Despite the weather hampering our efforts, we managed to get up and leave the house shortly after 9am for the supermarkets in Pescia. We were pleased to find Lidl very quiet for a change, meaning there was only a short queue for the tills, so after half-filling a trolley we were soon loaded and heading for Esselunga... where it was a much different prospect!
We have never had to park as far away from the store in its enormous car park as we did today - in fact, we've never even seen vehicles in the section we had to park in this morning. This didn't bode well for the scene inside the shop, and indeed it was heaving - Christmas, it turns out, has nothing on Easter (or Pasqua as it's called here).
Due to the long (two-day) closures that follow today, there was a virtually apocalyptic scene inside the shop, and trying to move around with a trolley was near impossible. Often, Helen would disappear and hurry off down the aisles, returning to me and the trolley with items rather than us moving along together, as is normal supermarket custom. How there were no scenes of trolley rage I'll never know (mainly, I suppose, because I personally managed to keep a lid on it).
On the upside, on going to the checkout we were faced with another new sight: all of the tills were open, so although we had to queue for a while, it didn't actually take any longer to get out of there than usual. (Note to selves: shop on the Friday next Easter!)
After a quick visit to 'Mr Chicken' to pick up a sack of goose food we headed back up the gloomy valley towards Pietrabuona where we made a short pitstop for a quick cappucino in the local coffee bar next to the builders' merchant. Despite the damp weather, we restrained ourselves to just the one coffee each before heading home to unload the shopping in preparation for taking Reggie out for a walk.
As it was a bit damp, with plenty more rain due, we decided that we would head for the refuge track today, guessing that there wouldn't be many walkers or mountain bikers out for Reggie to worry about (or worry) today.
The sight that greeted us as we drove up along the track was amazing: the tree felling and logging that had been going on since we last visited in the wake of the big storms was on an industrial scale. It appears that the Diocese of Lucca has given permission to a logging firm to remove all pines from along the trackside, with huge swathes of hillside that were previously heavily forested now being clear - clear, that is, except for the enormous stacks of wood at the roadside.
The rain hadn't yet started in earnest here, although it was very damp under foot, but the walk up the track was heavenly - there was nothing else for the senses other than the heady scent of pine from the recently felled trees, a gentle refreshing patter of rain on fallen leaves and birdsong, it was true bliss.
We also had the momentous occasion on our walk that was the first time Reggie raised (or attempted to raise) his back leg while emptying his bladder (sorry if you are eating your supper/breakfast or are of a sensitive disposition...). Whether or not this was a coincidence, we're not sure (it only happened once), but maybe he is starting to get the idea!
 |
| Sorry Reggie, we hope this doesn't make you blush too much. (His left back leg is raised in the air, albeit only half-heartedly.) |
The walk back down was a little less tranquil, so as one or two motocross bikes seemed to be in full throttle somewhere across the valley and the rain made a more determined start, so with gravity on our side we marched back down to the car.
We arrived home knowing the rest of the day would be spent indoors - a rare pleasure. We lit the wood burner and sat down to lunch - a lunch that was the work of a genius (my wife, not me). We feasted on lovely silver anchovies in oil, sweet green peppers stuffed with cheese, sun-dried tomatoes wrapped around a tuna filling, gooey gorgonzola, and something called a 'Russian medallion', which was a small pot of potato and vegetable salad topped with sliced egg and prawns. All of that was washed down with a good glass of Chardonnay (we really pushed the boat out with wine from a bottle rather than from a box today - although it still only cost €1.70 for the bottle...).
After lunch, we moved our both of our computers into the kitchen/living area so that we could enjoy the warmth of the fire and we whiled away the afternoon (and long into the evening) with Helen working on updates to our website while I spent some time redrawing the Pescia Rugby Club logo for Chris, making it fit for the new kit being printed, before turning my attentions back to my epic Excel spreadsheet for vegetable planting and care.
Come 8.40pm, we were still happily working away at our PCs and suddenly realised that we really ought to see to making some dinner (a nice, simple scrambled egg on toast) and turning off our computers for the day. Definitely a relaxing day, thanks mainly to the rain!
No comments:
Post a Comment