Can you hear me, mother?

Our first weekend at La Casa dei Due Baffi, with some old stuff, some new stuff and some ‘what not again’ stuff.

Yesterday morning began with some old stuff when Stephen hit the laundrette again with a mass of crunched and crinkled clothes in need of a bit of tlc following their release from the boxes. He was back in double-quick time, and even had a window of opportunity while there to help a lady who was having trouble with her tokens, being too short to reach the coin slot.

Other than that it was boxes, boxes and then some more boxes before Saturday date night at the pub – whose profits must be tumbling now we are not taking a post-prandial stroll to give the dogs exercise before bedtime and us a coffee and digestivo.

This morning we headed to Corrodomnia in search of tablemats and chocolates: the former to protect the upcycled table and the second as presents for Flavia and my students. We also came back with an outside dog bed to replace the piece of cardboard on which Bella and Harry have been lying while sunning themselves on the terrazzo (and yes, I do feel dreadfully ashamed and a terrible parent having treated them so cavalierly).

The afternoon belonged to technology, which in our amateur hands is always a dodgy undertaking. Having procured the modem the other day it was time to put it into operation. You’d think that this should have been a simple operation: plug it in, switch it on and hey presto. Not in Italy, where the government regards investing in a swift and reliable network as a frivolous eccentricity, unless you live in Milan.

So it was that having set up the modem, connecting it to the ‘phone line then entering the 26 character password into our various MacBooks and iPads, we were not surprised but still deflated when nothing happened. We checked and prodded and poked to no effect, so Stephen took to WhatsApp to canvas the help of Computer Luca. We followed his suggestions, which basically were to switch it off and start again, but to no apparent success. Maybe we needed to be patient as it could take some time, he advised.

After about half an hour the service light began flashing on the box, but the one for the Internet remained resolutely dark. A restorative walk with the dogs was called for, which seemingly invigorated not only us but the modem as well, for on our return we had progressed from three to four lights and the Internet was glowing greenly. We were back in the land of the living – and in only four hours. So what did we do with our newfound power? Why, play ‘Dice with Buddies’ of course and post on Facebook, of course. Isn’t that what the World Wide Web was created for?