage over us.

The major of Rome wanted to put up a big screen at Circo Massimo so we could all watch the match there but both Roma and the fans have rejected the idea as we don’t want to tempt fate. We all remember Napoli-Roma in 2001, with the big screen at San Giovani…. We only drew and the Scudetto celebrations were put on hold for a week.

RB has gone to the Juve training ground today. He just called to say that had met Del Piero, who was extremely unfriendly (unlike our Capitano) and stunk of perfume! I’m so jealous!! Wish I was there. He has just finished watching their training session. My Italia shirt had better come back with Buffon’s autograph on it!

Here is are photos of Del Piero and the Juve training ground.

The pain of the Italian System

This morning I thought I would pop along to renew my ID Card (Carta d'Identita). Having moved a month ago I needed to change the address on it. I was told that since it was to expire in November I should wait month so as not to pay the penalty fee which is applied if you have to change it over 6 months before the expiry date. OK i know I should never ever have thought that this would be straight forward... I've been here 6 years now and should have learnt my lesson by now...you take along every document you possess, along with a photocopy or two of each of these documents and you do not produce anything until you are asked for it (otherwise they will ask for something you don't have!).

When changing my address last month I didn't require anything so I didn't take my passport along with me. I wait in the queue to collect the form, for which i have to pay the 5.45 Euro tax and then the Signora starts to demand the documents. She asks for my permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay) which was abolished in April 2007. I tell her this and explain that I was told that since I am a resident here and have an Italian ID card I was not required to do anything (my permit had expired in April 2007). Oh but no..this was wrong....of course!!! I should have applied for the Attestazione di Soggiorno which is a piece of paper, which a stamp of course, which states where I live (why wasn't this required when I changed address at the same office a month ago??!!!). So off I go back to the original office and get in another queue.

Here I'm told I need to go and buy a stamp (tax) for 14.62 Euro before we can start! In February 2007 I had paid to renew my permit at the post office as required and never received the permit due to the change in the Law. I mentioned this as I don't see why I should be paying twice for the same document. Its not my fault they changed the procedure. I was told that this process was previously run by the police and now its run by the Commune (council). So basically I pay for being a law abiding citizen.....and they wonder why people avoid taxes here!!!!

So while I am filling in more forms RB runs to get the stamp (from the tabacconists!) and in the mean time I'm hit for another 52 cents for another stamp!!!! Then she starts pondering..well if i wanted until August I could have a permit which allows me to stay indefinitely...mmm... what should she do... in the end she decides to give it to me any way, telling me how lucky I am and that they wouldn't do this anywhere else! Then out comes the rubber stamp, bang, bang, bang and we are done.

Off I go back to the first office thinking I now have everything. Oh no... now i need my UK ID Card, which I explain does not exist! So I now need my passport, which obviously I don't have. So the Signora takes all my documents off me and demands I go home and get it! Which I do and return and queue for another hour until I am called into get my ID Card. This involves no conversation with the rude employee, out comes the rubber stamp again - bang, bang, bang and I'm sent on my way! At least I don't have to go through this again for another 5 years!!!!!!! These places are horrible!!!!!!!

It isn't over yet! Roma-Atalanta 2-1, Inter-Siena 2-2

OH MY GOD! I can't believe it! I was nearly crying tears of joy! We are still in with a chance of the Scudetto!!! Who would have thought it! I spent the entire 90 minutes watching the match and listening to the radio along with half the stadium! Each time Siena scored it was like we had scored the screaming was so loud! So it is all down to the last match, which both Roma and Inter play away. Obviously Roma fans won't be allowed to travel to Catania and I only hope that the Inter fans are banned from travelling to Parma otherwise it will provide an unfair advantage. I bet Mancini had kept his mouth shut when he said the campionato was over 5 weeks ago! And I bet Figo wishes he hadn't run over that black cat this week!

The Curva Sud were lamer than ever today. Hardly any singing and it wasn't full. How things have changed since the year of the scudetto. It just isn't the same any more. The stadium was no where near full which was surprising considering we are still in with a chance of winning the title.


The players did a giro round the pitch at the end with their kids which was really sweet, just as they did last year. Great to see Totti there too. At about 20 mins from the end a sea of stewards emerged which was strange... it used to be the police. Not trouble this year so i guess having stewards is working.



Can someone tell me how this can not hurt?!



FORZA ROMA e FORZA PARMA!!!!!

First Trip to the Beach

I made my first trip down to the beach at Ostia yesterday and successfully burnt myself! I'm now a lovely shade of red down my front and a blinding white all down my back! There was a breeze so I didn't realise how hot it was.... you would think I would have learnt my lesson by now!

Here in Italy you have pay to a beach if you want to have facilities. showers, sunbeds etc. The Stabilimento that I usually go to last year cost 16 euro for the entrance and sunbed... crazy prices...I dread to think how much they will cost this year. Yesterday I decided to slum it since it is still early in the season and we haven't reached the point where the entire of Rome goes to the beach on a Saturday. We went to a free beach - cancelli as they are called here- (usually full of people, dirty and no facilities) but it wasn't too bad. Although I don't think I'll be going in the middle of August!

Summer is finally here!!!!!!

Jealousy

Now is this fair? RB's friend works as Ranieri's assistant at Juve and RB announced yesterday that he is off to Torino next week for a couple days with the boys to go and visit Juve's training ground and meet the players. It seems I am not invited, being female and it being Juve and not Roma. Can you tell that I'm not taking this very well?! OK so maybe I hate Juve but who wouldn't love the chance to go and meet the players (hello...how hot is Buffon?!)?! I'm the one that goes to the stadium every week and is football crazy while RB is an arm chair fan. He dosen't understand why I am so annoyed not to be going! I've been promised a visit to Torino next season but ..... i want to go now! I already missed my chance to meet the team after Roma-Juve. The friend called us to go meet up with him but we had already left! Uffa! I guess its just not meant to be. However, if I ever get to meet Maria Sharapova RB isn't coming! Maybe he'll learn his lesson then!

Coppa Italia Semi-Final: Catania-Roma 1-1

Not one of the best matches I've seen. We did what we had to do to qualify for the final which will be held in Rome on 24 May. At last they have decided to hold a one-leg final which makes so much more sense!

Great to see Aquilani back in the team and playing well (he scored the penalty). Although he didn't look very happy which is a bit worrying. I have a bad feeling he may leave Roma soon. Its seems that contract negotiations aren't going very well. Antunes also impressed. I think he will be sent off to play with another Serie A team next year to get experience and I think he could be key player for us in the future. Esposito missed an easy easy shot on goal. He hasn't impressed at all this year and I doubt he will be with us next season. I for one will be sad to see him go as he is Napoletano and I like to have at least one in the team! Boriello wouldn't be a bad replacement. Great on the pitch and not so bad on the eye either!! No doubt with out luck of money we will end up with some unknown pippa that will spend the season on the bench before leaving again!

The ATP Tour hits Roma

Inter lost the derby 2-1 and Roma beat Samp 3-0 so in theory the scudetto isn't over yet. Although it will take a miracle for us to win the title. I don't see Siena or Parma beating Inter unfortunately. I spent Sunday afternoon switching between the two matches. The last 15 minutes of the Inter match were so painful. I was convinced they would score. At least this keeps Mancini quiet for another week.


The parents have been in town so I'm now stocked up on all the yummie food I cant get here. They brought over half of the Marks and Spencers Food court with them! Great!


Yesterday we went to the International Men's Tennis. I have to say that I prefer this to Wimbledon. There are less people and you can walk around freely and you are so much closer to the courts and players. This year they have done up the grounds and I have to say I was very impressed. I'm looking forward to the new stadium which should be complete for the tournament in 2010. Obviously not everything ran so smoothly....I would worry if it did! It seems the seat numbers on your tickets aren't actually the right numbers!! We were given different numbers when we entered the stadium which caused much confusion!!


One of the highlights of the day was seeing il Capitano watching Federer along with David Pizarro. See my paparazzi shot below! He was hobbling along... hope to see him back on the pitch soon!


I also got to see Nadal practicing. He was looking good and I hope he retains the title. Also glad to see that Nicolas Lapentti hasn't lost any of his good looks!! Here are a couple of pics for the girls!

Roma-Torino 4-1

What a great first half! 4 goals in half an hour and it was time to party in the Curva Sud. As you can see from the below photo there was a bit of a water fight! Some end of season fun. We just need a draw and a win to keep Juve off our backs. And how wonderful it is to see Lazio 35 points behind us!!! Che bello!

It seems that summer is on its way. We have a beautiful few days and I have made a good start on my tan! Although some italians still insist on walking around in puffer jackets! How do that do that?! They must be dying in them! Supposed to hit 27 this weekend. The parents arrive on Friday so i'm looking forward to all the Englush goodies i miss!!!

The dream is over

Roma drew 1-1 with bottom of the table Livorno yesterday. As usual we wasted far to many chances to finish the match off at 1-0. It happens every game...I'm not even going to mention it any more. Even worse was the injury to Totti. Seems he was operated on today and will be out for 4 months. I'll watch Inter-Torino tonight and hope hat Torino can perform a miracle but I fear I'm asking too much.

Not doubt this result will mean even fewer fans at the stadium. Up until this weekend we have been in with a chance of winning the title and we still cant get the fans to the stadium. As you can see there were about 5 Livorno fans and far too much blue can be seen (empty seats). I finally got my new bright blue seat. I have to say its the most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on!!! I want the old seats back that don't meet UEFA regulations!


I managed to get sun burnt for the first time this year today! We have had a beautiful weekend. I just hope it continues.

Semi-Final Coppa Italia, Roma-Catania 1-0

We have one foot in the final, although again we had so many chances to score and just wasted them. It’s so frustrating. Great performance by il Capitano again, and great to see him scoring again. Hopefully we can meet and beat Lazio in the final. Sweet revenge for our recent Derby defeat. Not sure who came up with the clever idea of playing the match and 6pm on a work day. Do they not realise that people work?! The result being that the stadium was almost empty (15,000 spectators). Rather sad for a Cup semi-final. They complain that the Cup isn’t taken seriously here but then they do little to encourage support for it.

I had to go to the post office this morning to post a parcel and pay a bill. I thought my luck was in when I arrived at it was most empty and all 6 cashier points were open. It took me half an hour to post a parcel and pay the bill. They only have one cashier that can actually weigh and send parcels or letters!! Am I the only one that thinks this insane for a POST office?! I had to sit there and stare at the vacant cashier points and wait for the 3 people in front of me to send what seemed like 200 letters! Crazy!

Nothing is ever straight forward......

OK…so it seems that since I’ve started writing this blog all I’ve done is complain about this country and I’m afraid I have one more complaint! I promise to list some god points soon!

Much to my amazement I got my deposit back from my old landlord yesterday, which was a nice surprise as it doesn't happen very often here. So off I went to the bank to pay in the cheque. My bank (bank X) merged with another bank (bank Y) around a year ago and now has a different name. I went to a branch that used to be Bank Y as it is right under my house. How convenient I thought this would be. I queue for 15 minutes and reach the cashier only to be told that they have only changed the name outside the banks and on all documentation; you can’t actually go to a branch that used to be Bank Y if you were originally with Bank X! I apparently won’t be able to do this until June!!!!!! So if all of the branches now have the new name outside how am I supposed to which ones were originally Bank X and which ones were Bank Y! Only in Italy! In the end I managed to deposit the cheque which will only take 8 working days to clear! Not long then..................

Anyone seen a plumber?

Oh well… we are back to 4 points behind Inter. Not looking good for the Scudetto any more. There is always next year.

I am still at home waiting for the plumber to call. Nothing is done with great speed here. RB tells me to chill and relax but it’s just one way of the Italian life that I can not adapt to! I don’t think I will ever understand the patience Italians have with these things. All of the hanging around waiting and not knowing what’s going on until the last minute! It drives me insane. Some how everything usually seems to work out and fall in to place in the end and I am the only one that has completely stressed out. I always wonder what happens to this amazing patience when an Italian gets behind the wheel of a car. Seems to flying out of the window then!

Remind me why I live here.....

So last night as I was preparing dinner in my lovely new apartment and suddenly the pipes under the sink collapse and i have a flooded kitchen...

Renting here is not like renting in the UK.. For the first time I am renting through an agency following my previous bad experience with a landlord that wanted to take my money but not look after the house...prime example being the kitchen cupboards falling off the wall, nearly killing me, smashing all my stuff, then having to live 6 months without any kitchen cupboards and not receiving a penny to cover my loss.. the list goes on...

Well...it seems that an Agency here is not exactly how I imagined. I should have known... I get to pay a huge fee for mmmm..nothing! I found the add for the apartment in the newspaper so all they actually did was show me round the apartment. I now have no further dealings with them.. the rent isn't paid via the agency, I cant call them when something breaks...back to dealing with the Italian landlord again, except this time I get to bankrupt myself in the process!

It seems the previous tenants taped the sink pipes together with scotch tape - thanks - and i now have to deal with it. The landlord will pay for the plumber but at 6pm on a Saturday in Italy I'm going to have to wait until Monday to see any sign of a plumber.... Shall I book that one way fight home now?!

Udinese-Roma, 1-3

Well for at least 3.5 hours we are only 1 point behind Inter… Time to support Fiorentina against Inter tonight! I think my life expectancy has dropped dramatically since I started supporting Roma! It must be so relaxing supporting a team like Man Utd, Juve or Inter. Roma certainly never like to make things easy for themselves. Today being a prime example. We were all over Udinese, numerous shots on goal and we end up going 1-0 down. We finally equalised through Vucinic, who I must admit I am now starting to like after 1.5 years of absolutely hating the guy! He still can’t score an easy goal but when he does score it is usually something amazing! This goal followed many heart attacks, jumping up and down and screaming at the TV until Taddei finally made it 2-1. Giuly closed the match 3-1. Great to see Capitano Totti back and playing well. I just hope the fight between Doni and Panucci, which resulted in Doni storming off at the end of the match without talking to anyone, doesn’t disturb the group.

Udinese-Roma, 1-3

Well for at least 3.5 hours we are only 1 point behind Inter… Time to support Fiorentina against Inter tonight! I think my life expectancy has dropped dramatically since I started supporting Roma! It must be so relaxing supporting a team like Man Utd, Juve or Inter. Roma certainly never like to make things easy for themselves. Today being a prime example. We were all over Udinese, numerous shots on goal and we end up going 1-0 down. We finally equalised through Vucinic, who I must admit I am now starting to like after 1.5 years of absolutely hating the guy! He still can’t score an easy goal but when he does score it is usually something amazing! This goal followed many heart attacks, jumping up and down and screaming at the TV until Taddei finally made it 2-1. Giuly closed the match 3-1. Great to see Capitano Totti back and playing well. I just hope the fight between Doni and Panucci, which resulted in Doni storming off at the end of the match without talking to anyone, doesn’t disturb the group.

Sabato 12 Aprile

Ciao a tutti!

My first post! Hopefully I can keep it up! Instead of posting on so many forums I thought I'd just create one blog where I can rant and rave about life in this wonderful, but frustrating country!

Ive finally moved in to my own place last week, which is surely going to bankrupt me, but at the age of 30 I thought it was time to grow up and go it alone! Although the average Italian wouldn't understand this... hint hint to a certain 37 year old still living with Mamma e Papa.... At 18 us Brits can't wait to leave home. We choose the university furthest away from our parents infact... here, the average age for leaving home is 37! Something I've long since given up trying to understand.

This morning I was woken up at 745 by my bed shaking...I started to think I'd moved in to some dodgy building or some one upstairs was banging around rather excessively! I didn't think anything more of it til Roma Boy (RB) called me and asked if I'd felt the earthquake! Good to know I'm not living in a building that is about to fall down then!

The miracle of all miracles occured today! You will probably need to live here to understand what a big deal this though.... Two months ago I bought a new suitcase with funky wheels that turn everywhere... well...on my first trip to the UK last month I soon found out that the wheels didnt exactly turn! I finally got round to taking it back to the shop today and they replaced it immediately! No questions asked! I nearly fainted on the spot! Here you can never ever return anything, and if you can you usually have to swap with something in the shop there and then! Are things finally changing here?