Back to school

Yesterday's rain left us during the night and we awoke to blue skies and mild temperatures - a perfect spring morning.

 

After breakfast, I set Zach and Holly to work moving the piles (and piles) of rubbish found on the terraces to the car park area, ready for a couple of trips to the bins. Meanwhile, I headed out in search of a new chain for my chainsaw as we now own not one, but two blunt ones and Antonio can't collect them for sharpening until Thursday evening (meaning I probably won't see them fit for service until next week).

 

My first stop, as always, was Frateschi's (why go any further than the local village?). I've decided it's always worth asking Paulo for stuff even if I think he might not have it - he is in command of such an Aladdin's cave of boys' toys it would be foolish of me to assume I had a full grasp of his entire stock. I'm learning a little more about his stock with each visit, but also that it's always better to just walk in and ask (this goes a long way to understanding why hardware stores here carry such diverse items and display them (or not) in such a seemingly random way).

 

Anyway, Paulo took one look at my Stihl chain and said 'No, I don't have Stihl', so I left and headed for Pescia. I decided that Davide's hardware store could potentially put me in an awkward position as his shelves are only ever half full and if you ask for something he doesn't have there and then, his stock answer seems to be to say that it will be ready Wednesday (meaning I would be committed to returning next week after he had ordered it the moment I walked out). What I needed today was a sure bet, and the closest thing I could think of was the place where we bought our backpack strimmer last summer, so that was where I headed.

 

When I arrived, I walked in and spoke to the lady that must be Nicola's wife. She took me through to the workshop and introduced me to a guy I'd not met before, Norberto being conspicuous by his absence. I showed this guy my blunt chain and asked for a new one. This could have gone either of two ways, but fortunately it seemed to be going my way. He took the chain out, counted the teeth and went to the other side of the workshop from where he produced a chain then shouted something to me about the length and went to work on it.

 

As he went to work, I browsed a random collection of farm machines all gathered in the centre of the workshop until he'd finished shortening the chain. At this point, I noticed a small grinder on the bench next to him, which I guessed was for sharpening chains. I asked him where I could buy such a sharpening machine - in response to which he asked whether my old chain was in need of sharpening. I told him it was, and he proceeded to sharpen it while I watched in stunned amazement as to how quick and easy it was - two minutes later, I was back in the office with him placing an order for a sharpening grinder of my own!

 

After a four-way conversation about how much the new chain cost and whether the sharpening could be given to me for free, I told Nicola as best I could that I might be interested in a used tractor and that we lived on a steep hill. He suggested I needed a tractor with four wheels of equal size (I had already come to the same conclusion, after having done a little research), took me back into the workshop to show me just such a tractor - a machine I had been coveting not five minutes prior, assuming that it was someone's pride and joy in for service.

 

After a very hard to follow dialogue, I think I was given a price for this tractor along with an attachment for carrying wood. In complete contrast to his brother (Norberto), Nicola speaks no English - not only that but he makes no allowance for the fact that my Italian is sub standard and he jabbers away as fast as he might do to his mate down the pub. As I left, I told him I'd have to speak to my boss... my wife. This elicited a hearty laugh from him and he re-told what I'd just said to his brother, who had now reappeared and who asked me to confirm that my boss was my wife. I of course said yes. I was then given the most heartfelt display of empathy I'd yet seen since arriving here, and with a very knowing and thoughtful expression he said 'is the same in Italy too!' I told him England was the same and three of us laughed like we were friends in a pub, it felt all warm and fuzzy and I escaped quickly before I undid all my good work, which I'd have no doubt done the next time I opened my mouth.

 

Upon returning home, I set to work felling four larger acacia trees with Zach and Holly then left them doing the majority of the dismembering while I went to help Helen prepare lunch.

 

Lunch today started with a whole half of a soft-boiled goose egg on toast each - it was the first time we'd manage to wait until we had more than one egg at one time before eating them (was followed by cheese, mortadella ham and our house bean dip).

 

Goose egg on toast.

 

 

After lunch, Helen and I went off to doggy school in Pistoia with Donatella.

 

It was another one-on-one session, or should I say four-on-one with Reggie, in which we did a lot of clicker training, getting him at first to look at a cone in return for a treat. Once he'd mastered that, his goal was to touch the cone with his nose for the treat. It didn't take him long to get the hang of it and he was soon lazily laying there nosing at the cone quicker than I could feed him treats - the lying down brought much merriment to all and gave Reggie his 15 minutes of fame on the dog trainer Marina's Facebook page.

 

"If I just lie here I can save energy and just touch my nose on the cone without moving..."

(Photos by Marina.)

 

 

After a busy hour of training, the next student arrived in the form of a four-month-old female Staffordshire bull terrier. The plan was for Reggie and the puppy to meet with a fence between them in the hopes that the bull terrier was up to meeting him face to face, her M.O. up until now being to terrorise other dogs. However, it turned out that Reggie was too intense even for her and she didn't want to meet him properly! This leaves us with only one dog possibly capable of dealing with Reggie's intensity, taming his playful nature and giving him a lesson in dog-on-dog behaviour, the ominously named 'Tempest'! We are hopeful that such a meeting might grace these pages in the not too distant future.

 

After getting home and letting Donatella get back to her own home and animals, we set about our evening chores, rounding up the cats, collecting wood, lighting a fire, feeding the cats, feeding the dog, putting the geese away and writing a blog before starting dinner.

 

Tomorrow promises more good weather and more work on the vegetable beds.