Back to school

Yesterday was a slow news day here for us, so instead of reporting as such in a blog post we opted for a rare evening with our brains fully switched off in front of the TV.

In brief (just to reassure you that you really haven't missed anything), Helen put in a long day in the office while I took our adolescent pup up to Lanciole for a day's gardening work. I did little more than spend hours training climbing roses to a pergola and then halting the advance of some ivy up a large chestnut tree, while Reggie alternated between running around crazily and barking for hours. I didn't see him stop and rest for a minute - which paid huge dividends in the evening when he collapsed on the sofa with us shortly after 7pm and remained there dozing until bed time.

This morning, Helen got up at around 7.30 am, as usual at the request of Lucca, then went outside to exercise. Normally Reggie starts whining the moment he hears the cats being fed above him but this morning he was still asleep when Helen got downstairs - clearly still catching up after his busy day yesterday.

I got up as Helen was coming indoors after her exercise session, and after my breakfast I headed out with a small shopping list. First on my list was some straw for the geese - we've been told that the small square in Borgo a Buggiano (between here and Montecatini) is the place to go, as it's home to two agrarias (one of which we have bought geese feed and hay from before), so off I went in search of new bedding for the geese... only to find that thee square was home to a market today and thus closed to cars. I'd only myself to blame though, because as soon as I saw it, I realised that Alex had told me that Tuesday was market day. So, one about-turn through a one-way system later, I was heading back towards home, but not before a quick stop at the Agraria da Vita to see if they stocked water tanks. I  had a particular type of tank in mind - about a metre cubed, square in shape, with an external metal cage and a capacity of 1000 litres. They are ubiquitous on the landscape around here for harvesting water and would be an ideal shape to set behind the house so that we can start to harvest rain water ourselves (which we're keen to start doing before we plant a load of vegetables that would currently need watering with metered water - something of a false economy).

After giving up looking around the yard, I went inside to ask the question. The expression on the guy's face gave me hope as reeled off what I was looking for, but when I started to tell him the type of water container I was after, his smile turned upside down and his head started shaking left to right. When I asked if he knew where I could buy them from he just shrugged his shoulders while maintaining the down-turned mouth and shaking of the head. I bade him good day as I left, feeling disappointed and confused as to why he didn't know of anywhere I could buy these objects that are quite literally littered all around the landscape.

Next on the list was Frateschi the builder's merchant. I haven't been in since early December, and as well as wanting to say 'Buon Anno' to Paulo, I wanted to ask if he stocked any of the water tanks in question. Once again I described the tank I wanted, and just like the other guy, he frowned and shook his head before grabbing a catalogue to look through - he could certainly get hold of a huge number of various types of tank for me, but not what I wanted. He then launched into a long monologue (in slow Italian for my benefit) in an attempt to explain something to me - this was dangerous ground as once he'd lost me, my mind drifted off while I continued nodding and pretending to understand. I quickly realised that if didn't show him soon that I wasn't following him, he'd start thinking my Italian was far better than it really is and forever start talking to me at a pace not suited to my brain power, so I snapped out of my micro day dream and started squinting from time to time while actually listening. He quickly understood my expression and tried again to make me understand. From what I could gather, he said that he doesn't sell these tanks - they are normally for chemicals and are used by the paper mills. He also said that people often bring him rubbish to dispose of (one of his services), and that from time to time, he gets these tanks given to him and he said that the next time someone brings him one, I'd be welcome to have it - but obviously he couldn't say when.

I then asked for some plastic barrels - like the one that we were given by Alex and which now collects water for the geese. These are even more common than the aforementioned tanks so I expected an easy victory on this front. But it wasn't to be. Paolo told me that the same applies to these barrels as to the tanks. Defeated, I left and went to the post office to pay the phone bill feeling like I was truly back at school again and that I was having to re-learn where everything comes from rather than having a decent grasp on the workings of what and where everything is sold.

I paid the phone bill in what was an unusually empty post office (thankfully), and then decided to try getting some more combined flea and tick treatment for all three of our furry house mates from the pharmacy. Finally, I had something to show for my efforts: €75 worth of animal treatment to last us (and them) three months. With that in hand, and a fresh loaf from Amanda next door, I went home for a warming bowl of Tuscan bean soup. Helen needed warming much more than I did, having been indoors in the office all morning, but by lunchtime it was so sunny that we had lunch on the patio!

After lunch, while Helen went back to the office I took Reggie for a walk down by the San Lorenzo hotel (deciding I'd rather do it now than drag him around town for an hour or so in the cold while Helen and Sue were at their first Italian lesson of the year). Walk done, I set about vacuuming the car and tidying the outside of the house around the parking area. Both have suffered a bit of neglect of late, and it was time to get it sorted so that tomorrow I can concentrate on wood cutting.

Before I knew it, Helen came outside, having clocked off for the day. We played football with the dog for a while before Helen went inside to get ready to go back to school herself. I lit the fire and washed up yet another mountain of dirty dishes while trying to call the car dealer. Our car insurance runs out this week and we can't insure the car ourselves without a document of ownership - a document that we don't have, because the dealership couldn't give it to us until we got our residency sorted and despite having emailed our ID cards to them back in November, we have still not been furnished with the required document. So it appears that we're now facing yet another car-related drama so watch this space!

Helen came back from her first Italian lesson of the year at around 7.30pm, prompting me to go and brave the cold of the bathroom for a lukewarm shower while she prepared some dinner. Time for a couple of hours in front of the fire before bed.