Wet and BROKEN.

The weather forecast was spot on today, as it often seems to be, and this morning we were greeted by rain. Not that we're complaining, we've had a few scorching days over the last week and today's rain has saved us watering the veg, so every cloud has a silver lining (not that I can see the edge of this particular cloud as we are right in it)!

Our guests, Diane and Ernest, set off early this morning for a trip into Florence and had gone before I was even awake (Helen said they had left at around 7.30am). They were hoping the wetter weather would keep some of the tourists away, which I'm sure it would have done if the weather there was anything like the weather we have had here - hopefully not so wet that they couldn't enjoy the sights though, it's a fine balance.

The first job for me this morning was to cut my hair as it had gone way past presentable, and with its untidiness now even offending me, I hadn't dared ask how my wife was feeling about it. There was a genuine reason for the delay though, which was that my trusty old Remington clippers, which have been with me for more years than I can remember, had stopped cutting. They were basically now just a noisy comb. I had tried finding replacement blades but to no avail - the model was too old for anyone to stock them. So, with the weather wet today, I finally found time to try sharpening the blades on my 400 grit waterstone that I use for my cut throat razors. Alas, it seems that stainless steel does not capitulate to such fine grit, and for an hour the blades withstood almost all attempt to sharpen them. Not knowing the whereabouts of my coarser diamond stone, I decided to give in and finally buy a new pair of clippers so headed for the car.

Shortly after getting into the car I realised it was running on fumes so I headed first to the methane station to fill up. After the tank had been filled, I paid and thanked the pump attendant, turned the key in the ignition ... and yet again, the car wouldn't start. After trying for five minutes or so, the young attendant came over and asked if the battery was no good. I explained that the battery was new and that I didn't know what the problem was, but that the car would hopefully start in ten minutes or so. He then helped me push the car out of the way to sit and wait - but as we were pushing, we managed to gather a fair amount of speed, so I jumped in and bump started the car. I probably should have warned him but there wasn't time, and when I looked back to shout my thanks to him, his face was smiling and unscathed, so he obviously hadn't made contact with our rear doors, which was a relief.

I drove to the electrical shop, cursing the cowboys at the car dealership and working myself into a bit of a rage trying to decide how I could come out on top of this situation. My patience has now well and truly run out with them, I have no more 'benefit of the doubt' left as far as they are concerned!

After a quick visit to the electrical shop, from which I left with a €29 pair of clippers, I headed home and proceeded to cut my hair and even trimmed my beard while I was at it, before jumping into the shower to complete my transformation from cave man to human in time for lunch.

After lunch I headed down to the doctor's surgery in the village on my mountain bike. The rain had subsided for the time being, and having received an email yesterday afternoon from Remigio, the carpenter, asking if his guys could come and fit our new front door at 3pm (this came completely out of the blue - we'd almost forgotten we'd asked him to make a new door for us!), the window for getting there and back in time to get Reggie safely out of the carpenters' way and into his 'safe place' in the car was getting very tight. We worked out that if I cycled down to the doctor's, I could leave the car at Helen's disposal, so if the carpenters arrived while I was still out, she could get Reggie into the car and even come and meet me while the door was being fitted so that we could walk Reggie.

As it happened, there were only two other patients in front of me and the doctor was bang on time at 14:15, so I was out by 14:35 and had delivered a tub of our three-bean dip to Amanda for her to try before hopping on the bike for the ride home in good time.

It wasn't long, though, before I felt my right foot doing a familiar and unwelcome action on the pedal. It could only mean one thing - the same as had happened to my left pedal a few months back: it had unthreaded itself and cross-threaded the crack at the same time. I hopped off, hoping that I had done so soon enough not to cause any damage (far too optimistic) as this crank, having the three chain rings attached to it, would be more costly to replace - yet something else broken!

I soon saw Alex and Donatella drive past me in the opposite direction. They looked concerned to see me pushing a bike (always the sign of a problem), but I didn't see them again. Donatella called a little later on to see if I was OK - it turned out that when they passed me they were running late for the doctor and had no mobile signal in the village. Either way, there was little they could have done for me so I'm glad they didn't waste their time turning around to come back.

It was while I was pushing the bike home (uphill) that I had time to reflect on the number of things  that have broken since we've been here.

• We had two broken locks by the time we gained entry to the house a year ago
• Most of the window panes in the single-glazed windows were broken (now replaced with double-glazed windows, but we lived through most of the winter with the old ones)
• The front door lock has been broken and coaxed back into functioning on more than one occasion (a problem we no longer have to worry about thankfully, because as I type the new door is being fitted)
• The microwave has broken
• The oven is broken (it lights, but won't stay alight)
• The fridge door is broken
• The flush unit on the toilet is broken
• The roof window is broken and lets in water when it rains heavily
• The small wood burner is kind of broken in that it's useless when it's really cold because of how poorly it's been fitted
• The phone line is broken, again
• The new Skype phone is broken and awaiting collection for the second time
• The first strimmer we bought has broken and been repaired twice
• The first hedge trimmers we bought have been repaired three times and are now broken beyond repair
• The electric mower broke
• The handle on the shovel is broken
• The rake from England is broken
• The car is most definitely broken
• Both pedals on my mountain bike have broken
• The main water heater in our bathroom isn't broken exactly but doesn't function very well in the winter months
• The drive shaft on the new strimmer has broken twice, thanks to rubbish left in the undergrowth
• The electric kettle has broken (and been replaced)
• My hair clippers have broken
• The electric toothbrush is more or less broken, limping along very pathetically
• The satellite internet connection has been broken on many, many occasions.

There is more I could add to this list, I'm sure, (and I'm also sure there will be more to add to it in future), but you get the idea. So, if we didn't have enough to deal with over the last 12 months, our list of 'broken' has been enough to test our resolve (and people think we're 'lucky'!).
Having said all of this, we've survived, and believe that we must be over the worst now, although we know there is plenty still ahead to try us. We've yet to deal with a dreaded Italian tax return, not to mention finding some resolution to this car issue, which I'm sure is going to be a huge headache. Oh, and did I mention that the tractor we had settled on has been sold to someone else? A miscommunication down at Maionchi apparently. They have offered to find another for me, but for now, without an agricultural tax code it seems I won't get very far - so that job has moved further up my list. Before I can get to that though, I've got some serious catching up to do at Lanciole, after not having been able to get up there for several weeks in a row, whether because of having house guests or because of being without transport. The grass around here waits for no man at the moment!

Anyway, back to the story: when I got home, I manhandled the six water collection tanks from the car parking area onto the rubble pile known as the 'extension area', and just as I was finishing up doing that, the guys arrived to fit the new door. Helen brought a barking Reggie out through the garden and put him in his crate in the car - he seemed very happy to jump in, and we didn't hear another peep from him for the couple of hours that the door fitters were here.

We've had experience with these guys three times now - first they came to fit the replacement doors on the apartment, then to fit our replacement windows, and now to fit the new front door. They are always incredibly efficient and professional, and today was no exception. They left, just before 5pm, having removed the old door and fitted a beautifully hand-crafted chestnut wood and reinforced glass front door.

As they were trying to manoeuvre their truck around in the car park to turn around, I offered to move our car out the way and, since I'd managed to get the engine started, I left it running and suggested to Helen that we went out straight away to walk Reggie. So we quickly locked our new front door and headed into town in the rain.

We walked Reggie along the river a little way, then parked up in the square for a quick but much enjoyed end-of-the-week Aperol spritz in Bar Poulter before heading back up the hill towards home to start the evening and start our weekend.