By the time Stuart had finished writing the epic post, and I had got around to refining and editing it, time had ticked on several hours. We decided that, since there was only a little of the morning left, we wouldn't try to do anything too time-consuming, and that we would head out to visit another of the little villages (the dieci castelli) in our valley before lunch and then spend the afternoon planting up some more rocket seeds and doing a few small tasks that would require minimal effort, but still be something useful.
We got into the car, camera in hand, and set off down the road (in the roasting heat). As we were driving down the road, Stuart mentioned that IF we had a garden umbrella, we would be able to sit outside (in the shade) and bring out the laptop to continue working on our website and other useful things. Having thought about this for less than half a minute, I suggested that we scrap the plan to go to visit villages and instead head for the shops to buy such an umbrella - reasoning that it would definitely be a worthwhile investment if it allows me to work in the outdoors!!
Having seen some reasonably priced ombrelloni at Mercatone Uno, we headed initially for Altopascio. Once there, we found one we liked and that seemed a reasonable price, but we couldn't for the lives of us work out how to get one - there were several on display, but when we scoured the shelves we simply couldn't find anything even vaguely resembling a box containing a garden umbrella. Frustratingly, we knew that if our language skills has been a little better, we would have been able to ask how to go about purchasing such an item, but as it was, we both felt a little reticent to enter into that confusing conversation and agreed to go and try our luck elsewhere.
So, next stop was what has become our second home: Obi.
We knew that Obi had a wide range of umbrellas and wouldn't let us down. Well, there were plenty of umbrellas on display... but the same thing happened there as had happened in Mercatone Uno - there were no boxes of umbrellas to pick up ourselves from the shelves... so there was nothing else for it but to ask a sales assistant.
Somehow, the sales assistants in Obi all seem very friendly and approachable, and a girl was soon putting our order through and explaining that we needed to drive round to the collection point at the back of the shop to pick up our items after we'd paid for them.
Result! (We actually ended up buying the same umbrella from Obi as we had seen in Mercatone Uno - and for the same price, so we were pleased that at least we hadn't ended up spending any more.) After we'd been through the tills, we drove to the back of the shop and waited for someone to come to the gate to help us - on showing him our receipt, he picked up the necessary bits, helped us put them in the car, and we were off!
By the time we got home, lunch was well overdue - it was gone 1.20pm and we'd been up since 5.45am, so were more than ready for lunch. We ate in the searing heat on the patio - too hungry to assemble the umbrella first, but wishing we had just a little respite from the baking hot sun!
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| It was so hot that simply sitting, motionless in the sunshine was enough to have us drenched in sweat. Wendy's thermometer gives a reading that's probably a little higher than the ambient temperature, as it's against a wall in a sheltered sunny spot, but it was DEFINITELY in the mid 30sC. |
While we were eating lunch we saw (and heard) a pair of hoopoes in the trees. That was the first time we've seen any since arriving here - and indeed, the first time we've seen or heard any since the week of our wedding at San Lorenzo a Linari two years ago - another happy memory!
After lunch, Stuart set about assembling the ombrellone while I pottered about planting up some more rocket seeds and doing bits and pieces of weeding here and there.
The umbrella looked impressive once assembled - we were pleased with our purchase:
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| A mighty fine ombrellone |
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| Outdoor office work here we come! |
It was shortly after this point that I decided to get a little more serious about the pottering and weeding work I was doing. Yet again, it turned into one of those ' we just couldn't help ourselves' afternoons. Stuart had gone for a brief snooze mid-afternoon, as he was feeling the effects of the lack of sleep and the extreme heat, but I ploughed on with trying to blitz the patio area outside the apartment.
I decided that a small patch of overgrown shrubs and weeds that were hiding some very uneven ground and piles of stones should be cleared and turned into a small herb garden for use by out apartment guests.
I weeded and weeded (and sweated, and battled with flies- arrghh those pesky flies!!! I can tell you that the air turned blue with the language I resorted to using to tell them to get lost!), until I could barely stand up straight for having put my back through so much. By the time Stuart came out, I felt like I had already made a small transformation in the way it all looked, but it took Stuart to really refine things and complete the transformation.
He came out with his favourite power tool, the hedge trimmer, and neatened things up no end, and then started work on building a dry stone wall around the herb-garden-to-be.
While he was at work with his dry stone walling, I decided that I wanted a bit of power tool action for myself and asked if I could have a go with the hedge trimmer.
Would you believe it, I MANAGED TO START THE THING MYSELF! Check me out!! I then set about tidying the edges of our lawn and clearing around the bases of the olive trees on our lawn.
The hedge trimmer is now MY new favourite toy, so there could be some competition between the pair of us as to who gets to use it next time! It gives me faith that I might, just maybe, be able to be of a bit more use and a bit more effective at getting the rest of the tiers cleared above the house (just one of the many things that Michelle mentioned to us yesterday as something that we need to get on top of ASAP - and indeed, something that we are obligated to do).
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| Never before have I taken so much pride or interest in a garden! |
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| It still needs some tidying, but it's getting more and more presentable. |
The other little job that we did today was to clean off the large bottles from the apartment patio - they had clearly been out in all weathers for a very long while and had collected a lot of dirt both inside and out. I had earmarked this as a nice, easy little job that I could do, but in the end it was Stuart who put all of the cleaning effort in (well, he got to use a power tool: his pressure washer), and got them sparkly and gleaming:
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| Even WE can't imagine drinking that much wine... At least not in one sitting. |
We finally called it a day at around 7.30pm, having actually put in a huge amount of effort (I'm not actually convinced I will be able to stand up straight tomorrow) in the baking heat.
While, being Brits, we REFUSE to complain about having a heatwave, there is a certain amount of concern about how on EARTH we will manage to get any work done in temperatures like these - both in the coming week and when these temperatures are more like the average for the month later in the summer.
We know that the answer is to either get up and out working early in the morning and/or to work late in the evening, but either of those scenarios will take some adjustment to our current routine. I guess that needs must and we will just HAVE to adapt!
More sizzling temperatures expected tomorrow...
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