01 July 2007 - 15 July 2007
A Dutch friend had to go to the Dutch Consolate in Ancona to renew his passport. The Dutch Consolate turned out to be an Italian guy who couldn't speak a word of Dutch - could it only happen in Italy?
The land where the pool sits is now level and the pool is filled. Kate's been in it several times already though none of the rest of us have - too busy with other things.
In amongst our hazel and hawthorn trees we've discovered a few vines which are absolutely covered in grapes. They're not ripe yet and we've no way of knowing if they're a variety to eat or to make wine from. Not enough there to make wine from so we're hoping they're eaters.
The kitchen tiles are all up and grouted so thats the kitchen completed. The tiles were very difficult to cut (except in a straight line), I had to resort to an angle grinder in the end. The usual tools I'd have used in the UK wouldn't touch them.
The next job is to decorate the lounge. It used to be a kitchen so it has tiles two metres high on two walls. Rather than hack them off and then have to get the walls replastered, I'm going to board the walls with plywood which will be routed with a trianglar groove to make it look like tongue-and-groove. I'll have to go to the local timber merchants to get the materials for this and will have to take Kate with me as I don't think that my Italian is up to this yet.
Well, not much happening at present. We've been cracking on with decorating the lounge and, yes, I did go to the timber merchants and, yes, I did take Kate with me. We managed to buy ply and batoning for the lounge which is now up on the walls covering the horrible tiles which were there before. Just a coat of paint and its complete.
All of our plants are doing well; we have a fine crop of cherry and plum tomatoes, plenty of cucumbers, green peppers, red peppers, chilli peppers and strawberries. Our almond, walnut and hazel trees are all covered in nuts and our newly discovered vines continue to thrive. Our Kaki tree is covered in small green kakis (when ripe they look like a peach but we think that they are well named, they taste like kaki!!!) which will ripen around Christmas. We also have yellow plums and purple plums which are just about ripe.
We are now overrun with baby lizards; each around an inch long and so cute. I've tried to photograph a couple but they're so small and so fast that its really difficult.
Weather-wise, July has been pretty similar to June with most days seeing 30-35 degrees with the very occasional thunder storm.
We've now finished decorating the lounge - rapidly running out of rooms to decorate now.
16 July 2007 - 31 July 2007
Unfortunately, the day after I'd finished painting the lounge a sparrow flew / fell down the flue and ended up sat inside the stuffa. It seemed very reluctant to fly back up the flue so we had to open the stuffa door whereupon it flew out in a panic and repeatedly banged into the ceiling leaving loads of sooty marks. Incredibly, it happened again a couple of days later.
16th July and we've hit 40 degrees in the shade for the first time this year.
Since Italy has over 100 water parks we though it was about time we tried one. Aquafan at Riccione claims to be the largest water park in Europe and as its only an hours drive away we tried that one. It was very good with plently of rides and pools to suit all ages. Entry was reasonably priced at €24 (around £16) per person though the queues for some of the features were a little long. We had a really good day out especially as it was very hot and it was great to be able to nip in and out of water as the fancy took us.
We've now been here for a little over eight months. Fliss hasn't really liked living here pretty much from the word go so we've decided to sell up and return to the UK. We're not going back to the Isle of Man (been there, done that) but to south Somerset or Dorset. Fliss has already been back to the UK and is off again soon to continue to look for a job, a house and to get Kate into a school. Leon and Kate will join her some time in August and I will follow on shortly after. Of course, I will have to get a job too and Leon will need to decide whether he wants to get a job or go to college. So, thats the end of our Italian dream - anybody want to buy a house in Italy?
We appear to be in a bit of a heatwave with temperatures exceeding forty degrees each day. Even the Italians are complaining that its too hot. Its supposed to cool slightly on Sunday and Monday and then be back up into the forties again. The day time isn't too bad but at night the humidity rises making it feel more uncomfortable even though its cooler. We now have an electric fan in each bedroom which makes sleeping much easier despite the noise.
Continuing with the touristy theme and whilst Fliss and her mum are here, we went to Oltramare which is a Dolphinarium next to Aquafan at Riccione. It was pretty good, the dolphin shows were great and the other main attractions there were good too. Some of the other, lesser attractions were a little on the dull side though. Still, we got in cheaply enough as we got a 50% discount for Oltramare when we bought the Aquafan tickets. The day was a lot cooler than of late (around 30 degrees) with thunder in the afternoon and a few spots of rain. So, all in all, a pleasant day out.
30th July - Huge, massive thunderstorm tonight; never seen anything like it with lightning every second for an hour or so. Very little rain though, steady but light throughout. Definitely not enough to make any significant change to reservoir levels but hopefully enough to put a little colour back into the parched landscape. Maybe it will rain more later and tomorrow too - I certainly hope so.
Rumour has it that Ryanair are stopping flights between Liverpool and Ancona from the end of October 2007. This, apparently, is not true. Ryanair say that they are having difficulties updating their website with flight details for November 2007 onwards.
Top temperature here in July was 42 degrees in the shade.
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