In the nature of things

After the excitement of Mrs C’s retirement party and the hubby’s marathon of bunting making, things returned to more routine matters in the early part of the week. This was especially so for Stephen, who had yet another two visits to the dentist; at this rate he’ll be guest of honour at their Christmas party, having funded most of it through his treatment.

His first trip was on Monday and I accompanied him on this one, as I had to have a couple of fillings replaced, and we took the opportunity of stopping off on the way back for a spot of lunch at Hotel da Luana. We had, on a couple of previous appointments, intended to lunch there (having been told about it by Computer Luca, a native of those parts) but had been prevented on those occasions by Stephen’s numbed jaw, still swollen from his anaesthetic injections. Having finally made it, the hotel did not disappoint, especially its seventies décor that included Regency signage for the facilities and the obligatory centrally placed television. They were doing a steady trade for a Monday lunchtime, with what we took to be regulars from local offices and banks (one table of which had their own fruit bowl ready for when they arrived), and a couple of members of the emergency services. I have to say, the maccheroncini with ragu followed by sliced turkey roast and salad were more than acceptable – and sufficiently al dente for Stephen to chew.

Wednesday afternoon saw us off on a shopping trip, as Stephen had decided that he was in need of some new shorts for day-to-day (i.e. going to the factory) wear. These he found, but also, for good measure, managed to fit me up with two shirts, two polos, two pairs of shorts and a lightweight man bag for summer use – just think what I might have come away with if I actually needed anything. Then on Thursday we had a return visit to Folusci to go over a few details regarding the proposed new windows and doors, including trying to firm up what front door we are going to have seeing as the one picked out on our previous visit would necessitate building work to accommodate it – and whilst we liked it we didn’t like it enough to go quite that far.

The whole window issue, however, has now been put on hold following a visit on Friday morning from Manuel and his friend, Andrea, a geometra (or quantity surveyor to you and me) to give LCDDB a once over. His services had been kindly offered by Manuel as we have, for some weeks now, been a bit concerned by two significant cracks: a horizontal one along the back of the house by the outside pizza oven and a diagonal one halfway down the garage wall. Both of these, but particularly the former, have widened considerably since first appearing. Originally, we thought that they might have something to do with the earthquakes, but seeing as they’ve taken their time to develop we are now concerned that there may be some other reason for that corner of the building wanting to slide slowly down to the river. When you consider, too, that Mario and Luigi’s field between their house and ours has sunk significantly in places, and creating one particular patch that is a no go area for their tractor, it would seem that something more than tremors is afoot.

If I understand correctly the situation is that the house sits on a floating foundation (whatever that is) and we need the ground underneath and surrounding it surveyed by a geologist to find out what exactly is going on subterraneanly. We can then decide how best to stablise the building. We would also need to have the house keyed together, using metal rods from one end of the to the other (which, Stephen advises me, creates wonderful space from which to hang your home cured prosciutti). This keying is nothing unusual in old houses in this area, most of which have the tell-tale crossed bars on their gable ends. I am assured that we are in no imminent danger of waking one morning to find ourselves halfway to the river, but the remedial work will ensure LCDDB can be inhabited by happy ex-pats for many years to come.

Although we are a bit in the dark as to what nature is up to below the surface, it has been a different story above ground. I spotted our resident snake this morning when I was at the far side of the garden. It is obviously a bit on the shy side as it wasted no time in slithering out of the pile of dry grass in which it had been snoozing behind the almond tree and making off into the field of ripening barley.

Nor was this the only reptilian to show its retiring face as Stephen had a bit of a surprise when he investigate our pot of purple basil (a variety that our Italian friends seem somewhat puzzled about, never have come across such a strange deviation to the acceptable norm – one would think they had never heard of Waitrose). It’ s been a bit of an enigma as to why this plant has been slowly fading, turning from a robust, healthy specimen to a sadly straggly one. The reason, however, became clear when, on forensic investigation, Stephen found that a large toad had taken up residence deep in the soil. He removed it to what he thought was a more suitable abode in the copse across the lane though, alas, it appears to be too late for our basil. Still, those literature scholars amongst you will know poor old Isabella had something much more interesting in her pot.

Not all our brushes with nature have been so downbeat, however, as with the hot weather and clear nights we have been blessed over the past week or so by a fine display of fireflies hovering around the fields and bushes by the house. Our comfort walk for Bella and Harry before bedtime has been accompanied by their flickering sparkles, adding a glamour to an otherwise mundane task. And whilst parts of the natural world may be appearing to conspire against us, when it contains such magical things as fireflies, things can’t really be all that bad.