It being a 'school day', most of the day was spent doing office work and chores. We had been due to go and see Andrea, our geometra, in the morning, and we duly traipsed into town to call in at his office - only to find that he wasn't there. Still, it wasn't an entirely wasted journey as we managed to call in at the bank and treat ourselves to a quick coffee at Franco's bar. We found the bank full of workmen and with a security guard on the door showing people the right way in - it seems to be undergoing a re-fit at the moment, meaning that the usual airlock/fingerprint pod for entering and exiting the bank one person at a time is out of action. I am pinning my hopes on the airlock pod being decommissioned for good - the last two times we've visited the bank it has spat me back out onto the pavement after my attempts to get in, and with other people waiting their turn to get in (and out) I can always feel panic rising as I step into the pod, playing the guessing game as to whether or not it will decide it can scan my fingerprint and let me in!
Anyway, with all the day's work and chores done, we relaxed on the patio with a glass of prosecco and enjoyed our view, after which I was treated to a delicious meal prepared by my husband, which was a lovely surprise. It's not a surprise that he can cook, not a surprise that he can cook well, nor even a surprise that he did cook, but he threw together the sort of meal we haven't eaten together for a long time: rocket salad with a balsamic dressing, a delicious white bean and garlic mash, salmon fillets gently roasted with honey and mustard, and boiled new potatoes with olives and capers. Culinary genius.
On Tuesday, Stuart took our car to a mechanic recommended to us by our friends Chris and Sue. The problem with the car is an intermittent issue, and in fact, since it had its most recent episode of non-compliance a couple of weeks ago (when we couldn't start it for three days and ended up having to tow it along the drive with the tractor then bump start it), it has started every time. Of course, the fact that it's an intermittent issue makes it very difficult for mechanics to find/fix - and after having had the car for two days, the mechanic told us to come and pick it up: he couldn't find a problem, because it started every time he tried it. He advised Stuart to bring it back when the problem comes back... er, but the whole point is that we can't bring it in when it won't start, and when we can bring it in, by definition it means it's starting! It seem this Doblò is intent on leading us a merry dance.
We had more car issues later in the week - not ours this time, but unfortunately that of our current set of apartment guests, who had arrived late on Wednesday night. Friday was only the second day of their holiday, and they were due to head off into Florence for the day, but didn't even make it as far as Pescia before having a bump in their car. We were gutted for them - they are a lovely couple, who we've been getting on with really well, and what a thing to happen on the second day of their holiday! We helped out as much as we could: as soon as we found out what had happened, Stuart headed down the road to pick them up, arriving just as the police were finishing taking statements and their hire car was being towed away by Enrico and his colleague, mechanics who we've used in the past. Stuart was bemused by the fact that, on arriving at the scene, he knew all parties. As mentioned, he knows Enrico and his colleague, who were taking the car away; he also recognised the driver of the other vehicle (a local bread van); and the owner of the van, who had also turned up to find out what was going on, is also a lady we know from Vellano.
We tried to make the best of a bad situation and took Lisa and Colin out with us for a walk around the woods with Reggie (not quite what they had intended for their day, but hopefully it was an improvement on being stranded at the apartment with no means of getting about), then Stuart helped them with telephoning the hire car company and finding out how they could get a replacement. It turned out that, while it was no problem for them to get a replacement, it would have to be from the Hertz office at Pisa airport - so on Sunday we drove them there where, happily they managed to sort everything out quite easily and get back on the road.
We had our friends Paul & Kathy round on Friday evening - while they've been over here a couple of times recently, it has been when we have been in a state of chaos and they have been coming as the cavalry - we felt we owed them a more relaxed evening meal with no paint brushes or work clothes required! We'd decided to cook the first of the curries from the curry club subscription (www.thespicery.com) I gave Stuart for his birthday (there may have been some vested interest on my part...), and we were pleased with the results! While we love the food here in Tuscany, it can, for those of us living here year round, get somewhat samey and one thing we really miss is interesting spices and flavours. The Spicery provided us this time around with everything we needed (and step-by-step instructions) to make: murgh mahkani, potato biryani, chilli chutney and raita. It was a delicious and very flavourful change, and we had a lovely evening catching up with Paul and Kathy.
Saturday morning saw us getting back on our metaphorical horses: we returned to the bee hive. This time, however, we took the precaution of a. wearing two pairs of trousers each (as well as the rest of the protective clothing) and b. asking the lovely Mara to come and show us how it's meant to be done!
The weather was a lot warmer, sunnier and calmer this time around, but the real difference was having an expert onboard! Mara helped us light the smoker more effectively (having brought some hessian sacking for us to use, which worked better than the pine cone we'd used last time), and prompted us when and where and how much to puff, while she carefully lifted the frames out to check them. We fairly quickly found the queen, which was good news, and there were plenty of larvae in evidence. We learned that when we take frames out of the hive we need to put them back in the same position as we found them in, and it's important not to leave a gap between them. In our haste to get away from the hive last time, we'd not taken the time to put the frames back in close together, and the bees had started building a large lump of wax in the space created. This needed to be removed.
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| If you look closely you can see larvae in some of the cells. |
Stuart and I admitted to each other later on that we'd both felt a little panicky when watching Mara - while we each got away with no stings (that's 26 last time versus zero this time for me - what a result!), poor Mara did get a couple and the bees really were pretty grumpy. We were being bombarded by them and even Mara admitted that they were a little arrabiate (angry). Nevertheless, the inspection was a success.
Mara has recommended that we try moving the hive away from the shade of the tree (it's currently beneath a large chestnut tree, which gives it a lot of shade; possibly too much) and onto the sunnier terraces above it. This will have to be done very gradually though, moving the hive a cm or two at a time, taking account of the the "three feet or three mile" phenomenon. The saying goes that you can move a beehive three feet or three miles - but nothing in between, the logic being that a hive is moved up to 3 feet from its original site, the bees will still be able to find it, but if it's moved more than this, there is a risk of the bees trying to return to the old site and getting lost. The '3-3-3' rule suggests that, if it is necessary to move the hive more than three feet, then it should be moved at least three miles away, left for three weeks, before being returned to its new location. (Three miles being far enough away for the bees not to try to find their way back to the old site, and three weeks being long enough for most of the original flying bees to have been replaced by new ones.) Of course, there is disagreement in the bee-keeping community as to exactly how hard and fast a rule this is. For us, for example, the site of the original swarm (and the hive Mara moved it into) can only be a mile from its new site - and we don't appear to have lost any bees. Nevertheless, we will be following the advice we are given!
Mara also suggests turning the hive to face east (which gives the bees an earlier wake-up call in the morning), but doesn't think we should do this until after the summer.
We were all a little disappointed to find that the frames from our own hive (our Flowhive) didn't fit into the polystyrene temporary hive, so we aren't able to put our frames into the hive in order to gradually transfer them to ours. However, Mara has taken one of our frames away with her to see if it will fit in one of her wooden frames, and if it does, she will lend us one. Unfortunately for Mara, she has spare hives this year - it is proving to be a disastrous year for bees and honey production thanks to the unsettled weather, the wind and rain having battered the spring blossom from the trees. She and Franco managed to harvest two buckets of acacia honey from their 30 hives - a very low yield.
We had our own first harvest of the year this week: we harvested artichokes and this year's first crop of courgettes. Beetroot and beans are not far behind. After spending a few hours in the orto both Saturday and Sunday, things are starting to look a lot tidier and we are starting to feel more positive about this year's veg crops.
Saturday night saw us heading up to Vellano to a pizza party at Paul and Veronica's house. Paul and Veronica, who don't live here full-time, had been here for the week with a party of fellow walkers, who had all spent the week exploring the walks and countryside in our area. As a finale to their week, Paul & Veronica had laid on a party for the walkers and were kind enough to invite us to go along as well. We also caught up with another ex-pat couple from Vellano there, Jim and Judy, and of course our close friends David, Sarah and Donatella were all there, making it a night to remember. I quite honestly can't remember the last time I laughed as long or as hard, and a great time was had by all.
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| I have no words... |
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| ... still laughing. |
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| Amici! David, Veronica, Donatella, Paul and us. (Photo courtesy of Sarah.) |
After all the fun of Saturday night, Sunday was an altogether quieter end to the week (and it needed to be!). We drove our guests, Lisa and Colin, to Pisa to collect their replacement hire car (and got stuck waiting for a bike race to pass us on the way back into Pescia), made a fresh quinoa salad for lunch with courgettes straight from the garden, took Reggie for a good walk on a new track we tried between Sorana and Castelvecchio, and spent the afternoon tending to the veg beds. The end of a fun-filled week.
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