Short but sweet

The title of this post describes its content I'm afraid, we're knackered!!!

 

In brief:

 

I drove down the hill at about 10am this morning in the 'tender' and picked up the boys from their car park where they were enjoying the morning sun in a couple of our collapsible chairs along with the first load of our belongings.

 

We let the guys do pretty much all of the unloading today as we were inside the house fire fighting (figuratively speaking, of course) - we were unpacking as quickly as possible to try to make space for the next load of boxes and belongings. We held our own for a while, but after a couple of van loads we lost the battle and were completely overwhelmed - and such was the pattern of our day until the last load was squeezed into the house. On the last run up the hill the boys, who were dripping in sweat from the 28°C heat, brought with them another chilled four-pack of cider so all we sat on the veranda for an hour chatting and soaking up the sunshine.

 

Just before I was about to drop the guys back to their lorry we mentioned in passing the enormous bedstead belonging to the previous owners that was stuck in our bedroom - somehow too big to fit through the doorway, let alone get around the corner to get it down the stairs. Clearly up for a challenge, the boys offered to have a look and see what they could do.

 

Five minutes of grunting, hand sawing and claw hammering later, it was on its way down the stairs and it now resides next to the other pile of rubbish awaiting our new Albanian friend (who didn't turn up today, by the way).

 

It was getting on for around 2.30pm by the time I'd dropped the guys back to their lorry - they planned to spend the afternoon cooling off in the river next to the car park before going on to their next job tomorrow morning in Florence. 

 

When I got back we had a bit of lunch and soaked up our last dose of sunshine for the day, gathering our strength for the afternoon ahead. We then spent what felt like a lifetime unpacking - the more we clear, the quicker it gets, but we'll both be happy to see the last of the boxes marked 'kitchen' (they just keep coming!).

 

So the whole afternoon was a relentless repetition of unpacking, bagging up the packing paper to keep for fire starting in the winter, and collapsing the boxes ... ENDLESS!

 

 

It's just never ending. How did we end up with this much stuff?!

At 8 o'clock we both found ourselves motionless, having hit a wall and feeling too tired to cook (never mind the fact that every available space in the kitchen is covered with pots, pans, bottles, crockery and utensils that have yet to find a home), so decided to have a takeaway pizza. We hopped in the van, drove down to Pescia to the local family-run pizza place and ordered two house pizzas loaded with veg and prosciutto - which we watched being cooked in the wood fired oven - and headed home.

 

It was still so warm - and the house was in such as state - that we decided to eat outside, with a couple of citronella candles to keep away the bitey insects. It almost felt like a holiday! As we sat in the dusk, we saw two bats flitting around in they sky above us and a handful of fireflies - they seem to be green versions up this way, and not in anywhere near the same proliferation as they were in the week of our wedding two years ago near Siena, but maybe we're still a little too early.



Outdoor dining by citronella candlelight.

So that's it, a short and sweet post, as bed beckons. It's back to Rossirent in the morning (hoping we can find it again) with the rest of the day to finish the unpacking and a trip to Lucca at the end of the day to look at a car.

 

Buonanote!