The theme for the day yesterday was autumn. When I went outside to do my daily exercise routine, it was a shock to find a wall of cold air hit me as I opened up the door. The weather was gorgeous - as clear as anything, with the sun just hitting the tops of the hills of the valley (it would be a couple of hours before it reached our house) - but boy, was there a nip in the air!
As I set my equipment up, feeling like I would rather escape back inside to the warm, Stuart was starting to get his equipment together for a day's gardening work in Lanciole. He set off down the drive just as I was finishing my 45 minutes of workout.
After showering, changing and breakfasting, the first thing I did before settling down to my computer was to make a hot water bottle to sit on my lap. While it's not that cold, I find that I tend to cool down very quickly when sitting virtually motionless at my desk all day - plus I like to have the window open in the office so that I can listen out for anyone arriving at the house - so the hot water bottle was a godsend yesterday!
The day really was rather unexciting - I put in a solid few hours of office work and Stuart put in a full day's strimming, pruning, weeding and so on up the valley.
After clocking off for the day, I decided to move the large pile of wood that I'd collected from a few terraces above the house last week - I had left it on the terrace above the house, so I moved it down to the drive, and then from the drive to the wood pile. Stuart arrived home while I was doing it, so I helped him unload a load more logs from the car and add those to the wood pile too.
Before long, it was time to put the geese to bed then head into Pescia to collect Allison and Q from the station - they were coming back from their mini-break in Florence. The train was slightly delayed, so we popped into the cafe across the road from the station for a quick coffee - Stuart seems to have come down with the cold that Q arrived with, and after his hard day's labouring was feeling in extra need of a pick-me-up. We also each used the loo in the cafe while we waited. When I said I was going to pop to the loo, Stuart responded with 'have fun!', which I thought was a little odd, but put it down to his head feeling full of cold. As soon as I opened the door to the toilet I realised why he had said it. The toilet was one from the darker ages of European sanitary ware - yes, what I like to call a 'shower tray', basically a porcelain hole in the ground with porcelain foot markers either side. It was certainly clean enough, but I still can't get my head around why anyone still has that style of toilet when there are perfectly comfortable sitting-down ones readily available these days!
Anyway, toilet experience dealt with, we left the cafe and went to wait for Allison and Q on the station platform. They arrived saying how much colder it was in Pescia than in Florence (they had been watching the temperature reading on the train's information screen drop as the train progressed further from Florence), and that they had had a lovely time in Florence, but were now feeling ready to return to the countryside, having had their fill of cities, tourists and crowds.
Before making our way home, we stopped off at Quadrifoglia, our local wood-fired-oven pizza takeaway joint, to pick up four pizzas to take home with us - Allison and Q's much appreciated treat for us!
So, pizzas steaming in their boxes on Allison's lap, we headed up the hill towards home and, after Allison and Q had dumped their bags and changed into comfier clothes, we reconvened in our house for wine and pizza - perfect!
So that's how yesterday went.
This morning, I was a little trepidatious about going outside for my exercise - the forecast would have me believe it was going to be an even chillier morning than yesterday. It wasn't wrong! I headed out today with some extra layers on, and kept my fleece jacket on until I had warmed up sufficiently. I did struggle with the kettlebells though - the same problem as used to happen in the dojo in the depths of winter, in that the iron handles of the weights were so cold that it was painful to hold them! I think I will need to start wearing gloves for my workouts at this rate!
Just like yesterday, the weather was gorgeous - crystal clear air, not a hint of cloud or mist, stunning blue sky and lovely sunshine. It is definitely autumn now though!
Coming back into the house after my exercise felt blissful - it felt lovely and warm, although I knew it was only relative. Since last night we had talked about Q going out cycling today, and Allison and I doing some work outdoors, I decided to delay having a shower until later in the day, and instead changed into 'work' clothes. I still felt cold though, and every time Stuart opened the front door a blast of chilly air came into the house. We couldn't quite believe the contrast in temperatures between Sunday and today.
Once everyone had worked out what we were doing, I headed to start work on the terraces. I planned to start clearing the terraces above the goose enclosure so that we have more space available... for chickens! I was happy to be reunited with the handheld hedge trimmers today, which had been out of action for many weeks, then at the repair shop for a couple of weeks, so it had been a good couple of months since I last used them.
I was glad to put on the protective gloves, not just to save my hands from bramble and acacia scratches, but to keep them warm as well! However, I had only been going for 10 minutes or so before I started to work up some warmth and had to take my sweater off. After that, it was non-stop hard work and sweat and I was glad of the cool air.
Allison joined me a short while later, and I directed her to the rake and pitch fork and suggested she start clearing the clippings that I was making, and moving them gradually down the terraces. Only too pleased to help and do something active and outdoorsy, Allison joined in like a pro. Of course, knowing how tidy Allison's desk is at work, I shouldn't have been at all surprised by the fastidiousness of her raking and tidying.
While Allison and I were cutting and raking, Stuart and Q were setting up Stuart's bike so that Q could use it to go out cycling. They were tweaking gears, adjusting saddle heights, pumping tyres and so on (as well as drinking coffee).
Eventually, they both seemed happy enough with the state of the bike for Q to venture out on his own. He left with Stuart's Garmin bike computer, programmed with a route Stuart had suggested, and a mobile phone in case he got so terribly lost that he needed someone to fetch him.
Stuart then strapped on the backpack strimmer and joined in with the terrace clearing. Poor Allison did complain that she now had to try to keep up with two of us clearing, but she coped admirably.
I had my sights set on clearing the terraces as far as a poor, stranded olive tree that could be seen just poking its branches up above the thick masses of brambles, almost as if it was waving for help to stop it drowning in thorny tendrils.
After a solid 3.5 hours work, I finally reached the olive tree, and on standing back to look at the terrace from afar, realised that the length of clear terrace had pretty much been doubled since starting out this morning. I was pretty pleased with that!
It wasn't long after that that Q arrived back - he'd managed to get lost, but had a good cycle ride nevertheless. By this time it was getting on for 1.45pm, and with the hard morning's work my muscles were screaming, the sweat was pouring, and I was more than ready for a lunch break.
Stuart, Allison and I downed our tools and joined Q at the patio table for a lunch of leftover pizza and cured meat and cheese. Allison even treated us to some chocolate - we certainly felt as if we'd earned it! By this time, the weather had really warmed up - while still cool in the shade, the sun had gathered some strength and it was too hot to sit in direct sunlight.
Once lunch was finished, we dispersed to our respective abodes so that we could each shower and change - the plan was to go into Lucca this afternoon, so we all needed to freshen up and change into civvies.
By the time we'd all done that it had gone 4pm - Stuart and I went to put the geese in for a very early night, then lured the cats indoors for the same (they got some treats for their troubles though) - then we all piled into the car and started off in the direction of Lucca.
We parked up in our usual underground car park just inside the city walls, then clambered up onto the walls to have a bit of a stroll. Allison and I were both suffering from achey back (me)/knees (A)/hips(both) after our morning's work, but the gentle walk seemed like a good tonic.
After walking a section of the wall, we dived off into the town to find the Piazza Anfiteatro, the San Michele church and a handful of other noteworthy bits of the city. To be honest, just meandering down any old side street in Lucca is noteworthy - fascinating historical buildings, stunning architecture, the whole city is beautiful and has a wonderful atmosphere.
We wandered the streets of Lucca for a couple of hours - until the light was starting to fade, at which point we decided to get back in the car and head back to Pescia to call in at the local wine bar.
The traffic on the way back to Pescia was busy, it being the evening rush hour, but we managed the journey quite quickly and were soon parking up in the main square in Pescia and heading for the enoteca.
We found a table for four in the back room of the enoteca and ordered three glasses of chianti and an Aperol spritz for Allison. We'd all been intrigued by the orange-coloured drink that comes in a wine glass with ice that we've seen the locals ordering - it looks the same colour as Lucozade or Irn Bru - and we'd worked out it was an Aperol, but had no idea what it tasted like. Allison soon noted that it tasted very nice indeed, and after a small taster sip, I concurred - and will definitely be ordering it in the future!
We sat in the wine bar for a couple of hours, having helped ourselves to the free buffet snacks to help soak up our drinks, but eventually the time came to leave and head home.
The chill in the air was definitely back by the time we left the enoteca, so we headed straight home and indoors to the relative warmth. We ended the evening with Allison and Q coming up to ours with a bottle of prosecco and some crisps - not the most wholesome of evening meals, but on top of the snacks we'd already consumed at the enoteca, it was all we felt we needed!
We spent a lovely evening chatting and sipping more wine. None of us can quite believe that tomorrow is Allison and Q's last full day here - time really has gone too quickly for the second week in a row!
Tomorrow looks like it might bring more cycling and working on terraces - but we will wait to see what the morning brings. One thing's for sure, though: I will have my gloves and thermals at the ready for when I get up!
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