It hasn't been quite the relaxing 'time off' we'd hoped for - largely because we struggled for over 24 hours at the start of the week without any water coming into the house. At first we ignored the problem because there have been a couple of incidences recently when the water has gone off, but subsequently returned within an hour or so. However, when, after a couple of hours, the taps were still bone dry, we both had the same sinking feeling that things weren't going to be quite as straightforward this time.
Thanks to some buckets of rainwater and the water collected from the dehumidifiers, we managed to get by overnight with a rudimentary toilet flushing system and by brushing our teeth in bottled water, but with dirty plates piling up on the sideboard and the prospect of a shower looking very unlikely, the situation seemed a little more serious the next morning.
Instead of the relaxing day we had planned, therefore, Stuart headed out in his work clothes first thing to check the water pipe. He found that water was coming up the pipe as far as the vegetable bed terraces beneath the house but not making it as far up as the house. This was actually an improvement on the previous afternoon when there hadn't been any water in the pipe at the vegetable beds and meant we were able to fill up buckets of water from our own pipe rather than having to head out to one of the local water fountains to fill up bottles of water as had been our original plan. Nonetheless, there was still not a drop of water reaching the house, so Stuart decided to head to Frateschi's to try and get some pressure gauges to fit to the pipe so that at least we could see what was going on with the water pressure.
While Stuart was out, the kitchen tap started dribbling. It was nowhere near normal, but there was enough of a dribble to slowly fill a kettle of water, which I put on to boil to start on the pile of dirty dishes. Just as the kettle was starting to boil, Reggie and I heard a car draw up - I assured the barking Reggie it would be Stuart, but when we went to investigate it wasn't our car but another one I recognised, and out got our new valley neighbours (for want of a better word) Paul and Kathy. We'd met Paul a few weeks ago when he came to introduce himself, but hadn't yet met Kathy. As I chatted to them, a large dog-shaped bullet shot past me before slamming on the brakes and standing barking at Kathy and Paul at the top of his voice - Reggie had managed to jump the fence yet again!! Now, we not only had a water problem but a fence problem too!
I invited Paul and Kathy in for a coffee in our pigsty of a house - not only were there piles of dirty plates waiting to be washed up but Reggie had spent the morning creating as much of a mess as he could, chewing sticks, pulling out all of his dirty, grotty, toys and leaving them all over the floor and sofa. Bless Kathy for asking if I'd like them to take their shoes off but on this occasion I felt as if it was a case of them keeping shoes on to keep their feet clean!
I'd just made and poured the coffees - and Reggie had just started to quieten down with our guests - when Stuart arrived home from his shopping trip, so the four of us sat and had a good chat. It was great to meet Kathy and to see Paul again, and their visit brightened up our morning. Not only that, but as we sat chatting, we suddenly realised we could hear water in the bathroom - the toilet cistern was filling and the tap was starting to run!
By the time Paul and Kathy left, it was lunchtime and the water problem had rectified itself - we suspect there may have been an interruption in the supply somewhere, which caused us to lose water pressure. Since the water has to get from the bottom of the hill up to our house, it took several hours for enough pressure to build to get water into the taps and a little while longer for the pressure to return to normal. Stuart didn't get to fit his pressure gauges, but he has them on standby for the next time it happens (there's bound to be one!).
Other than the water 'incident', the week has largely involved Italian lessons, dog walking, a bit of olive tree pruning, fence reinforcing and vegetable bed clearing.
Reggie also busied himself with making as much of a mess as he could, of course.
We spent a very enjoyable New Year's Eve in Vellano at David and Sarah’s house along with Donatella, and David & Sarah's friends Fabio, Edoardo and Giovanni. At one point I think Stuart and I both thought we might explode from having eaten too much! The feast began with an antipasti spread that included parmesan with honey, anchovies in chilli oil, sun blushed tomatoes, olives, prosciutto, salami, bresaola, three different types of crostini made by Fabio and Edoardo (one with liver ragu, one with soya mince ragu, and one with a delicious courgette sauce and soft cheese), and a cheese and pineapple hedgehog (guess who took that to the party - you can take the boy out of Birmingham...). That was followed by Sarah's amazing slow cooked pulled pork with coleslaw, macaroni cheese, Mexican-style beans, and spicy potato wedges. Finally (or so we thought), Donatella had made a deliciously wicked tiramisu for dessert. The meal lasted pretty much until midnight - the Italian one, that is - and after we'd celebrated that one, we waited another hour for the GMT midnight to come around and to celebrate again with London and Big Ben on the TV. Shortly after midnight, Sarah was back in the kitchen again, producing yet more food - she reassured us that we only needed to taste this dish though, as it's a traditional good luck dish eaten here at New Year. A little after 1am therefore, we were presented with a dish of lentils and cotechino - a kind of glutinous pork-based sausage. The lentils are said to symbolise good fortune and wealth for the coming year. We each managed a small forkful of each to give a nod to good fortune before admitting defeat. We finally rolled back down the hill some time after 1.30am, adamant that we wouldn't need to eat anything else for at least a week!
On New Year's Day, after a bit of a lie in, we got up, had a bowl of porridge each (even though we were pretty sure we were still working on digesting the previous night's feast!) and then set out with Reggie for a good walk. We decided to try the track to the old abandoned village of Lignana again, which we'd last walked back in October with my Mum and Dad.
It was the perfect weather for New Year's Day - beautifully sunny and clear, and after walking for a short distance we were stripping off our outer layers in the warmth of the sun. With Reggie setting a fast pace ahead of us, we reached the church, which is the only remaining building in the abandoned village, just 20 minutes after having started out on the track. We walked a little further along the track to find a rocky outcrop which marks the top of the Lignana peak and from which there were fantastic views all around (if slightly obscured by trees).
We spent the rest of our New Year's Day doing olive pruning and tidying in the garden until the daylight faded - a gentle but productive way to spend the first day of the new year.
The very next day, the weather turned grey and wet - although our view still managed to look magical with the mist hanging around the trees.
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| The view never fails to inspire, even on a grey day. |
With rain hammering down for most of the day, we stayed put for as long as we could. We did however, take Reggie to the vet in the afternoon. He was due his annual booster jabs, and we'd decided to try a new vet whose details had been given to us by Samantha. We were very pleased indeed with the visit. The vet, Alessandra, speaks excellent English, which made things so much easier, and put us all at ease. While we try hard to use Italian where we can, and we don't like to resort to English if we can get by using our patchy Italian, in situations that involve medical and/or veterinary discussions, it's really important that we understand everything properly - especially as we have a tendency to pick up the gist of things but not necessarily get the exact meaning (did she say take one tablet twice a week or two tablets once a week? did she say you must give the dog this tablet or you mustn't?).
Of course, Reggie was not at all keen on going through the door of the veterinary surgery and it took several attempts to coax him inside. Once inside he was, as expected, very nervous and uncomfortable in Alessandra's presence. She clearly knows what she's doing though, as she first tried coaxing him with treats, then left us alone with him for a while for him to get used to his surroundings, and finally brought out her secret weapon: her own dog. She called her own little jack russell into the room, who clearly understood what was expected of her and within a few minutes of the two dogs sniffing each other and both taking treats from Alessandra, the job was done and Reggie was as good as putty in her hands.
After the successful visit to the vet, we couldn't go home without treating Reggie to a walk along the river, so despite the fact it was still raining heavily, we parked up by the river, put Reggie's raincoat on for the first time this winter, and headed into the wet stuff. Unsurprisingly the river bank was quiet and we didn't see another person out in the rain. By the time we got back to the car we were soaked to the skin, and our clothes had to be hung up in the drying room when we got home, but Reggie seemed happy with his walk.
It wasn't long after that that we headed out into the rain again, this time leaving Reggie at home to drive up the valley to visit Paul and Kathy at their house in Castelvecchio. We spent a very enjoyable evening with Paul, Kathy and Kathy's Mum, getting to know them a bit better, looking around their house and being treated to a very delicious meal in their lovely cosy home. We look forward to returning the favour when Kathy is back here again - when hopefully our house will be cleaner, tidier and better supplied with water than the last time they visited!
Today the weather has flipped back to sunny and dry for the most part - it seems as if for the next week or so the weather is set to follow a similar pattern of wet and grey days interspersed with drier and sunny days - at least we are hoping for some dry days in between the rain!
So, as we make our way into the first week of 2016, we're looking forward to a year that should see an expanded vegetable plot, a few more fruit trees in our orchard, a functioning rain water harvest and irrigation system, a new pergola, a new poly tunnel, solar-powered water heating (hot water on demand from our kitchen taps!), a repaired driveway, electric gates, a functioning utility room with enough freezer space to preserve lots of our home-grown crops, a pleasant office environment (finally!), a dishwasher (we hope!), a bee hive, possibly a few more chickens, hopefully many apartment guests, lots of sunshine, dog walks, speaking better Italian, making and cementing friendships, and a lot of laughs along the way. Watch this space!
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