bits and bobs...

The day began long before the alarm went off. Why is it that I always wake at least 30 minutes before the time it is set for? I have done it since I was about 12 years old! So it was an early start this morning, breakfast in a nice new bar in Cassino, and then to the Teatro Manzoni where it was cold enough to keep my warm jacket on right through proceedings.

Home again, and back into the cleaning, sorting, tossing out... but I came across a few gems that can't be tossed :-) including a fairy tale emailed to me about five years ago. Here it is, take from it what you need:

Once upon a time, in a land far away, a beautiful, independent, self-assured princess happened upon a frog as she sat, contemplating ecological issues on the shores of an unpolluted pond in a verdant meadow near her castle.

A frog hopped into the princess's lap and said: Elegant Lady, I was once a handsome prince, until an evil witch cast a spell upon me.

One kiss from you, however, and I will turn back into the dapper, young Prince that I am and then, my sweet, we can marry and set up housekeeping in your castle with my mother, where you can satisfy my needs, prepare and serve my meals, clean my clothes, bear my children, and forever feel grateful and happy doing so.

That night, as the princess dined sumptuously on lightly sautéed frog legs seasoned in a white wine and onion cream sauce, she chuckled and thought to herself:

I don't ****ing think so!

Mmm, don't get me wrong, I am not anti-princes by any stretch of the imagination, but times are tough here, and I might just be reduced to eating frog legs...

Today I am grateful for old and new friends.