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Sleb Safari: George and Amal Clooney need to baby proof their Lake Como villa

Maeve Connoly

Maeve Connolly

Maeve is the deputy digital editor at The Irish News. She has worked for the company since 2000.

Amal and George Clooney summer in Lake Como
Amal and George Clooney summer in Lake Como Amal and George Clooney summer in Lake Como

IT’S summer so that can only mean one thing – we’re all Lake Como bound, final destination Casa Clooney, right?

Sleb Safari has been packed since May and had its Aperol Spritz sunglasses on a chain around its neck ever since.

The invitation has yet to arrive but it is only a matter of time. George and Amal will want to air the villa, get the tiny twins settled and do a supermarket run before guests arrive so Sleb Safari will remain on standby and high alert.

Pictures of the couple arriving at Milan airport by private jet little over a week ago were lol-some.

George and Amal have taken their six-week-old twins Ella and Alexander with them, because that is the law, and there were plenty of pictures of George carrying each baby tenderly down the steps of the private jet.

The babies were in beautiful bassinets for their first foray into the world of air-mile collection and George looked like as though he was taking great care unloading this precious, precious cargo.

The next pictures showed him carrying his dog down the steps and on to the tarmac with the same level of care. It was a hoot.

George’s lakeside villa has always been a bit of an open house; except to Sleb Safari who lobbied unsuccessfully through this column for an invitation two summers ago when it was holidaying a few miles up the road from him.

This open house policy is bound to change now that there are two infants in residence. That villa is going to need child proofed. There’ll be baby gates at the top and bottom of the staircase; a cover over the pool; cocktail hour is going to become nap time and there’s no way they’ll leave the keys in the speedboat anymore.

Bill Murray visits Casa Clooney every summer
Bill Murray visits Casa Clooney every summer Bill Murray visits Casa Clooney every summer

And then there’s the little matter of Bill Murray and his random visits.

George once explained how Bill Murray’s annual trip is arranged.

“I text him [to see when he wants to come], and then I won't hear from him for three months,” George told Esquire.

“Then I'll be in Italy, and he'll call me and say, ‘I'm here.’ And I go, ‘Where?’ And he goes, ‘At the front gate.’ And I open it, and he comes in.”

For a start Bill is going to become either Grandda Bill or Uncle Bill – probably uncle since he’s only 10 years older than the twins’ father.

Secondly, George and Amal (or the nanny) aren’t going to be happy if Uncle Bill rocks up to the front door at all hours and wakens the twins.

Oh it’s going to be changed times at Lake Como. George and Amal, Sleb Safari is more than happy to write to all your usual guests and tell them to postpone their trip until next year. In return all it asks for is a lounger at the pool for the rest of the summer and its own Aperol Spritz waiter. You can’t say fairer than that.

Gogglebox’s Chris ties the knot

Congratulations to Chris Steed from Gogglebox and new husband Tony Butland who got married in Brighton on Pride weekend.

Chris told Hello! Magazine it was “the most amazing day" of his life and that he had spent the day in floods of happy tears.

“Tony always says I haven't had an emotion since 1983 and do you know what? When I saw the flowers... I started choking up.

“I usually have as much emotion as a brick and I was sobbing like a baby for most of the day!”

There is always a chance that Chris has hayfever and the flowers, or Tony's suit, set him off.

The couple chose to legally cement their relationship during Pride and Chris explained why.

“So many of our heroes have fought so hard over the decades to give us the freedom to be able to do that, we didn't want them to be forgotten on our wedding day."

Lovely gesture Chris and Tony and Sleb Safari wishes you a lifetime of love and laughter.

Gordon Ramsey applauds his hard working children

CHEF Gordon Ramsey has been talking again about his four children and how he and his wife ensure they aren’t spoilt brats.

“I like that they earn money,” he told The Times.

“Holly works for Brandy Melville, the fashion chain store. She works there Saturday, Sunday. Megan babysits three nights a week in Oxford. Jack does voluntary work at his school and Tilly has a show on CBBC, so they all earn.”

Tilly has a show on CBBC is hardly the same as a Saturday job washing the dishes in a restaurant now is it Gordon?

Still, at least he doesn’t have to dip into his own pocket to give her pocket money.

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