Parking in Progress

I heard from friends that Mr FF has been working like a mad man back in Lazio, no change there then as he really hasn't grasped the principles of retirement.  Before I came away he got the parking area levelled ready to lay the concrete.  

We managed with our limited language to hire a whacker, a vibrator to tamp down the hardcore, and Mr FF spent a noisy dusty day with this boys toy.

This is how the area looked when I left.  

Since then he has laid the concrete slab to take the finishes, its looking good but unfortunately he managed to badly burn his fingers on the wet cement.  When water is added to cement it becomes caustic, he tells me he forgot he had holes in his gloves when he tried to make a last minute adjustment.  His fingers were swollen and painful so he went to the chemist for some cream and on the way home called in at Mario's. Fortunately Mario's daughter is a nurse, she took a look, cleaned the burns and dressed them, that was over a week ago and Mr FF is still having dressings applied daily.  Poor boy, I bet there would be a lot of moaning if I was there as it is there's only the stray cat to listen.

He has tidied up the area round the hatch to the electrics, known as the wishing well.  A big improvement and I like the way he's decked it out with my pot plants.

So this week our local builder is laying the finishes, a crazy paving of Trentino stone which is used a lot in the area and already by us outside the back door. I had expected we'd have to wait till next year to get this work done so I'm really pleased, its looking brilliant.

In case you didn't notice my large tubs of annuals have done well, two packets of seeds and a lot of sun, amazing results all round.