01 December 2006 - 15 December 2006
As you'd expect some things are cheaper here and other things are dearer. We had a bite to eat at a local Pizza Bar; eight slices of pizza, a glass of red wine, a cappucino, a bottle of Coke and a bottle of Fanta, total cost €12.75 thats about £8.70 - pretty cheap we thought. Diesel is €1.10 per litre; about 75p and petrol slightly more. Heating oil seemed expensive at €0.96 (65p) per litre and meat of just about any kind is very expensive which may account for why the Italians tend to use it so sparingly. A reasonable bottle of wine costs us around €1.50 (£1.02), a 375gram box of cornflakes (not Kelloggs) costs €0.69 (47p) and a litre of UHT milk is €0.45 (30p).
The weather is starting to turn a little cooler now. Although its still comfortably warm in the afternoons, the mornings and nights are starting to feel a little chilly. Very little wind or rain though which is a very pleasant change from our last home.
Our Italian electrics are a bit of a nightmare. When we moved in we had a variety of 10amp and 16amp sockets some of which were earthed and some not. So thats four different types of socket each with a different type of plug. We started to replace them all with standard earthed and combined 10/16 amp sockets which plugs of all types will fit. Unfortunately, part way through the task, our local hardware store decided to replace their shelves of sockets and switches with Christmas decorations - very frustrating, particularly as we've not found anywhere else that sells them yet.
Our local wildlife is varied. We have plenty of owls, a few buzzards, deer, lizards galore, large black squirrels, mantis (not the praying variety), black scorpions and snakes (both non-deadly) and a whole host of insects which we do not recognise. We have one particularly irritating beetle which we've nicknamed the Almond Bug. Its about a centimeter long and emits an incredibly strong sickly sweet almond smell when threatened or accidentally trod on - totally harmless but best avoided. Found out later that its called a stink bug - very aptly named.
We've now started Italian lessons commencing with the definite article (the) and how it relates to masculine and feminine nouns. Not nearly as straight-forward as English but a few simple rules to remember and some homework to do should help us to get to grips with it.
We drove past a local(ish) restaurant and couldn't resist taking a picture (see left) - yes, that really is a ship on top of a hill. No water involved at all.
The chimney has finally been swept. We got fed up of trying to find a local sweep so we bought a brush and handles and did it ourselves. We've also managed to track down a cast-iron pot-bellied wood burner for our lounge. Its pug-ugly but at just €180 (£125) we'll put up with it and we'll install it ourselves.
16 December 2006 - 31 December 2006
We have now bought and installed our stuffa (pot-bellied wood burner) and its works perfectly. No messing about with special flu-liners here, just stick a twelve centimeter diameter pipe all the way up the chimney. Luckily we had various lengths of suitable pipe in the attic as well as several pieces of sheet steel to close off the bottom of the chimney.
Our attic and the outbuildings are a constant source of materials, furniture and firewood all left behind by the previous owner. We've been gradually clearing out the bits we don't want and putting them in the tall barn. The previous owner has promised to send a lorry to remove all of this when we're ready.
Much to the children's disgust (and our relief), we still haven't had any snow. It continues to be mild during the day but sometimes quite cold at night with the occasional frost. Snow does not normally make an appearance until late January / early February though last year, several feet fell in December. We've bought snow-chains for the van already, just in case. When it does snow, the roads are cleared by the local farmers with their tractors. We guess that the farmers are paid a small fee for this. No grit or salt is used, most Italians swap to thermal tyres each Winter and if there's snow then you must have snow chains.
We have our Christmas deckies up in the lounge and evenings are spent in-front of the stuffa watching DVD's or Italian TV, playing games, reading, adding to the website or just relaxing.
Leon has joined the Pergola basketball squad and plays two evenings a week and Kate has joined the local gym and goes there two evenings a week. Only three piece gymnastics (as opposed to the four piece she did in the Isle of Man) but it will help her keep fit and maintain her flexibility. Both the gym and basketball will help with the children's language learning and will enable them to make new friends.
We had a great Christmas and we hope that you did too. Fliss and the kids went to mass at the Pergola Cathedral on Christmas Day morning. We then opened the presents and then prepared lunch. We managed to get a small chicken but had to make our own stuffing and gravy which were very nice. We then watched a couple of DVDs in the afternoon and evening. On Boxing Day we went to the Circus which had come to town. It was a small, provincial affair, rather ametuerish and, to be honest, not very good but a bit of fun nevertheless.
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