Holiday snaps

Although we've not been back in Scotland very long, constant days of cold and rain, wearing too many layers of clothes and struggling to get the conservatory renovations finished have made our days in the sun something of a distant memory. Lets take a look at what we got up to.  First of all, this is the view from our hotel bedroom at Montreux, the stopover where Mr FF said he'd rather sleep in the car than pay the cost of the room.  For me the £220 bill, including dinner and breakfast was worth every penny.

Mr FF not only shipped out the 1.2 m sat dish, he also sourced this rather ugly aerial which he temporarily fixed to our sun umbrella.  

Of course he relocated it to the roof, fixed up the new dish and there was UK tv beyond our expectations.    

A day on the beach, I love the Italian beach culture and am happy to sit in my allocated line people watching and enjoying a distance glimpse of the sea.  

We actually enjoyed the trip so much we went back, to different locations, twice more.
I don't have a photo but I'm happy to report that one of the cats that lived with us last summer reappeared, we think it was Paolo one of the ginger and white ones.  He looked fit and obviously well fed, accepted the food we gave him but always went off afterwards, which leads us to believe that he has found a proper home and hopefully the rest of the tribe did too.  Finally, a gorgeous gift from our neighbour Mario.  Beautiful veggies that fed us for days.  Mario has a piece of land lower down in the village, where he tells me the soil is better and presumably the climate too.  He told me that for August and September his family is completely self sufficient, with enough fruit and veg for bottling and freezing plus plenty to give away.  

If only he could bottle some of that sunshine for me I'd be unscrewing the jar right now.

Roof repairs (don't try this at home)

Having received the scaffolding on Monday it took Mr FF quite a while to erect the two towers which I was pleased to note were quite sturdy if extremely tall.  The intention was to have a bridge between the two to provide a walkway and safe area over the roof of the conservatory from which to work.  I had asked beforehand how we would get the walkway up there but Mr FF dismissed my girly concerns with some engineer speak involving ropes so I didn't pursue the matter.

I was told yesterday that it wasn't going to be possible to put up the bridge single handed, its the piece you can see leaning to the left of the tower in the photo below, big and heavy.   I certainly wasn't interested in helping, far too scary.  Mr FF then admitted that he didn't really want to go up onto the walkway and do the repair work himself.  So after a few phone calls we have found a local builder who is currently erecting his own scaffolding, assisted by two workmen, and he is going to do the work.  Phew.  

Tomorrow the new glass is due to arrive, hopefully quickly followed by the glaziers and meantime Mr FF is using his scaffold to check other, lower, parts of the house roof, ie justifying the weeks rather expensive rental.  I can't wait for the work to be completed and for us to get back to Lazio. You can see it's bright and sunny here but I feel permanently cold, there is a definite feel of autumn about and I don't like it.

Just visiting

We flew back from Italy on Friday but only for a couple of weeks and my flip flops are packed away in Lazio awaiting my return, no I didn't leave them on the beach.

We've had a great time and so far being home isn't too bad either though wearing socks and jumpers is a novelty that might not last.   I started the garden catch up yesterday while Mr FF was out walking with his group.  Tomorrow we begin the renovation of our conservatory here, several of the double glazed units are blown so there is condensation between the panes and all 14 units are going to be replaced. I managed to dissuade Mr FF from tackling this himself, far too scary and not a suitable occupation for a man who turned 64 last month.   I want to knit something to take back to Italy for a new baby,  I need to think about Christmas as it might be November before we drive back to the UK and I must get my hair cut.
So no time to linger.  I'll catch up with you all over the next few days and tell you what we've been up to over the last 6 sunny weeks.  

Melting dot com

It is incredibly and exceptionally hot here in Lazio.  Down in the valley it's around 38 degrees and here in the mountainside we are into the low 30s every day.  We spend the days and nights with doors and windows open but often when we go to bed its around 30 degrees indoors.  Hard to sleep at any time and cooking is torture, there is no respite.
Today we had thunder and briefly heavy rain, which was such a joy that Mr FF and I simply stood in the terrace getting soaked and feeling cool for the first time since we went to the beach last week.  The temperature dropped about 10 degrees but quickly crept back up again.
We had a huge wildfire not very far from our house, high flames fanned by the wind and the sound of trees cracking and falling were terrifying.  Mario our neighbour arrived mid afternoon to reassure us that we were safe and that the civil protection and fire brigade were working to protect nearby property.  Then the planes that scoop water from the sea appeared.  Those pilots are so skilled, flying low right over our house they managed to position themselves against the mountain where the water did most good, I was told they fly by eye and dont use instruments,  I have nothing but admiration for those guys.   That night we could still see various points of burning above our house, next day men were working in the hillside, more planes arrived with water and foam and eventually the fire was out.   A huge expanse of old deciduous woodland lost, other local fires have taken olive groves that have belonged to village families for generations.
On Friday we are off to Tuscany for 10 days while guests are in this house, I fear that cleaning and packing away all our personal stuff could see me seriously over heating but it will be lovely to spend a few hours in the air conditioned car, I might get some knitting done.

How could I doubt the man or his dish

The latter is temporarily situated in the balcony and we are receiving hundreds of new stations, including all the UK ones.   Delighted to be able to watch the brilliant BBC coverage of the Olympics  especially as the temperature reached 40 degrees today, a great reason to be indoors.

Delighted also when we called in at the builders yard to see the boss wearing the London 2012 t shirt we brought him.

Happy days, keep it up team GB.

Tell me

Why is France so big
Why is Switzerland so mountainy
Why is Italy always the last country we come to

In Montreux when I insisted we stay in a swanky lakeside hotel Mr FF said he'd rather sleep in the car, but seemed to enjoy the view from our bedroom balcony.  Otherwise the trip was long, great stop offs with a visit to Portofino, which I must put on my list of overpriced but desirable locations (for himself to sleep in the car).

Now 6 days after leaving Scotland we are finally settled in our house in Italy, it is very very hot but lovely.  Mr FF has been busy putting up shade so he hasn't tackled the new sat dish, which in itself is a wonderful sun shield.   I'll let you know if we manage to get any UK tv.

On the road again

This week I've mainly been packing as tomorrow morning we set off to Italy again, this time in the car accompanied by the 1.2 m satellite dish.  As ever there are masses of domestic items to take out, new crockery, towels etc as well as a large variety of my summer clothes, that haven't seen the light of day in Scotland and deserve an airing.  As ever Mr FF hasn't started packing yet, he likes to brag that it takes him 5 minutes to throw his things into a case, but we have been known to go out shopping for clothes he's forgotten and every few days he'll ask me 'have you brought any aspirin, sun cream insect repellent' etc.  I rest my case so to speak.

To calm my nerves I've been knitting up odd bits of yarn to make these baby socks, doesn't take long to make a pair and they are really sweet

I've also been attending a 4 week jewellery making class, this is my necklace from the first session, it's the final class this afternoon and we're knotting pearls.  I don't think mine will be finished for the journey but I'm hoping to release a bit of pre-travel tension, just hope my knots aren't too tight.
Be in touch as and when I can, we should arrive in Lazio on Wednesday.