01 April 2007 - 15 April 2007
Not much happening at present with regard the apartments so we've decided to concentrate our efforts on our own accomodation. Our kitchen lacks storage space and worktop space and is old and tatty so we took a trip to Ikea to see what they had to offer. We've decided to get a kitchen from there and we will fit it ourselves. We also need to re-tile and add more electric sockets. We also want to update our bathroom as, again, its old and tatty but principally because it doesn't have a shower cubicle, just a very small bath. To fit a shower cubicle we'll have to move the toilet so we think we'll need to employ a plumber for this job. We'll have to totally re-tile as well.
We've spent more time clearing the land around the house, paying particular attention to a large bed of nettles. We intend to clear these and sow grass seed with the hope that regular mowing will exhaust any nettle roots which we've left in the ground. We have also now cleared-out the outside kitchen which includes a barbecue and a pizza oven - we haven't a clue how to use the pizza oven but we're hoping that some Italian friends can show us in return for a few slices of pizza and copious amounts of vino rosso.
16 April 2007 - 30 April 2007
After all our efforts with La Questore (see previous months progress), we have been told that the law has changed yet again and now EU citizens do not need either a Permesso Di Soggiorno or a Carte Di Soggiorno. This means that we could now register the van. However, a couple of days ago we managed to track down an insurance company who will insure cars with foriegn plates and they will also take our UK full no-claims discount into consideration. We need to get proof of our NCD from our UK insurers and then we can approach the Italian insurer. Fingers and many other things crossed that they will insure our van - its not a car and some insurance companies here will not cover it.
Its now noisier here at night than it is during the day. We've had owls screeching and hooting all night since we've been here but they now been joined by a host of crickets and nightingales. Add in a few local dogs and tom-cats and the occasional wild boar and it sounds more like a jungle than the Italian countryside.
We were sat outside a local bar with a few friends a couple of nights ago when, much to our amusement, all the customers ran out of the boutique next door, shouting and screaming, closely followed by the owner who was kicking along a metre long green snake. Much to our disgust he then proceeded to kill it in front of us. Shameful really; it was only a grass snake.
We've now planted red peppers, green peppers, chilli peppers, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and strawberries. We're looking forward to a bountiful crop come the summer.
Daily temperatures are now in the mid to high twenties in the shade and we've had no rain or significant cloud since the third of April.
Telecom Italia were true to their word and did send an engineer to us on 18th April - maybe we shouldn't be quite so cynical but it has taken them three months to get this far. We now have a working telephone and the engineer told us that we can get ADSL, though we don't know at what speed yet (and, to be honest, we're not 100% convinced that we can). We're now waiting for a modem and filter to arrive so we can hook up - these were supposed to arrive on 24th April, they haven't yet....... | 
