Online shopping for groceries would be wonderful. I end up hauling a lot of stuff I need for our flying weekend visits from London in my bag, simply because I don't want to have to drive to a supermarket in my less than 48 hour visits. So if I need something like dishwasher tabs, for eg, it's just easier for me to bring them down with me rather than have to go off shopping.

On the picking out your own fruit and veg thing, fruttivendoli down here in Lecce do not allow you to do this. Something to do with hygiene blah blah. It's only in the supermarkets that you can choose your own stuff. My suocera was amazed - and impressed - that my local greengrocer in London lets you choose your own fruit and veg. He only picks out stuff for the elder people who ask him for help.

One online website that DOES work in Italy is Yoox. Partly because it's based in Italy. I have ordered stuff from the Italian site that got delivered to Lecce, and stuff from the UK site that got sent from Bologna to London - all in very quick times. Yoox offers designer (discounted) fashion and is very good for homewares. I bought a lovely Alessi vase for our Lecce house from there.

For all you cosmetics junkies who are on a tight budget, have found this great site www.eyeslipsface.co.uk (elf) which sell their own brand eyeshadows, lipsticks, glosses, blushers etc for £1.50 per item. They do post to Italy for a cost of £5.00 per order. Apparently their glosses are very similar to MAC so for £1.50, that's a bargain! You can also customise your own compact with eye and lip colours to suit your taste and they are giving you the compact for free until end of this month.

On this note, a friend tells me TopShop now ships to Italy!!