Wednesday 21 September 2011

Still living the flip flop dream

We are still here in Lazio although on Saturday we will drive down to Puglia for a week, I'm looking forward to renting someone else's house while ours is occupied by paying guests. We've had great times with our various visitors, nice to be out and about doing touristy things, but now we have settled down to domestic duties, Mr FF is cracking on with his log store and i have so much work to do to restore this house from our personal domain back to a holiday let.
We hope to visit our trullo next week and make some sort of decision about its future, I rather hope we don't fall in love with the ruin and Puglia all over again.
We had a terrific storm here that woke us about 4 on Monday morning, sheet lighting that illuminated most of southern Lazio, scary fork lightning, thunder that rattled the windows and then heavy rain. Usually I enjoy a good storm but being halfway up the mountain made me quite worried. The next couple of days were cooler and fresher but the blue sky and sun are back now and i think I've worn my flip flops for almost 7 weeks none stop, how will I ever fit into proper shoes again. Not something I plan to worry about for a while, when we return from Puglia we will stay here for another 10 days or so because we want to strip the 2 main bedrooms of wallpaper, take up the carpets and get the walls replastered. Then we might leave our car here, fly home for a couple of weeks hopefully to finish off the boiler installation (which I'd almost forgotten about), then fly back here to decorate the bedrooms and drive the car home. I have to say Mr FF has taken very well to retirement, he seems to be keeping us both occupied.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Lazing

I havent posted for ages, been far too busy being lazy.
We had a fantastic time with Amelia and her parents, they were all delightful company and we did lots of happy things together like spending a day on the beach, being invited to friends for lunch, going out in the evening for pizza and eating lots of ice cream on a daily basis. Amelia was totally accommodating, as long as she got a good breakfast nice and early she fitted in with our plans and charmed every italian man she met, both with her gorgeous eyes and her huge appetite for pasta. You will have to wait to wait for the photos.
The house seemed very empty when they left last Friday, we expected our friends Roger and Christine to arrive the following Tuesday and got all prepared only for them to have their flight cancelled with 12 hours notice when Italy called a general strike. No airport workers, no public transport, no refuse collection, the country fell silent for a day. Fortunately R and C have rebooked for next week so fingers crossed.
So we havent done much since a garden visit to Ninfa last Sunday. I usually doris the house in the mornings, take it easy during th heat of the day and then potter in the garden early evening. Ive weeded a whole border that was very overgrown and done some pruning. Mr FF has made progress with his log store and this afternoon got out his beloved concrete mixer to lay the foundations, this is no slap dash construction I can tell you.
The weather is still wonderful though not the fierce heat we experienced when we arrived so sleeping is easier. Its hard to believe we have been here almost a month, still havent had enough of Lazio but I might admit to the odd craving for fish and chips. We went down to the local pescheria this morning and bought 2 unknown creatures for dinmer, lets hope they do the trick.