01 October 2007 - 15 October 2007
Its been a mixed year here in Italy for us. I've loved almost every aspect of it and Kate's had a great time at school, made some really good friends and now speaks Italian extremely well - we're really proud of her. Fliss hasn't enjoyed it nearly so much; she's been frustrated by the language, hated not being able to communicate, been totally, totally cheesed off with the bureaucracy and found it difficult to cope with 35 degrees plus. Leon has been totally bored, again, being unable to get to grips with the language and has found the high temparatures uncomfortable. We've all found it lonely at times, especially as we live some way out of town.
Fliss and I are both glad we did it though. It was an itch that needed to be scratched. We tried and I don't think that we failed. We just came to realise that it didn't suit all of us. We took a vote and the majority were in favour of returning to the UK so that's what we're doing.
Things I will miss about living in Italy are: the weather including the fantastic thunderstorms (I'm a great fan of nature's pyrotechnics), the wonderful scenery, the lack of traffic jams and conjestion, the daily challenge of the language, the peace and quiet, the owls, crickets, lizards, snakes, buzzards, etc., sitting outside the bars on a warm evening, the lack of drunks (never saw one), the architecture, cheap fuel, booze and fags, not having to work nine-to-five and lastly our home, especially sitting on the balcony with the beautiful views down the valley to the mountains.
Things I won't miss; the bureaucracy, Italian television, Italian drivers and, of course, Telecom Italia.
Today (2nd) Claudio and I went to Sanselpolcro in Tuscany, in the van, to pick up some furniture for his new office in Pergola. In Tuscany and Umbria (which we passed through on the way) all the leaves are brown (but the sky wasn't grey) but still in Le Marche, on this side of the Appenines, the leaves are green. Whilst in Sanselpulcro, I was stopped by the Finance Police; Was I speeding? Were my lights defective? Was I suspected of carrying contraband goods? No, they'd just never seen an Isle of Man number plate before and were curious to know where the Isle of Man was. On the way back, we stopped at a service station for a bite to eat and a coffee. You're not allowed to smoke in the bar but you can if you sit outside next to the petrol pumps - crazy!!
In a visit to view a house that ItalCasa were taking on, Claudio found that two owls had become trapped inside. He had to catch them in order to set them free. As an ex-farmer he is used to handling animals and birds.
16 October 2007 - 31 October 2007
Brother-in-law, Mark, has arrived together with his daughter and our daughter, Kate. Both the girls are here for the week during the UK school holidays. Mark will stay on for another week to help pack up the van and trailer and to co-drive back to Yeovil.
Kate went back to her Italian school (no half-term break here) and was greeted by cheers and applause from her class mates. Her teacher kindly allowed her to stay for a couple of hours and join in with that morning's class.
Unfortunately they've arrived during a cold and wet week. There's snow on the mountains and sleet and hail down here. Also unfortunately, our central heating boiler chooses this time to stop working so we have to get a plumber out to fix it. This takes a couple of days though but luckily the temperature picks up a little and the stuffa keeps us warm, at least in the lounge. On the same day, the tensioner on the belt which drives the power steering pump on the van also decides to break so we have to go to a local garage to get that fixed.
Power steering on the van now fixed. Not cheap but it had to be done.
The kids have now flown back to the UK and Mark and I have set about the task of packing everything up. Fortunately we kept all the boxes which we used to bring all the stuff over in. We haven't gained much stuff over the year so it should all fit back in and the van should be able to tow it all again. Getting up the white road will be our first and hopefully only major hurdle. The van, being rear wheel drive, doesn't have much traction when empty but we're hoping it'll be much better when full; it will have a very heavy trailer on the back though. I have a friend lined up who has a huge 4 x 4 if we get totally stuck.
Back in the UK now having arrived on the 1st November. As suspected, we did get stuck on the white road and had to call on a friend with a 4 x 4 to tow the trailer up to the tarmac road. Uneventful journey on the way back via the Mont Blanc tunnel, Cherbourg and Poole. 27 hours on the road and a 7 hour overnight channel crossing.
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