Home and Away in our Cinquecento

Now we are back in Scotland, which has been surprisingly sunny, I can show you a few snaps from our time in Italy.

                                 

Here's our pretty little holiday car parked outside our house, do take time to admire Mr FF's hard work.  We had such a lot of fun travelling about in this little motor, first it took us to watch the Giro.

Then through the Gran Sasso national park to the Adriatic coast for an overnight at our current number one beach resort of Guilianova and our lovely Hotel Cristallo.

The journey is spectacular with long tunnels and mountain views, we could have lingered en route but wanted to arrive in time for the weekly morning market.  

where we managed to buy porchetta and a bottle of wine for a lazy afternoon on the beach.
And of course I need to show you my drinks bottle from the Giro.   I thought it should feature with my new flip fops, Havaianas in aubergine that offer lots of wonderful toe nail co-ordinating opportunities, I am smiling just looking at them.

Two ticked off the list

I don't have great aspirations in life, I am easily pleased but I did have a couple of items on my Italian wish list that have been granted this visit.
Firstly I've always wanted to drive around in a little Fiat 500, a cinquecento, and when we picked up our hire car at the airport there was a practically new white one waiting for us.  It is absolutely adorable, it has a glass roof and is surprisingly spacious for two though probably quite uncomfortable for four.  Granted it has a bit of difficulty getting up and down the mountain to our house but it's so worth it.  Just as well Mr FF is banned from work here, he'd never get a sack of cement either in the boot or up the hill.
Secondly whenever we've watched the cycling, Giro or Tour de France, I've wanted one of the competitors to throw me his water bottle, they usually ditch them during a descent or before a sprint to save weight.  So yesterday we went up to Altipiani to watch a local stage.  We walked from the village towards the mountain climb, not quite reaching the summit before the circus of cars with spares, motor bikes and police arrived.  We had a great view of the front  breakaway and then the peloton, I was so close to the leader in his pink jersey I was delighted.  Then bumph a bottle landed at my feet, actually it hit my legs and bounced away but Mr FF quickly retrieved it for me.  Joy of joys,  it is from team Lotto Belisol who I will now support with passion, there is still some liquid in it, which Mr FF says I must not drink as it may be drugged, and as I pointed out there is the saliva of a champion on it, which I may never wash away.  I couldn't stop smiling all day yesterday and during the 2 mile walk back down to the village I held my bottle close in case it was snatched.  Apart from the team name and the usual advertising on my bottle there is the slogan Live your Dream, so far this visit I've done so twice and they say good things come in threes.

This and that

Nothing much to report here and I'm feeling a bit wan (great word).   We haven't had any viewings for the house apart from the drive or walk by kind, a few cars lingering in the road and the odd pedestrian having a look from the back road.  Meanwhile after our big pre photo shoot tidy up we are searching high and low for items pushed into cupboards, if the house takes years to sell it's going to be hard to keep it in a viewable condition and live any sort of life. The weather has been good, I've already had a flip flop day and look what I found in Marks and Spencers at 99p a bottle.  Perfect for exposed toes.

I've been busy knitting for my ex colleague Joanne who gave birth to a little boy last month, I haven't met him yet but apparently he's tiny.  The jumper is an old Rowan pattern, I've completed another pair of socks and I have one more item to knit for Rory.

Post surgery Mr FF is doing great, he had the ten metal staples taken out on Wednesday, said it was painless, but he is still wearing the long white dvt socks, which is a worry as we are planning to fly to Italy fairly soon and shorts with long socks is not a good look.

I just realised that this is post 500 on my blog, pity it has to be so dull and I have no strength for celebration, but its only a number and the next 500 might all be more interesting than this.