To tick or not to tick, that is the question!

Today should be a day to put a big tick in a box - we were due finally to collect the car (and the printer). Helen had arranged to collect the car at 10am, but after I'd lost the blog post last night and only finished it again at around 9am this morning, she was keen to get it edited and sent live before we left, so it was 10am before we got out of the house.

Half an hour later we pulled onto the forecourt of Car2Car and saw the car! It actually looked like we might really get it today after all! We walked in, and Maurizio soon appeared with a folder of paperwork. Five minutes and only one signature later, we were being given a demo of all of the controls (literally all of them - 'this is how the heater works - this is to make it hot, this is to make it cold', 'these are the indicators', 'these are the windscreen wipers', 'this button is for the hazard lights'... and so on), and we were soon sent on our way. We couldn't quite believe it - I think that after all of the goings on and disappointment lately, we fully expected another hiccup (in fact, when they seemed to be struggling to switch on the radio we fully expected them to change their minds and not let us have the car until the radio had been fixed, and while they twisted knobs and pressed buttons we both held our breath until the joyous sound of europop burst from the speakers!).

The car was empty of both metano (methane) and benzina (petrol), so we drove straight up the road to the metano garage where I asked the chap to fill the tank, to which he replied with words to the effect of 'of course! you always fill the tank!', so it seems that's the way with methane. It wasn't a quick process, but six or seven minutes later the pump stopped: €21 to fill the tank from empty. So now we will have to see just how economical this fuel is once we've run it down to nothing again.

That done, we drove home, only stopping to put some petrol in the car (in case of emergencies) and to buy some more fresh bread.

A sight we were starting to wonder if we would ever see!

It was nearly noon by the time we got home, so Helen made some lunch and went to her desk while I rallied the Smith clan for a trip into Pescia for lunch - the first time we've eaten out since their holiday started, so it was overdue and as it was a damp rainy day it seemed like a good activity to do. While at it we could collect Helen's printer and, weather permitting, look around town.

We parked in the car park next to the old flower market and walked back up towards town. Sue had recommended a restaurant on this road - one that her boys refer to as 'the pirate restaurant' (the owner always wears a bandana) and, sure enough, when we went in we were greeted by the 'pirate' owner so knew we had found the right place! We had a great lunch: pasta dishes of tortellini with ragu, penne with fresh tomato sauce, tortelli with prosciutto and cream, and tagliatelle with salmon started us off, followed by chicken breasts with a choice of side dish for Mom and the kids, while I went for pork chop and beans, all washed down with what seemed like bottomless coca cola for the kids while Mom had coffee and shared the half litre of white wine I ordered. Mom, Kerys and I then finished with coffee of varying sorts and we all left feeling sated, all for the princely sum of €10 per head - definitely a place we'll be be revisiting.

Delicious pasta course.

By now it was quite wet outside, so with umbrellas we walked into the main square and took refuge in Bar Pulter where I introduced Mom and Kerys to caffe ginseng - something of a craze here, if that's the right word to use (the special machines that prepare ginseng coffees are fairly ubiquitous and any place that sells coffee seems to have one).

The rain had now stopped, but it was only 3pm so still too early for shops to open, so we walked around the back streets and made a visit into the duomo briefly.

We then headed back towards the square and the street that runs from it. Our first stop was the toy/game shop where Ben was hoping to add to his Warhammer collection. While talked with the owner about the 'very strange' weather for this time of year, Ben browsed his options, and ten minutes later we left with three armies of figures at 30% discount and headed to the computer shop.

There was no printer for us... again!! I couldn't quite follow exactly why, but I did glean that they have four shops, that something was taking a long time involving Milan, and that the man in the shop needed to phone the Lucca shop. He rambled on some more, at which point I got completely lost. I let him finish before pointing out that it had been nearly three weeks now. I asked if we could get a refund, he said we could, but that the printer would be ready to collect on Thursday - not the first time we've been told that, but next time I visit I'll be going in with the receipt and I plan to leave either with a working printer or with a refund!

We arrived home at about 5pm, and our guests arrived back shortly afterwards - I'm looking forward to hearing about their afternoon: their son has a keen interest in WW2, and after doing a lot of research about the area and a German line of defence that is a short way north of here, they were off in search of evidence and remaining military structures.

While Ben amused himself with his new purchase, Mom picked up her iPad, Kerys watched Russell Howard on her phone, and I put my time to good use by blogging nice and early. An early dinner is in order this evening, and right now the sun seems to be attempting to make its first appearance of the day, so maybe we'll all get a hour on the veranda once Helen finishes her work for the day.