I've never seen a horse fly, but I've seen plenty of horsefly!

The day after the Palio started way too soon.

I'm not sure exactly what time we got to bed after getting home from the Palio, but it was definitely this morning rather than last night, so when the alarm went off, it felt way too soon. Nevertheless, Helen somehow managed to get out for her exercise and I roused myself ready for a day's strimming.

When I arrived at the house in Lanciole, there was the by now normal handful of horseflies there to greet me, so I unloaded my tools quickly and headed closer to the house, leaving them buzzing around the car - or that's normally what happens.

After saying hello to the people staying at the house and offering them some tourist information, they left me to my strimming.

An hour into it, there were dozens of horseflies pestering me, and biting! It's not always easy to tell when it's a fly bite, as so much shrapnel bounces of my arms as I strim it just feels like a small bit of twig or stone bouncing off me - until I look to see the fly and the blood.

I'm not sure why they are present in such large numbers at the house in Lanciole - we have noticed the odd one or two here at our own place of late, so know that numbers are on the up, but that's all, just the odd one. Today at Lanciole, it felt a bit like some kind of biblical plague at times. I soldiered on, and when they got too much, moved spots - which bought me bit of time, but not much. At one point I noticed I had a half dozen wasps around my arms, and when I looked where I had just strimmed, I saw there was a hole in the ground - obviously home to a lot of wasps. There were so many going in and out of the hole in the ground, I think they could have used a traffic light system! I'm sure I saw a couple of them have a head-on collision and stop to swap insurance details (OK, I made that last bit up). When I realised I was about to be stung to add to the horsefly bites, I once again made an attempt at running a few yards - which is easier said than done with a four-stroke engine strapped to your back and your hands full of strimmer, but I managed to shake them off.

And that is how the morning went: plagued by horseflies baying for blood, the sun was getting high in the sky, and as the sweat dripped it seemed to encourage them even more, so I eventually went to seek refuge in the car for an early lunch. Of course, I couldn't open the windows as I was surrounded by a cloud of them. I could feel my resolve breaking, so I got out, threw the strimmer in the car, and went off with my gloves and pruners to the other side of the house, hoping this less disruptive activity might do the trick. It did!...for half an hour, and then they found me again. I'd had enough, I was spending more time swatting them away than I was working, so I gave up after only half a day's work. If they don't disappear soon, I'm going to have my work cut out trying to catch up in the garden when they finally do depart.

When I got home I found Helen pulling her hair out - her computer wasn't being at all compliant today, there is an ongoing memory/RAM issue with her machine, which randomly (although with increasing frequency) rears its head, and when it does, it makes working nigh on impossible, causing freezes and sometimes crashes. This morning, it seemed the computer didn't want to be at work either (had it been out at the palio last night as well?!), and progress had been painfully slow, with the aforementioned issue compounded by some software difficulties and a sluggish internet connection.

Having both had lunch already, I had no choice but to leave Helen to wrestle with the computer while I headed outside. Having got into the groove with strimming this morning, I decided I would make the most of the afternoon and continue with some more strimming at home - so I walked to the end of the drive. It must be around eight weeks since I last cut it, and it was in need of another cut - hopefully this will be the last of the year, but who knows!

Four hours and three tanks of fuel later, the drive was done, and I was done in. It was 5.45pm, so I slumped into a chair on the patio with a cold medicinal beer, and was shortly joined by Helen who had called time on her frustrating day too.

Hopefully it won't need another cut until next year...

Look at that tidy drive.

We enjoyed a lovely warm hour or so on the patio as the sun went down without a cloud in the sky and the cats lazed nearby grooming themselves with one eye on the look out for lizards.

Lucca on the look-out.

We finally went in to start the washing up before doing dinner - tonight is our first cavolo nero of the season (this batch is from the supermarket, but we already have tiny shoots of our own home grown cavolo nero appearing!), can't wait!!