Ragù alla Bolognese
30th November 2025 After a couple of slow news weeks, thank goodness for Bologna and our two days there this weekend bringing a spark of life to our otherwise quotidian existence. Mind you, Monday was vaguely exciting. There was my morning visit to the dentist for a clean and polish and a check-up. The hygienist sorted the former before leaving the later to Claudia, who gave me the-all clear and lots of praise for being handy with the toothbrush and floss. In the afternoon
Busy doing nothing
23rd November 2025 If you thought the last couple of weeks offered slim pickings, you ain’t, as they say, seen nothing yet – or at least for the next couple of minutes. Stephen was otherwise occupied on Monday and missed coming home for lunch, but he didn’t go hungry, eating instead downstairs in Pina as the fashion professor from Florence was back for a visit to check up on how things were going and to ask lots of questions. It was a drained Stephen who arrived home in tim
It's a fair cop
16th November 2025 It was my turn to come eye to eye with our friend the fox on Monday when Peggy started up the twilight barking. Having a good idea why, I dashed out with the torch, Harry hot on my heels, but was disappointed not to see it snaffling the cachi. That was probably because there wasn’t any fresh windfall to be had, even for ready money, but all was not lost. Playing the torch around the lane, a pair of eyes shining in the beam marked where the fox was standing,
Make mine a cachi
9th November 2025 There was a bit of a surprise on Monday when we woke to rain. After a prolonged stretch of warm (for the time of year) and fine weather, it seemed that things might be changing. They were, but not dramatically. The short-lived showery interlude had more or less passed by when I went out with Peggy and Harry, giving way once more to blue skies but with a fresher feel in the air and a drop of several degrees in temperature. This was enough to convince us tha
Just a quickie
2nd November 2025 With the past week being one of the most uneventful on record, this blog will take up as much of your time as the average Italian takes when dropping into a bar for a caffè (or espresso for those of you who aren’t sophisticated international travellers like what I am). So what can I tell you? The road was more or less unaffected by last Sunday’s rain, and the weather has been warm and sunny - unseasonably so, maybe, but appreciated by Harry and Peggy. Most
