A fortnight of extremes

(This blog covers 24 July - 5 August 2017.)

It seems quite incredible that as I write this, Stuart is on the way to Florence airport taking his Mum (Sheila), Kerys and Ben for their return flight to Birmingham - can it really be two weeks already since they arrived? Time seems to have flown by. It's been a fairly packed two weeks, although perhaps not quite as packed as it could have been, thanks to the extreme weather we've had over the last fortnight - the first week saw torrential storms and hail that caused a 17C drop in temperature in just half an hour, while this week it was at the other end of the scale when the mercury hit 40C+ and the heat was so unbearable that we all hid indoors (in the relative comfort of "just" 30C) and couldn't face venturing outside!

The following is a brief round-up of the last fortnight.

After some rain on Monday morning, the weather cleared up in the afternoon, allowing Stuart to take Kerys and Ben down to the orto to play around with irrigation pipes for a few hours. Until now thhis year, we had only put drip irrigation in for the tomatoes, the beans and the aubergine/pepper beds, but with a full watering of the orto (by hand) taking in the region of 40 minutes each night, we'd decided it would be a good idea to put irrigation in all the beds - leaving only the poly tunnel and the potatoes (in pots) to be watered by hand. So Stuart, Kerys and Ben worked on laying the drip-pipe in all the other beds and fiddling around with all the connections to connect everything up to the water supply from the irrigation tanks.

Meanwhile, of course, I spent the day doing office work - for the first time this year in my makeshift office (aka the bedroom). We managed to set it up quite well this time and it was a vast improvement on the last time I'd had to shoe horn myself into the bedroom, last year, when I'd felt as if I was working in the wardrobe and had kept banging my knees against the legs of the table I was attempting to work at. This year's makeshift office had a view, a full size "desk", and a feline co-worker. With the exception of the wheels of the chair constantly rolling slowly sideways/backwards on the uneven floor, and thus constantly having to shuffle the chair back into position, it really was very comfortable.

Perhaps slightly less helpful for a motivational working environment were the number of occasions on which I turned around in my chair to see Stuart and Florence both fast asleep on the bed, having a mid-afternoon nap (not to mention the occasions on which there was no need to turn around because the snoring told me everything I needed to know). Not something that many office workers have to deal with!

My makeshift office for the fortnight (in the bedroom - while the office downstairs temporarily became Ben's bedroom).

My office co-worker.

On Tuesday, Stuart decided to take Sheila, Kerys and Ben into Pistoia. They had never been and we ourselves have only ever popped in very briefly, and hardly scratched the surface of what there is to see. They went just before lunch, planning to spend a few hours there checking out the small city.

They all came back full of praise for Pistoia, declaring it to be a lovely little city well worth a visit.

Tuesday: A trip to Pistoia for Stuart, Sheila, Kerys &  Ben.

Pistoia

Lunch in Pistoia.

Lunch in Pistoia.

Damp Pistoia.

Pistoia's best ice cream, or the world's best ice cream?

Grey skies in Pistoia.

Pistoia - setting up for medieval celebrations.

While the guys were in Pistoia, the skies darkened and it got a bit wet - but they managed to dodge the rain drops and stay mainly dry. Meanwhile... back at home, the wind got up. That was followed by a few distant rumbles of thunder, and then some closer ones, and then some very close claps of thunder, and then torrential rain, and then an absolute white-out as an apocalyptic hail storm thrashed its way through the valley. I couldn't see the other side of the valley, and the noise was deafening - it sounded as if someone was throwing stones at all the windows and doors. In the space of half an hour, the outside temperature dropped from 30C to just 13C - brrr!

From 30C to 13C in the space of just half an hour.

That'll come as a shock to the plants.

Ice in July.

Of course, with such dramatic weather, I couldn't help but worry about Stuart and the family who I knew were by then on their way back from Pistoia - it certainly wasn't the sort of weather you would want to be on the road in, and I hoped that they might have pulled over to sit it out. I was surprised therefore when, as the hail had just turned back to torrential rain again, I heard the slamming of car doors and footsteps running around the side of the house: they had managed to make it back without getting even the slightest bit wet - that is until they got out of the car. While they had been through some bad weather, they hadn't witnessed any of the dramatic stuff we'd had back here - and I think were slightly disappointed to have missed the spectacle!

What do you do when it's too cool/too wet to stay outside? Play Scrabble, of course!

The following day, we went out to survey damage in the orto and around the land:

Damage to the poly tunnel.

The path carved out by rainwater as it gushed down the hill.

Hail damage to the peppers.

Sunflower leaves turned into paper doilies.

Battered leeks.

Decimated courgettes.

Sad cucumbers.

Squished melon plants.

Pock-marked squashes.

Happily, we had already harvested the onions and they were safely under cover. Kerys and Ben spent a couple of hours sorting and cleaning them all up for us.

The following day, you'd never even know it had rained - that is, until almost exactly the same thing happened again in the afternoon! Thankfully, this time it was minus the hail storm, but there was torrential rain and dramatic thunder and lightning once again. As is often the way here, though, by the evening it had mostly all dried up, and Stuart and I spent a most enjoyable few hours having a glass of wine or two with our apartment guests, Nick and Darren, on the apartment lawn (it still being too drippy to sit underneath the pergola!). Once again it seemed we had been blessed with great guests - interesting people and great company to boot.

On Thursday, Kerys and Ben got a chance to learn a new skill from their Dad - how to build and point a stone wall. They helped Stuart find suitable stones and after Stuart had shown them the ropes, set to work on building up a little more of the stone walls that will become the new herb garden.

Kerys and Ben helped move the new herb garden on a little further.

Honing their pointing skills.

Of course, manual labour deserves to be rewarded with a drink, so we took everyone to what is now our local "pub" at the San Lorenzo/Santa Caterina hotel. It's actually called a pub (Pub New York), and inside there is even a bar that looks like a pub bar. Other than that though, it couldn't be much further from a British pub, but it's a great new find for us - a lovely spot. The hotel is formed from two old converted paper mills, that have been beautifully restored, and there are mill wheels and the like on show through glass panels in the floor inside the buildings. Of course the outside is where we're more likely to spend our time at this time of year, which is equally pretty and tranquil, and you can sit and watch holiday makers (hotel guests) coming to the restaurant (which adjoins the bar) for their evening meals, all dressed smartly after a day's sightseeing or lounging by the pool. Somehow, it's really heart warming to see and be amongst happy families on holiday.

A quick round of drinks at our new local at San Lorenzo.

On Friday, we were grateful that the weather had bucked its ideas up and was back to hot (hot) sunshine, as we'd all (Reggie included) been invited to our friends Paul & Kathy's for a pool party/BBQ. So, after a morning's work in the office for me, while Stuart made a quick trip into town to renew our car insurance while Sheila & Kerys browsed the shops, we collected together our swimming gear and the trifle kindly made by Sheila the night before, and awaited a lift from David. When we recently changed our car from the enormous bus-like Doblo to the pint-sized Panda, we knew that there would be some occasions on which the Panda would be less practical than the Doblo, but reasoned that there is little point in having a large car that consumes more fuel just for the xx number of times a year that you might need the space. Anyway, this was one of those occasions - while we could fit all the human people in the Panda without (too)much difficulty, we weren't going to be able to shuttle five humans and a 30kg dog to and fro all in the Panda. David kindly stepped in, offering to take part of the party in his car, so Stuart and I set off in the Panda with Kerys and Reggie in the back, while David took Sheila, Ben and the all-important trifle in his.

As expected, we had a lovely afternoon and evening. Paul & Kathy are such great hosts and we had a fabulous time, splashing in the pool, chatting, sipping drinks, eating delicious food, playing card games and even (for some) dozing in the sunshine.

After Friday's relaxing afternoon, it was a full-on day on Saturday. It started with Stuart going to the pool house to clean the pool, water the plants and do a check-out. While he was still out, our own apartment guests also headed off and it was a sad farewell to Nick and Darren, although happily they were going on to another week's holiday elsewhere in Tuscany - it's always nice when we know that our guests have more holiday to look forward to when they leave us here, rather than having to head straight back home to normal life and all that it entails.

With guests checked out, Sheila and I swung into action to start cleaning the apartment as we had another set of guests due to arrive that afternoon - our first ever same-day turnaround. By the time Stuart got home we had got most of the cleaning done, and Kerys and Ben were helping with watering the plants outside. After one final push vacuuming the ceilings, mopping the floors and filling a vase with fresh flowers, the apartment could be locked up in readiness for the next guests.

With that done, it was then a case of Stuart waiting to hear when he would have to go back to the pool house to check a new set of guests in there, as well as waiting for our own guests to turn up. With not much to do other than wait, we took advantage and headed out to the Da Sandrino cafe/bar for a drink, a bite to eat (panini all round) and, of course, the obligatory father-son game of table tennis.

The obligatory game of table tennis.

By the time we left the bar and headed home, Stuart's phone was ringing, calling him to go over and check the guests in at the pool house. That just gave me enough time to strim the grass outside the apartment to tidy things up out there before our own guests arrived only a little after 4pm. After strimming the apartment lawn, I took the opportunity to go and harvest tomatoes from the chicken enclosure - at which point I decided that, despite the heat, I would finish off the tank of fuel in the strimmer because the terraces around the chicken enclosure were becoming increasingly wild and overgrown. Whether it was because it had had enough of the heat itself, or whether it was some kind of inbuilt health/safety measure, the strimmer refused to start, despite having just been used to cut the grass outside. I wasn't too disappointed to admit defeat and peel off the heavy work boots and long trousers

Chicken enclosure tomatoes: no dig, no sow, no weed, no water!

It was so hot we decided to try Reggie with his coat again - but he sulked, again.

Sunday started late for us all - well, most of us. I was up at 8am to take Reggie for a walk before the day got too hot, and it wasn't long before Sheila joined me for a coffee under the pergola in the lovely morning air, but it wasn't until well gone 11:30am that any of the other Smiths stirred from their slumber. 

After a brunch of tomatoes two ways - pappa al pomodoro (Italian tomato, basil & bread soup) and panzanella (a salad of tomato, cucumber, red onion, basil & croutons), we headed into Pescia to stop off for ice creams before doing some supermarket shopping so that we could barbecue in the evening.

Food/drink prep.

The card game that's so addictive we had to buy it in Esselunga!

Beefburgers and veggie burgers.

After the barbecue and a few rounds of Uno, it was an early night on Sunday as we were planning a trip into Florence on Monday.

Feeling somewhat apprehensive about how we would find the city in the heat, we set off for the station on Monday morning, leaving Sheila at home with Reggie. Having visited Florence in the extreme heat of June with her friend Yvonne, Sheila had opted to sit this visit out; meanwhile I had decided to take a break from work for the day and go along as it had been a few years since my last visit. Kerys and Ben had never been before.

After the easy train journey from Pescia, we were arriving in Florence just before 11am and on stepping out of the train station it already felt like the surface of the sun. Nevertheless, we kept to the shade and managed to navigate our way around the main must-sees of the city.

The Duomo.

Hot tourists.

The Duomo.

The Duomo.

Palazzo Vecchio.

Sadly Neptune was being cleaned.

David (no, not the real one, but the copy's pretty good too, and without the queues!).

Baccio Bandinelli’s Hercules pulling the hair of Cacus, who is about to be be clubbed and strangled.

Loggia dei Lanzi.

Perseus with the head of Medusa.

Purportedly the portrait of a man sculpted by Michelangelo on a dare.

Hercules from the er... backside.

Ponte Vecchio.

View down the Arno.

Ponte Vecchio.

Frontages on the Arno.

Ponte Vecchio.

Pitti Palace.

Boboli Gardens.

A quiet backstreet.

Rubbing the nose of the Porcellino is meant to bring good luck.

After having covered most of the main sights, we stopped for a much-needed lunch in the cool of an air-conditioned restaurant (I am utterly ashamed to admit that we dined in the Hard Rock Café - hardly traditional Tuscan fare, and we would never normally give our custom to such a large international chain, but by the time lunchtime was upon us we were weak with hunger, thirst and overheating, and in a weak moment decided to go in - I say it must have been heatstroke). After that, we wobbled our way back towards the train station and were grateful to plonk ourselves down in the relative cool of the train.

On exiting the train at Pescia, we were astounded by the wall of heat that hit us - whether it was just that we'd got used to the relative cool of the train, or whether it really was even hotter here than it had been in the city, I don't know, but by the time we got home, the weather station was recording a sweltering 39.1C.

Sheila had very kindly spent the day tidying, cleaning and making a tasty Chinese curry, which we ate under the pergola once the extreme heat had subsided slightly.

If Monday was hot, Tuesday had even hotter in store for us. I never (ever) thought I would be one to complain about hot weather, and I can take it pretty warm (thank you very much), but even for me, 40C was just too much. In fact, we have since found out that this week's temperatures have been the hottest recorded in Tuscany in the last 100 years.

We pretty much all resorted to sheltering in the relative cool of the house. I say "cool" but the emphasis is on the word "relative" - it was 30C+ inside the house itself. Ick.

Too damned hot!

With no let-up in the searing heat in sight, we planned to take a trip on Wednesday to the Grotta del Vento - a cave system in the Garfagnana valley that we'd been meaning to visit for a long time. Our friends Paul & Kathy had visited a few weeks back and had returned with stories of how blissfully cool it was inside (at the time, it sounded too cold to me, but after having endured 40C, I was up for anything!).

The drive took a little over an hour and passed through some stunning mountain scenery in the Garfagnana valley.

There are options to take a one-hour, two-hour or three-hour tour. We opted for the one-hour tour and waited patiently for the guide, clutching at jumpers that we couldn't quite imagine needing.

The "wind" caves get their name because of the strong wind that blows through them. There are two openings to the cave system, one at 642m above sea level, which is the entrance used by the public when visiting the caves, and the other at 1400m, on the opposite side of the mountain. This creates an air current. During the summer the air inside the caves is cooler than the outside air temperature (the temperature inside the caves remains a constant 10.7C throughout the year), and in the winter it's warmer than outside. It is the difference in temperature that causes the air to be either pushed through the cave system from the top downwards (in the summer, when the cool air in the caves is heavier than the hot air outside) or drawn through in the winter from the bottom upwards, like a chimney. The wind speed is proportional to the temperature differential and can reach up to 40kmph. Thankfully there is a heavy steel door that is closed during visits so after an initial five minutes experiencing the phenomenon we were spared the cold wind for the rest of the visit.

Thankfully these steps weren't part of our tour.

The steps were pretty steep in parts!

The hour-long tour was perfect - it was fascinating, blissfully cool (we really did need the jumpers!), and the caves were absolutely stunning. For a brief 5 minutes after coming back out of the cave, the coolness stayed with us, but it wasn't long before it had vanished and we were back to wilting again.

We decided to stop in the pretty mountain village of Fornovolasco on our way back down, for a refreshing drink and a look at the beautiful views.

Fornovolasco.

Looking longingly at the cool water of the river!

Crystal clear mountain water.

The beautiful mountain village of Fornovolasco.

After the blissful respite from the heat in the caves, it was hard to know what to do with the rest of the hot week, but Stuart decided on Thursday that he would take Kerys and Ben to the beach for the afternoon. Once again, Sheila opted to sit this trip out, and I opted to continue with my office work, so the three Smiths headed off to the beach at Marina di Vecchiano just to the north of Pisa. By all accounts the beach was lovely and they had a great time swimming in the sea.

The beach at Marina di Vecchiano.

Beach view.

 With the end of the fortnight rapidly approaching, we realised we hadn't yet had a meal out all together, so we decided on Thursday evening to head to Montecarlo and visit our favourite pizza restaurant there, La Terrazza. We were amazed to find the place absolutely packed to the rafters (if there had been rafters - we were seated in the large outdoor dining terrace). It was great to see the place so busy, as often when we've been in the past we have been the only, or next to only diners, and although there was clearly some impact on the speed of service, we didn't mind taking our time over a leisurely meal. The temperature by that time of night was absolutely lovely, and there was a gentle breeze that made the whole experience even more of a treat.

As so it was that we came crashing into Friday, the last full day of our visitors' visit. In the morning, while I worked at my desk, Stuart took the family into Pescia, took Ben to have a hair cut in the trendy barber's in the main square while Kerys and Sheila, who by now had done all of the shops in town at least twice, waited with a drink and a croissant in the bar opposite. 

Looking good, Ben!

As it was the last day of the visit, I finished up work early on Friday afternoon and we decided to brave the heat and head up to the Cava Nardini - the quarry just above Vellano - where there is currently a stone sculpting symposium being held. The same symposium was held there last year, and our friend Kelly had been one of the sculptors on that occasion, but for various reasons we hadn't got around to visiting. 

We weren't really sure what to expect, but I was really quite awestruck - there are 11 sculptors (three Polish and the rest all Italian) who are all busily working away at their lumps of rock with hammers, chisels, and various other power tools, as well as their bare hands. The air was full of dust, and the noise of the tools, and although each artist had a small garden gazebo to work under, the intensity of the heat for them must have been incredible. 

We wandered around, looking at all the different slowly emerging sculptures (the symposium continues for another week, so some were still in their early stages, others more advanced) and the very different styles. It was fascinating, although the heat was stifling!

We left the dust of the quarry and the sculptors behind and headed down the road to Da Sandrino's cafe/bar for a quick drink in the shade - we managed to seek out one table in the garden that was in the shade and made a beeline for it!

The evening finished with another tasty barbecue back at home, and a surprise early birthday cake from Sheila and the kids. The candles, apparently were picked out by Ben. I'm not sure if I should thank him or be offended ;-) 

All too soon, Saturday came around and it was departure day for our guests. We managed to squeeze in a quick visit to Sandrino's for a round of panini as an early lunch (as well, of course as a game of table football for Ben and Stuart) before the time came for everyone to zip up their suitcases, change into travelling clothes and head to the airport. 

As ever, the fortnight has flown by far too quickly - we have loved having Kerys, Ben and Sheila here, they are such good company. Reggie has thoroughly enjoyed the constant company, the never-ending supply of tummy rubs, play mates and treats, and Kerys has been diligent in making sure that Florence also got her share of fuss. We are all sad to see them leave, and as always we are already looking forward to their next visits.