House guests!

There isn't a whole lot to report for today - I woke up feeling dreadful again: the headache was back. Thankfully, a sumatriptan tablet and a couple of hours later, it subsided and I felt well enough to face breakfast and the rest of the day.

We spent the day tackling the enormous to-do list - washing, charging laptops, changing towels, putting fresh bed linen on the guest bed, tidying tools and ladders away, raking grass off the terraces, preparing dinner, putting a loaf of bread on in the bread machine, composing a note in case the police make their visit while we are away... We took a break mid-morning to go and empty the bins, fill the car with methane and stop off in Esselunga for some more cat food, but otherwise we were confined to the house and terraces with our list of tasks.

Come 5pm, most of the jobs had been ticked off the list - with a few we decided to leave until Sunday - so we managed to slow down a bit, and just before 6pm - bang on time - there was the sound of gravel crunching and the beep of a horn: Louise and Dan arrived!!

It was great to see them here and to welcome them to our piece of Italy. We were impressed that they had managed the drive from Bristol in two days and even managed to arrive exactly when they said they would!

They came bearing gifts:

Never mind the cider, that's FOUR (yes four!) bottles of Robinsons squash. My heroes!!

We were so pleased to see them, we virtually plonked them straight down at the patio table and made them drink prosecco (they didn't take too much persuading- they had been driving for 6 hours and needed the chance to wind down):

And that's my birthday present on the left - an absolutely gorgeous blanket from Louise, which will be perfect in the office when then weather gets cooler in the winter.

So we all sat and enjoyed the view (our all-new, improved oak-tree-less view, that is) and the last of the evening's sunshine while catching up and drinking prosecco (and then wine), before heading indoors when things got a bit too cool (and dark) to sit outside. We had Tuscan ragu for dinner - which had been simmering on the hob all afternoon, filling the house with delicious smells - and spent the rest of the evening chatting and drinking more wine. Lovely!

Stuart and I need to set off for Bologna at about 2am on Monday morning, so we are considering whether or not we should even try to get to bed on Sunday night! We'll see. Meanwhile, we might take a trip into town to show Louise and Dan around Pescia, maybe stop for a coffee or a glass of wine (depending on the time of day), and have a fairly easy day of it - just leaving enough time to finish packing in the evening, of course.