When I started the week I had two jobs at the top of my list: planting and strimming. If you read yesterday's post then you'll know the planting is largely done, so if all had gone according to plan today, everywhere should be strimmed, but it didn't.
After breakfast, which was probably the earliest I've had it in two weeks, I decided first to head out shopping. The one job that had pushed its way to the top of the list after yesterday's plant-a-thon was to set up a better way of watering down on the lower terraces - walking up to the house to keep filling a watering can is not only tedious, but no longer going to cut the mustard on this scale!
As you might know, we're awaiting some large water tanks from a company in Pescia. As of last week they have been cleaned and are ready for collection, so now we're just waiting for the builders I asked a couple of weeks ago (who said they'd do it for fuel money rather than the €100 the first guy wanted) to call me and let me know when they can collect. Anyway, primarily these tanks will collect rain water from the roof of the house, as well as some grey water (drainage from the shower, bathroom sink and washing machine) for use on the veg, but it'll take a little while to collect enough to run an irrigation system, so for the time being at least we're using metered water. This morning I'd worked out how to get that water part way back down the hill from whence it came - but I needed some hose.
I told Helen I was off out shopping as we needed other items too - at which point she reminded me we had SOME hose in the shed. She was right, so I went to rummage around for various bits of hosepipe and connectors, and ten minutes later I emerged into daylight with all of the bits and pieces and set to work connecting it from a tap at the side of the house and working my way down the terraces before testing it... Two out of four lengths of pipe had holes in them, which left me short, but at least we'd only need one new length now.
I grabbed my shopping list and headed out. My first stop was a Fiat authorised car repairer on the way into Pescia. The central rear seatbelt had recently broken (by the time we've finished with the repairs to this car, we'll have only the seats left as original parts!) and earlier attempts to procure a replacement had resulted in me being told to go to a Fiat dealer. Searches on the internet had proved fruitless, so this was my next step before finding the nearest proper dealer. I'd already removed the faulty belt by way of demonstrating that I only needed the spare part and not the fitting (as I'd clearly already done the reverse of fitting).
When I finally got to speak to someone and explained what I needed, the guy said he'd have to order one from the nearest Fiat dealer! Oh well, you can't accuse me of not trying to spend locally and keep our money in our local economy (although I'm sure there a small part of the €127 plus tax that will be)! It seems that Fiat have their spares locked down, so to speak - the guy who called me later this afternoon to give me the price told me he thought it was expensive, but what else could we do?
Next, I headed to Montecatini to Obi. I wanted to look around a display of plumbing items - while I've done bits of plumbing here and there, I don't have enough expertise to know what to ask for, so sourcing items from Frateschi's was going to be impossible. (I'm looking for some connectors and taps to make a few improvements to the incoming water set-up - mainly to take an electric pump and water storage tank out of the loop which appears completely useless.)
Anyway, I left Obi with nothing more on the plumbing front than 25m of hose which I'm told will last me until I'm 70. Not bad for €1.50 per metre - I'd better keep the receipt safe! I had really wanted to buy the hose from Davide at his little ferramenta, but I'd failed to see the need for it early enough and if I had been met with the usual response of 'I will have it next Wednesday', well then that would have left us watering very slowly and painfully by hand, traipsing up and down the terraces to keep refilling a watering can - not something I was prepared to do. I felt bad about giving Obi yet more of our money all the same.
Heading back into town, I planned to stop and fill the car with more used tyres for our terrace steps, but the tyre shop had obviously closed at noon so instead I turned up towards the wood yard to go and get another sack of wood shavings for the geese. However, before I'd made the short journey there I'd changed my mind, deciding that I would wait to see how many of my own wood shavings I could collect from processing the huge stack of wood that needs cutting. I then headed quickly to Frateschi's to exchange an empty gas bottle for a full one before going home for a delicious lunch on the patio with Helen and the ever hopeful Reggie - Helen and I had left over quinoa salad (from last night's dinner) and half a goose egg each, while Reggie circled for crumbs.
After lunch, I sorted the new hose out and am very happy to say that we can now water our seeds and plants with relative ease (albeit with metered water). For now at least we can keep this ship going in the right direction.
On hearing the church bells strike 3pm, I gave up on the idea of doing any strimming today and instead decided to do a bit of tidying around the place. It wasn't long before Helen emerged into the warmth and sunshine looking for something outdoorsy to do. Shortly after that, she came out again in a change of clothes and clutching her hedge trimmers with the intention of "trimming back" the brambles and acacias around the newly installed washing line to make it a little more difficult for bugs to get into our washing.
Helen's "trimming back" got a little carried away, and after an hour or so she had started to clear the terrace on which the corrugated iron roofed rubbish shed sits.
She downed tools at around 5.15pm though, and we both packed up to take Reggie out for a walk. Well, that was our plan, but clearly not the car's! Once again, the car decided it was going nowhere this evening and after a few attempts we gave up, took a somewhat bewildered Reggie back out of the car and headed to the patio where we sipped a solitary glass of beer each and ate olives while the sun cooled before getting onto watering duties and dinner for the evening.
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