A friend in need...

It’s quite fitting that we’ve just had Epiphany, for it seems that a great and sudden realisation has hit the good people of MSP some two weeks after the event itself, as we found out on Thursday when Stephen received a phone call from Luca.

Ah, Luca – but which one, of the countless million bearing that name in Italy, was it? Leaping Luca? Computer Luca? Luca on the 2nd floor? No, no and no – for this Luca is a new entry on the charts but he may be rising with a bullet if things pan out fortuitously. We’ll call this one Shoe Luca as that was the topic of his call, that is after he checked the news now circulating downtown MSP that Stephen has finally and irrevocably parted company with the factory. Stephen was able to confirm the truth of the rumour, with the result that on Thursday morning he was taken by Shoe Luca for a meeting at a local factory who are interested in making use of my man’s immense knowledge and undeniable talents. What they can do together is still to be decided but Stephen is due to go and see the owner again next week to discuss in more detail possible plans for future collaboration.

Other than that, it has been a case of more of the same. Stephen has been working on the house and I have been teaching, though that is proving a bit haphazard at the moment. I was expecting a full week, with the end of the holidays and the return of Lorella on Saturday morning, but Irene, who now has a job and has switched from Wednesday to Saturday (after Lorella) wasn’t able to make it due to having a fever. The youth of today, a week of work and they crumble – not like when we were young and your mum would drag you by the ear to make sure you didn’t miss a shift down the pit. And next week, I shall be two lessons down as Rocco and Vittorio are taking a short skiing break to Slovenia, where hopefully their improved English skills will come in handy at après-ski gatherings.

There was, however, a break to routine on Saturday afternoon when we rushed to the aid of Marco (of Marco and Maddalena, not Marco the Builder nor Marco LL’s son nor Marco Mengoni) who needed help pulling uppers apart. I’m not entirely sure why we were doing it; I think it had something to do with someone having supplied the wrong colour leather for the wannabe loafers so they had to be deconstructed in order to darken the leather. Who would have thought shoe production was so fraught with dangers – or so technically sophisticated, as I found out sitting on M&M’s sofa pulling out threads with my fingernails. Virtue, though, has its rewards and mine came in the form of a Campari lungo that Marco stood me tonight when he and Maddalena joined us for aperitivi at the pub prior to our date night (Stephen and mine, that is).

Elsewhere this weekend I had my first go at making Yorkshire Pudding last night, which turned out fabulously, I’m pleased to say – partly, I think, because the flour in Italy is better quality. Now the challenge is to repeat the success and persuade unsuspecting Italian dinner guests that it really is a much loved British institution and not a culinary joke. Then this morning we shot up the autostrada to IKEA for a trolley fully of bits and pieces for the house – some for set decoration, some for organising storage and some just on impulse as they caught our fancy in passing. It’s always amazing how many things you didn’t know you needed till you saw them winking enticingly at you in a shop display – and we should know, we have boxes full of them downstairs waiting to find a new home. Any offers, anyone?