The move to Tuscany : Officially the hottest July in 150 years!

So it seems we have another record to add to our list since arriving here: along with having experienced the wettest July last year and the worst storm in living memory this March, we have now learned from a reliable source that this July was the hottest in 150 years! From memory, the daytime temperatures throughout the whole of July were in the high 30s (C) and the night-time temperatures were in the mid 20s. We know all too well that it's been hot, and the fan in our bedroom has had its work cut out - but we've survived. The hardest part has been trying to get work done outside, although we've had to adjust there too, meaning shorter work days most of the time (for me at least - Helen's days in the office seem to just keep getting longer with the annual VB conference coming up next month).

This will offer no comfort to my wife, who I know is feeling sunlight deprived, but indoors really is the best place to be when it's so damned hot, and so I started the week by blowing the dust from my PC and switching it on so that I could turn my hand back to a little PowerPoint work for Helen's conference.

And so Monday and Tuesday slipped by rather uneventfully, the two of us working side by side towards a common goal (I guess you could say we've been doing that since we got here) in the relative "cool" of the office - although an extra two bodies (not only mine, but Reggie is much more inclined to snoozing in the office if we're both in there) added a degree or two of warmth to the room.

We finally had a reply from our geometra on Tuesday afternoon with some feedback from the architects' inspection here last Wednesday. It seems we can breathe a sigh of relief regarding our worries over the fence, as this was deemed necessary to stop Reggie escaping and dismembering the locals - a huge relief, although until we get the signed letter we won't count our chickens.

Talking of chickens, Andrea reported that the architects had 'noticed' the former goose house (minus walls) and the old shed (minus roof), telling us 'nothing escapes these people'! We're not sure what that really means, but taking both down fully wouldn't be too much more of a job now, so if they really feel they need to punish the foreigners then we'll take these on the chin (although not without some resentment).

As for the solar panels, it seems that the architect from Florence doesn't want us to put them on the roof of the house, but instead to put them on the roof of the new shed, which will be behind the house. We have mixed feelings about this news: on the plus side, by not putting the panels on the roof of the house we will save a huge amount in installation costs (putting them on the roof involves having to have a special 'lifeline' fitted, the skylight at the top of our stairs enlarged and replaced, and the tiling partly removed in order to have the panels inset into the roof rather than on top of it), and maintenance will be a piece of cake, but the downside is that the amount of sunlight they will get on the (east-facing) shed roof behind the house will be dramatically reduced compared to having them west facing on the roof of the house. We did ask Andrea whether we could simply put the panels on the terrace behind the house, where we would even orientate them to be south-facing for maximum exposure to the sun - but he replied saying that is 'not possible'... The upshot of this is that we're now digging around on the internet and posting in some forums for advice on exactly how much sunlight is required and what our options could be - but whatever the advice, it seems that the man from Florence is against us having the panels on the roof of the house, so we're heading down this route. We may invest in a small outside wood-fired boiler alongside the new water tank to cover any period where the sun doesn't quite cut it - but watch this space, this is a plan that's likely to change the more we look into it!

So, all in all, we felt it was fairly good news, and it will be great to finally get this bunch of projects underway this autumn - all of which will make big improvements for us: the blocking up of the old doorway in the living room will keep out cold drafts and help keep the heat in this winter (at the moment it seems a strange concept to want to keep heat in!); the construction of the new wood shed will give Helen her office back and even give us the opportunity to turn it into a snug little living room, meaning we can finish the conversion of the main room into a proper dining room/kitchen; the pergola will give us some much needed shade next summer (the garden umbrella really hasn't cut it this year and we've needed to eat indoors at lunch time due to it being too hot!); and the polytunnel should enable us to get our veg growing off to a flying start next year - so bring on the rubber stamp from Mr Florence!

Wednesday saw a return to outdoor work for me, although as I write I can't recall a single thing I did other than filling the car with fuel. I guess it can't have been anything significant (or so my wife tells me!).

However, I still have the aches to remind me of what I did on Thursday! I went up to Donatella's for the day with my chainsaw and splitting axe to help her make a start on this winter's wood pile. Although summer is still in full swing, autumn will be upon us all too soon and the firewood needs gathering, and soon!

After spending half an hour looking over her two chainsaws, tightening the chains and filling with oil and fuel, we set to work on cutting a pile of oak - the same pile of oak I'd helped make along with Alex and David in March after the viscous storm had smashed through the valley and brought trees crashing down on Donatella and Alex's garden.

Donatella hadn't used the chainsaws before but she soon found her stride and was cutting away happily, as was I, and her Dad did a great job of splitting wood. As soon as Alex's brother, Justin, arrived he got straight to work barrowing the split firewood from where it had been cut down to the wood shed for stacking and storing, and so we all worked, in searing heat, dripping with sweat, until lovely smells of food cooking started wafting from the house. Donatella's mum was busy in the kitchen yet again and it seemed I was going to be one of the beneficiaries once more!

We all collapsed around the patio table to pour gallons of water down us and to hide from the midday heat. It wasn't long before lunch arrived and, yet again, what a lunch!! To start, there was pasta in a sauce made from Donatella's own tomatoes. I couldn't help but have not just seconds but thirds of this, as did Justin next to me - Justin being blissfully unaware of what was to follow, whereas I was just being a pig! Next came out roast pork, roast potatoes, frittata and sliced tomatoes breaded and shallow fried with peeled white sweet grapes (delicious!). The grape and the pork combination worked very much like pork and apple sauce and, yes, I had seconds of that too ...or was it thirds!? Finally, to finish there was a lemon and zucchini cake with apricot jam made by Donatella and a pot of coffee to follow in an effort to stop us all coming to a premature and sleepy end. What an amazing way to spend three hours during the hottest part of the day! You definitely can't tell the Italians how to eat and I was in my element.

We did finally muster up the motivation to get back to work for another hour and a half, by the end of which we'd not only made a satisfying dent in the wood pile but Justin had made an equally satisfying pile of split wood in the shed. There really is something about seeing your heating for the winter grow like this, a satisfaction you don't ever get with a gas-fired boiler!

So a busy day's work, but with plenty more to do, as this only scratched the surface of Donatella's winter wood requirements so we'll be back for another session with David, Sarah and Helen in the not too distant future (I know Helen feels frustrated at being so tied to her desk at the moment that she's not able to join in and help). Hopefully, between us we will be able to help further reduce any anxiety that can build when winter approaches and you don't have a wood pile to match (which reminds me... we need to work on our own wood pile!).

Friday was a slower day. Amongst other things, I fitted brass hooks to all of the new windows in the house as we've noticed that as the winds and storms are starting make an appearance (it is August) the windows have been flailing and banging around.

At lunchtime I headed into Pescia to do the food shopping as Saturday is a bank holiday here and pretty much everything will be shut. I arrived in town to hit the 'sweet spot': 1pm. This is by far the best time to do a supermarket shop here as the vast majority of Italians are doing what I did yesterday at this time - filling their faces! Both supermarkets were blissfully empty and I was in and out of both and heading home within an hour, even having had a brief chat with a couple of young Nigerian immigrants, one of whom has been here for 16 months and still has not been processed (a process that I think is supposed to take three months!) I can't imagine how it must feel to be in limbo like that.

After a little more work we took Reggie for a walk along the river, I think this is his favourite walk in the heat of the summer as he quite likes a splash around in the river Pescia along the way. As he gains confidence (or maybe as the temperature has risen over the months), he seems to be going deeper into the water, this time almost going deep enough to swim - but his little face looked a bit worried at that point and he quickly came running back out.

We got home and welcomed in the weekend with a bottle of wine, and were joined not too long after by our apartment guests, Rob and Cora, who had just returned from a very enjoyable day in Lucca. We sat and chatted for an hour or so, asking about their week, which they seem to have thoroughly enjoyed and they even paid us one of the highest compliments, saying that they don't often return to the same place twice, but they would definitely like to come back again!! Now that's the way to finish off the week!