Well. Another informative blog from our friendly neighbourhood colleague Dick. He seems to think our Italian friends are making rather jolly lawnmowers and, as far as I can see, he’s got it spot on. Yup. Oleo-Mac’s petrol mowers are stylish, solid and very popular. My dear friend Logan has one of those orange beauties and he swears by it.. or was that ‘at it’… no I’m fairly sure he loves it. ‘Solid’ he says ‘dependable’ … he’s a chap of few words and most of them are adjectives.
So, in an attempt to tie my rather meandering waffle (come on, don’t say you hadn’t noticed) to his words or economic gardening wisdom, I am going to celebrate all things Italian. It’s a given of course that our super range of exclusive to MowDirect Oleo-Mac lawnmowers is at number one (see below) but let’s have a go at other things. So here is my Italian job lot of fave things.
- Our Oleo-Mac Lawnmowers as mentioned before. Don’t take my word for it. have a good look here…
“Eeny, Mny, Miny… oh who am I kidding? I’ ll take all three!
2. Food. Pizza, pasta, tomatoes basil and mozzarella, let’s face it it’s all good. But cream of the crop (its you forgive my unintentional pun) is Italian ice creasm/. Italian ice-cream is, in my opinion, the best in the world. Not for the Italians the crappy old ice-cream van playing ‘Popeye The Sailor Man’ on electronic bells whilst selling brightly coloured lollies and soft wiggly stuff out of a tube with a chocolate flake and e-number enhanced syrup that could be used to kill vermin. No. Italian Ice cream parlours are style centres of freeze yminess and Italian ice-cream is a thing of beauty and sports exotic flavours like Tutti Frutti, istacchio and Limone (yes, I know it’s just lemon but it tastes great and it sounds better). One scoop or two? TWO always. Are you mad?
3, Opera. Ah. Puccini, Rossini, Verdi. Pavarotti, Kiri te K…ka…er… never mind. Once opera was all about big wobbly people with big wobbly voices not bothering to act but singing in voices loud and piercing enough to break crockery and frighten horses. Now it’s all much more sleek but those amazing tunes remain the same. Who could not love Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Il Trovatore or…er.. some other Italian Operas? The stories in opera are epic, dramatic and usually involve murder, betrayal, infamy and infidelity, a big number about drinking and a comedy gatekeeper. Basically it’s all Hollyoaks with better tunes but fewer girls who went to Syliva Young’s drama school (and no comedy gatekeeper.)
“Ciao Bella.”
4. Vehicles. Ferrari. Lamborghini. Vespa. Lambretta. Names that evoke images of Audrey Hepburn driving round the treys fountain. The Italians have a hyper-developed sense of style and, to me, all their cars look pretty gorgeous and sharp as a centurion’s short-sword. Ferrari red is exciting and to many people the sexiest colour on the road but for me Lamborghini orange is the one. Incidentally, our Oleo-mac lawnmowers share the Italian sense of style, as mentioned by at least one of our glowing reviews (and I quote “*Lambo orange machine – nice.”). He also gave it lots of stars for performance by the way.
5. Art and Architecture. Since I was probably one of the last people to take the ‘Grand Tour’ dressed like something from A Room With A view (I was such a retro chick when I was a teenager) I feel qualified to say I love Italian architecture and art with a passion usually reserve for bubbly and Monty Don. From the grandeur and scope of St Mark’s Square in Venice to the crumbling Roman grace of the Forum in Rome, from the breathtaking gorgeousness of the Duomo in Florence to the quirky elegance of the Leaning Tower of Pizza these are iconic sites and sights. Unlike some other countries I could mention, Italians decided not to knock down lots of buildings in the sixties and replace them with concrete cattle sheds so hoorah for them! As for art, well I love the impressionists, the expressionists, pop art and many many other ‘isms’ but the light and depth in the work of Caravaggio is the one for me. Yup. I love it.
An honourable mention has to go to the movie The Italian Job. I know it’s not strictly Italian but I love it and it has got some seriously good architecture, cars, stars and scenery. So. That’s my small but perfectly formed list of Magnifico Italiano stuff. if you have any others, do pop along to our Facebook page and let us know. See ya. Holly
