Missing in action

Unfortunately, the most interesting thing about the past week has been the rain. Monday was something of a washout, and the forecast showed little improvement. It looked very much like we were in for a spell of very British weather, when the skies are grey for days on end and everything is just wet. I’m pleased to say, however, that we were denied this taste of the old country, as things improved significantly in spite of the gloomy prediction, and Bella and Harry managed more than a couple of hours of sunning themselves on the terrazzo.

Not that we thought this would be the case on Tuesday morning, which threw up some interesting climatic contradictions. When I left Pasta Mancini over the valley around 8.30, it was sleeting heavily and starting to settle. However, when I drove into LCDDB five minutes later it was merely raining. After a quick turnaround we headed up into the village for a spot of shopping, passing cars with several centimetres on their roofs. As we turned the corner by the church we saw across to the other side of MSP, which was white with snow, whilst in Rapagnano, 5 kms further along and as we found later found out, it was almost knee-deep. Somehow we felt a little cheated; we’ve been waiting all this time for a decent fall to allow us to hibernate for a couple of days, and it bypasses us completely. We can take comfort from the fact that what snow there was had more or less vanished by the afternoon, so we didn’t, in the end, miss much at all.

Another vanishing act of note was the case of the disappearing customer, which took up much of Stephen’s time in the middle of the week, though most of it was spent hanging around. The American gentleman, who, to protect the innocent, shall remain nameless, was due to arrive on Tuesday afternoon but was running late/too tired, depending on which excuse you want to take. He was then due to come on Wednesday, but decided to go skiing instead. At first he said he would be back in time for an afternoon appointment, but then called while he was having lunch to say that he would not be able to make that after all. He then eventually appeared on Thursday, showing no compunction about the fluidity of his arrangements or the late changes he made to them, but willing to be lauded for his eventual presence. It is just as well that the customer is always right, especially when he isn’t.

This is not a mantra that holds much sway with Italian bureaucracy, as we found out again on Friday when we went to settle the other charge for having our post delivered to the post box. If you remember, the other week Paolo told us to return on the 20th as that is when it was due, so we did - well, almost, we were only five days late. Or rather we weren’t, for we were part way through the process, papers had been printed and some signed and Stephen had run back to the car to get his carta d’identita, when Paolo suddenly said that we were too early and that it wasn’t due till the 7th February. Shrugs and smiles all round followed as we packed the documents away and went for a coffee in Pina, where Stephen wondered why, if the renewal was February, our paperwork showed that last year we’d completed the transaction on 18th January. The customer is always right, but government bureaucracy is righter.

Well, I hope that is enough interesting stuff to last you till next time, as the weekend has been particularly uneventful - if you discount me finding a slit in the heel of one of my wellingtons and the fabulous discount outlet that Stephen promised me would have a bewildering array of replacement ones having closed down and relocated to other premises, the location of which was a mystery to my personal shopper. It’s just as well we combined the trip, this afternoon, with a visit to Rispamio Casa to stock up on various cleaning products where we saved lots of money on a variety of items – and we have the lengthy receipt to prove it.