I think my years on a road bike as a young teen must have stood me in good stead, and while I'm still having to consciously think about the gears and be careful on corners when descending, I'm happy on my bike. For Helen, this is completely new and it would have been great for her to have had more time in the saddle on more familiar (and flatter!) roads before we got here, all my (thyroid's) fault.
Anyway, I knew the fear was building up in her head the longer we left it (and she must have done too, otherwise she would have told me to 'bog off' last night when I mentioned it). She had been asking how busy the roads were after my rides last week, so I knew part of her was keen to get out, she just needed a nudge.
So Team Smith headed out on our first Italian ride this morning (Helen under extreme duress - she did not look happy at the prospect). We slowly dropped down the hill until we reached the turning back up the valley heading for the four-mile climb to San Quirico. It was nice and quiet really, just a few cars heading into town or beyond to work. After her comment in last week's post about 'not knowing how [I] did it' in reference to my climb up the valley to Vellano, I wasn't fully prepared to be left behind on the climb!! I just couldn't keep up with her - three times she had to stop for me to catch up. I had reassured her that she had it in her legs to do these hills, but I hadn't expected such a discrepancy in our fitness levels. I need to work on my fitness more!
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| Off she went, if there was a sunset she'd have been heading for it. |
We had a great climb to San Quirico, and were afforded stunning views down the valley towards Pescia and far beyond, with a blue sky and patches of early morning mist still hanging over parts of the valley. And then it was time for the descent. This is the nervy bit - at speed, hitting a bump is where it can all go wrong. I offered to head off and meet Helen at the bottom so that she didn't feel pressured into keeping up with me, but in the end we opted to cruise down together. I have to admit you see more going a bit slower, but we still nearly hit 20mph by the bottom, after which there was one final short, sharp uphill slog back to our house. A GREAT RIDE with my wife. I hope the next one isn't too far off.
After breakfast, I decided to stay sweaty and went for the strimmer while Helen hit the shower and then the office. The temperature for outdoor work is so much better in the morning, so it's a routine I'm going to try and embrace as often as my schedule allows.
After clearing another terrace and moving a pile of cuttings and brambles the size of our car to a more suitable place, I was about to head inside for a much need drink of water when I saw a couple of guys walking down the drive and towards the front of the house. I didn't recognize them, and they were both smartly dressed, one with a courier bag over his shoulder. I took off my face mask, ear defenders and goggles, shouted 'Buongiono!' to them, and headed down the terraces to meet them. The younger of the two asked me if I spoke Italian, and introduced himself as Marco. As he did so, he thrust a small leaflet into my hand and told me it was an invite to a convention in Florence and pointed to the dates. I was busy listening to what he was saying so could only pick out one word on the leaflet as he talked: Geova. Any guesses? Yup, in England we spell it 'Jehovah'. I couldn't quite believe it! They soon left once I made it clear I had understood where and when the meeting was. I don't think we'll be going.
A little earlier, I had taken a call from the courier who would be delivering our new Vodafone landline contract this morning - he wanted directions to the house. I managed to tell him we were near Pietrabuona, on the road to Vellano on the right-hand side. He seemed happy with my directions and said he'd be here between 11:30 and midday. It was now 11:45, so I went inside to wait and get back to my office work. 12:30 came and went, 12:40 came and went. Finally, at 12:45 I had another call from the courier. I couldn't quite make out what he was saying at first, but he definitely wanted to meet somewhere - I guess he was either worried about trying to find the house or running late and needed to make up time (the latter definitely applied).
He asked if I knew Frateschi's builders merchant in Pietrabuona, which of course I did, so we arranged to meet there in 20 minutes.
Helen didn't take much convincing to come out and try the local coffee bar which is next door to Frateschi's, so off we went for a coffee to wait for the courier. Shortly after sitting down outside with our latte and cappuccino, he pulled up in the car park opposite so I went across and signed the paperwork and then headed back to finish my coffee before heading home after our brief but welcome change of scenery.
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| Frateschi's in all its glory. Our house is just around the corner of that hill. |
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| Heading back to finish my coffee, contract in hand. |
It was beyond lunchtime by the time we got home, so we had lunch straight away, with the garden umbrella up - not for shade this time, but to avoid a little light drizzle.
After lunch, I went inside to plug in the new phone that had been delivered with the contract - a corded one that came with a SIM card and had an aerial with it. I have absolutely no idea what that is all about - it didn't even appear in the user manual that I can see, so I can only assume it connects to the mobile network (which we don't have) and offers other services. Maybe it's a way of Vodafone sending you messages or marketing - who knows, but it's a moot point really as, like I said, we have no mobile signal. We can receive calls (I tested it by dialling the number through Skype), but we're still connected to Telecom Italia (or rather disconnected from them - while we can receive calls, we can't make any outgoing ones) for the moment, and I guess that won't change until Vodafone have received their contract back.
In all my excitement in yesterday's post, I forgot to mention that when I finally got around to opening my parcel from the post office (my new access panel), it wasn't an access panel at all, it was this:
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| An air vent - won't get much access through those little slats! |
An air vent is of no use to me. I had already waited 20 days for it, so I emailed the seller to tell him he'd sent the wrong thing. I was expecting an argument of some sort, and all sorts of complications, but he apologised straight away, and said he'd send the correct item. I wonder if it will take another 20 days for the next package to arrive.
We both spent the afternoon in the office - me working away at my residency research, and Helen working away at, well, work.
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| This was today's office helper. |
By the time I had finally completed my definitive list of residency requirements (I can almost hear your sighs of relief that you won't have to read about it all anymore), and emailed the accountants to ask them to set us up with everything we need to work and pay taxes (booo), it was half past five. Helen hit the hedge trimmer, and I started the blog, hoping to get more than 40 minutes on the sofa before bed tonight!
I'm off to see what Helen has been up to now, I'm getting quite excited by the progress we make on these terraces each day!
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