I think we both caught up on sleep last night. Helen went out to try and kill herself with exercise (to make up for not doing any yesterday) at just before 8am, and I woke an hour and a half later after just 11 hours sleep...
We had breakfast, Helen updated the blog, and then we set out on the morning's errands. First stop was our local post office to pay the latest Telecom Italia bill, then it was on to the Agraria in Castellare in order to try and get some more fencing nails and some chicken wire. We left with the nails - two whole kilos of them, which was more than we needed (and more than I expected two kilos to amount to), but they won't go to waste - and ten fence posts. Although these fence posts were different from the ones we bought previously, it really wasn't worth making the additional trip to be fussy about matching posts - the geese won't give a damn after all, and they'll be looking at them far more than us!
The agraria had no chicken wire though, so it was off to see smiley Davide at the ferramenta (hardware shop) where we bought our lawn mower. He was very pleased to see us again and I got the now usual vigorous hand shake while Helen got the usual gentle pat on the shoulder. It always looks like he wants to go in for the kiss, but doesn't feel he can cross that line with foreigners just yet! Anyway, we asked for a couple of meters of heavy chain then dragged him outside to ask for 50m of chicken wire. He said he would need to order the chicken wire, and would be able to give us a better price (it's marked as €2 per metre outside, so we'll see what it ends up costing when we return to collect it on Wednesday). He gave us the chain gratis - which we were really touched by - and we left for home to start work on finishing the fence.
As we rounded the corner of the drive to approach the house we saw two strangers standing next to their car in the driveway. It took us aback somewhat initially, but we quickly found out they were Alex and Donatella - they lived a short way up the valley and have been living here for three years now after having moved from London (and, in fact, they almost bought our house when they moved out here!). Donatella is Italian, originally coming from Florence, but Alex is British and judging by her impeccable English, Donatella had clearly spent many years in Britain prior to coming back to Italy three years ago.
They had dropped in to say hello to Keith and Geri, but before we arrived, they had begun to guess from looking around at some of the changes we've made that they must have finally sold.
We offered them a drink and we sat chatting for about and hour and a half, talking about the highs and lows of life here, the hurdles involved in getting started, and the many rewards, as well as self sufficient living - something they have been working towards too. One of the many topics we covered was equipment and how frustrating it is when it fails - and Alex told us how he had started off exactly as we have done, buying cheaper tools, but soon realising that if you buy cheap you pay twice, and now sticking firmly with the top-of-the-range kit (in fact, it turns out that Alex buys equipment from my new friend the Stihl chainsaw salesman up in Macchino). Funnily enough, we'd had exactly the same conversation with Chris a little while ago. Seems we've all made the same mistakes and all realised the error of our ways. It's reassuring to know that the learning curve is as steep for others as it has been for us. Before they left, we swapped blog addresses and phone numbers and have been invited to visit them to see what stage they are at with their house and land - so we'll look forward to that over the coming weeks, and it'll be good to have another set of like-minded people to bounce thoughts and ideas off from time to time.
By the time Alex and Donatella left, it was getting on for lunchtime, so we had lunch (more home-made hummus) under the shade of the umbrella, it was baking hot today, as forecast.
After lunch, we both set to work on the fencing. All but three of the 28 fence posts were in, and most of the wire fencing attached to it, but the sections that run up the terrace banks at 40-50° inclines were a two-man job (or should I say a husband-and-wife team job). However, it wasn't long before we realised that the roll of wire fencing we had left wasn't going to get the job finished - so we begrudgingly made a trip to Obi for another 10 metres of the stuff so that we could get it done today. That makes the perimeter of goose island nigh on 60 metres - more than big enough for a pair of geese!
When we got home, we set to work again and by the time seven o'clock arrived we were pretty much done - there are just a few more nails to go in and a bit of fence 'weaving' to do to tidy up the loose ends. After that, we need to construct a gate, and then we're onto the house-building stage, plus fitting the chicken wire to the bottom of the fence (to deter digging foxes). That shouldn't take too long at all so by the time our friends and cat sitters Louise and Dan arrive next weekend, we should be very nearly finished!
So, tomorrow promises a leisurely morning - maybe a cycle ride into town for a coffee - and an afternoon of more fencing.
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